Ecology / Ecosystems

Where are invasive species likely to be introduced or become abundant? How should managers respond? On Hawaii and other Pacific Islands numerous invasive species have altered ecosystems, and new species continue to be introduced. Statistical analyses can characterize risk and inform response strategies.

Where are invasive species likely to be introduced or become abundant? How should managers respond? On Hawaii and other Pacific Islands numerous invasive species have altered ecosystems, and new species continue to be introduced. Statistical analyses can characterize risk and inform response strategies.

This study will contrast the extraction of DNA/RNA from aerosols collected with electrostatic precipitation (a relatively new collection method) with a common membrane filtration protocol to identify the most appropriate method for future regional and global scale aerobiology research projects.

The principals of conservation biology are waiting to be applied to restore native coregonines in the Great Lakes. Native fishes have suffered extinctions and extirpations owing to loss of habitat, interactions with invasive species, and overfishing, and now fishery managers are committed to their restoration.

This study will examine centennial- to millennial-scale North Pacific hydroclimate variability over the late-glacial and Holocene from Alaskan peatlands using cellulose extraction from peatland plants. Hydroclimate analysis will be coupled with vegetation and carbon dynamics to better understand how peatlands respond to long-term climate variability.

Do fisheries managers know the impacts of improving recreational fishing technology on the populations of fish they manage? The role of gear innovations in recreational fisheries is understudied as a driver of overexploitation in inland waters. Examining technology advances will inform recreational managment.

Much of this research is centered on animal or human-associated pathogens, the antimicrobial resistance potential of those pathogens, and the influence of these pathogens on recreational water quality, drinking-water quality, and water quality in agricultural and urban watersheds.

The USGS and the Smithsonian Institution have initiated the first in situ active aboveground and belowground warming experiment in a coastal wetland that is focused on wetland temperature responses and also examines the interaction between warming, elevated CO2, and inundation frequency on wetland resilience in the face of changes in global change drivers.

Plants and insects comprise a large portion of problematic invasive species. The success of these invasions largely depends on the outcomes of plant-insect interactions in which plants that escape herbivores may be more successful invaders, and herbivores that find adequate hosts have the opportunity to establish. This project will explore the dynamics of introduced plant or insect populations, or

Relict forests are becoming more common as as climates become hotter, drier and more saline. The first sign of threat to these forests is a chronic lack of seedling and sapling recruitment. This project will help pinpoint forests at risk to help in future management.

Molecular methods such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) allow scientists the ability to target specific genes allowing for a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective way to determine the presence and relative abundance of potential pathogen genes in the environment. Although there are many benefits to qPCR such as not relying on the ability to culture fastidious microorganisms ...

Never has a tool been able to map the location and phenological status of buffelgrass, including nascent populations, on a regional scale. Developed for a specific management issue, CLaRe metrics hold promise for many natural resource applications. You will demonstrate these metrics in the context of an important management issue of your choice developed with the principal investigator.