News Release  News and Public Information Office Glos Center
Miami University Oxford, Ohio 45056 (513) 529-7592 (513)
529-1950 fax  Miami student part of NASA expedition to study
climate change   Seventeen researchers from around the country,
including Miami zoology grad student Kevin Rose, are in Chile
and Bolivia this month to document the impact of rapid climate
change on high-altitude lakes in the Central Andes, and their
ability to sustain life in a highly dynamic environment.  Rose,
also a Miami research assistant, became involved in the NASA
Astrobiology Institute (NAI) - funded expedition because of his
ongoing research of ultraviolet (UV) light and freshwater
ecosystems. The group is studying high altitude lakes, which are
considered "hot spots" of global warming and its effects, such
as loss of precipitation (50 percent in 50 years in some parts),
glacier retreat, and increased impact of UV radiation in bodies
of water that evaporate. The researchers say the conditions are
very similar to what Mars