University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Bio 

Dr. Cronin uses a transdisciplinary approach to restore and protect ecosystems.  He is a fan of using the STEAM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) to promote a sustainable society and protection of Earth’s ecosystems.  Two main foci of this schoalrship is using aquaponics to sustainably produce food, and restoring watersheds in Haiti.  

Urban communities import nearly 100% of their food from an average distance of 1,500 – 2,500 miles. Additionally, low-income urban neighborhoods are often located 10 miles from a grocery store, leaving residents without access to healthy food. Aquaponics is a technology that uses engineered aquatic ecosystems to produce fresh fish and vegetables year-round. With aquaponics, edible plants are both the primary producers and water purifiers, while the fish provide fertilizer for the plants (and food for people). Such technology can be done at a neighborhood scale, offering sustainable, healthy fresh food to underserved people, without the use of artificial fertilizer and pesticides that currently pollute our waterways. Aquaponics markets also create jobs in the communities they serve. With over 1 billion undernourished people on the planet, there is a great need for sustainable agriculture across the globe.

Haiti has the most degraded ecosystems in the western hemisphere.  Dr. Cronin works with Haitians to restore watersheds, taking a systems appraoch of restoring from ridge to reef.  This includes revegetating the landscape, restoring fertility via soil building, and producing food in a sustainable manner.

Dr. Cronin is active with numerous groups to help make the campus more sustainable through education and community building. He initiated an effort to create a community garden on Auraria campus, which is moving forward with strong support from students, staff, and faculty. He and his students organize fairs and concerts to educate people about sustainability and to motivate them to adopt sustainable behaviors. Dr. Cronin serves on the Auraria Campus Sustainability Advisory Council and the UCD Chancellor's Task Force for Sustainability.

​Select Publications  

Cronin, G., J. H. McCutchan, J. Pitlick, and W.M. Lewis, Jr. 2007. "Use of Shields stress to reconstruct and forecast changes in river metabolism." Freshwater Biology 52: 1587-1601.

Schlacher T. and G. Cronin. 2007. "A trophic cascade in a macrophyte-based food web at the land–water ecotone." Ecological Research 22: 749-755.

Cronin, G., W.M. Lewis, Jr., and MA Scheisher. 2006. "Influence of freshwater macrophytes on the littoral ecosystem structure and function of a young Colorado reservoir." Aquatic Botany 85: 37-43.

Stearns, M., J. A. Tindall, G. Cronin, M. J. Friedel and E. Berquist. 2005. "Effects of Coal-Bed Methane Discharge Waters on the Vegetation and Soil Ecosystem in Powder River Basin, Wyoming," Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 168: 33-57.

Cronin G, and D. M. Lodge. 2003. "Effects of light and nutrient availability on the growth, allocation, carbon/nutrient balance, phenolic chemistry, and resistance to herbivory of two freshwater macrophytes." Oecologia 137: 32-41.

Cronin, G. 2001. "Resource allocation in seaweeds and marine invertebrates: Chemical defense patterns in relation to defense theories." In: J.B McClintock and B.J. Baker (eds.) Marine Chemical Ecology. CRC Press. 325-353.

Courses Taught 

BIOL 3412: Fundamentals of Applied Ecology
BIOL 4416/5416: Aquatic Ecology
BIOL 4050: Marine Biology
BIOL 5445: Applied Environmental Biology
SUST 3010: Sustainability I: The Non-sustainable Past