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Library – Archives – Humanities  / Education / Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology / Exhibits, Projects and Initiatives / Plant Science, Biotechnology, & Agriculture

Plant Science, Biotechnology, & Agriculture

Exhibit

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In addition to this website, we have created a physical version of our exhibit. It is located in the lobby of the Carnegie Library at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. CSHL faculty, students and staff may visit the library at any time. Visitors from outside the library must make an appointment. 

In addition to this history of science exhibit, the collections of the CSHL Library and Archives offer extensive materials relating to the history of modern biology. A guide to our collections is available here. If you wish to consult archival material, please contact the Archives.

We offer support for the use of our collections — if you are doing research, please check out our list of grants and fellowships to see if any of them would be a good fit for you and your project.

Plants need nitrogen to grow, but a significant portion of the nitrogen in fertilizers is not absorbed by the soil or used by the growing plants. Rather, it washes away into waterways, rivers, and the ocean. This in turn has had devastating effects on marine life. In some areas, excessive nitrogen in the oceans has caused algae blooms that kill wildlife, make it dangerous for people to consume fish or shellfish or in some cases even swim in affected waters. This problem isn’t limited to poorer countries. Nitrogen pollution is a serious problem here on Long Island. In our case, the nitrogen comes primarily from septic tanks and cesspools, although nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers also plays a role. Nitrogen pollution in the waters around Long Island has hampered fishing, made it dangerous to eat seafood from some areas, and caused environmental changes that make coastal areas more prone to flooding.