Melanie Malone publishes an article on how to track herbicides in Science of The Total Environment
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IAS faculty member Melanie Malone published an article on how to track herbicides in Science of The Total Environment. The article considers the relation between no-till agriculture and herbicide use. It deploys multiple methods – spatial analysis of remote sensing satellite imagery of vegetation health along streams; use of a drone fitted with an agricultural camera to detect vegetation health; and soil, sediment, and water sampling for the most commonly used herbicides in the study area – to show where stream vegetation health continues to be an issue in the agricultural community, and where concentrations of a commonly used herbicide in the community may be impacting human and ecological health. This study has important implications for impacts to soil and water quality over time in agricultural communities.