Graduate Students & Post-Docs
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*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*


Current Postdoctoral Fellows

Marshall Marshall, Michael – Ph.D. Ecology 2006 – University of Wyoming
Dr. Marshall plays a leadership role on the Trinidad FIBR project.


Current Graduate Students

Andrew Binderup

Binderup, Andrew – Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: 2009
Tentative Title of Dissertation: N/A

Andrew is a first-year graduate student working on the Trinidad FIBR Project.
Connelly

Connelly, Scott - Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: May 2008
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Response of tropical stream ecosystems to amphibian extinctions

Current study focuses on global widespread catastrophic amphibian declines, especially in the Neotropics. Scott uses experimental manipulation and long-term monitoring to focus on stream ecosystem-level effects of these losses. Work is being completed on two Panamanian streams that have recently experienced massive frog losses.

Honors/Awards:
- 2007 Institute of Ecology Outstanding Doctoral Presentation
- 2006 Institute of Ecology Solitary Glove Award
- 2007 UGA Final Year University-Wide Fellowship

Frisch

Frisch, John - Ph.D Ecology
Picture Provided by: C. David Barron/Oxygen Group

Expected Date of Graduation: May 2012
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Seasonal variation in decomposition dynamics of non-deciduos leaf litter: What is the seasonal importance of rhododendron litter inputs on microbial and invertebrate  communities?


Allochthonous leaf litter is an important component of headwater woodland streams, and serves as a critical energy source and substrate for fungal and bacterial communities.  Overall quantity and nutrient quality of leaf litter can potentially impact the activity and biomass of fungal and bacterial communities, and result in bottom-up regulation of stream communities.  However, there is a conspicuous lack of information about how evergreen vegetation structures stream communities.  How does rhododendron contribute to stream dynamics?  John’s research investigates the relationships from litter chemistry and decompositonal dynamics to microbial and macroinvertebrate communities.

Honors/Awards:
- UGA University Wide Scholarship
- UGA Graduate Representative

Mehring

Mehring, Andrew – Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: May 2010
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Floodplain forests as engineers of dissolved oxygen in coastal plain blackwater streams: effects of allochthonous inputs and riparian forest composition on oxygen demand

Current study examines the effects of allochthonous organic matter inputs and decomposition on dissolved oxygen concentrations in intermittent blackwater rivers of Georgia's coastal plain. Andrew is specifically investigating the differential effects of tree species and forest composition on oxygen uptake by the microbial community.

Honors/Awards:
- 2008 Odum School of Ecology Graduate Student Symposium - 1st Place Best Paper

Small

Small, Gaston (Chip) - Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: 2009
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Resource-consumer stoichiometry along a natural phosphorus gradient in Neotropical stream food webs

Current study focuses on the stoichiometric relationship between resources and consumers along a natural phosphorus gradient in streams at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica.  Chip is measuring how aquatic insects deal with P-enriched food sources through P-storage, increasing growth rates, and excreting excess P.  He is also documenting the retention of phosphorus in a first order stream following an 8-year experimental P-addition.   

Honors/Awards:
- 2005 OTS Post-course Award
- 2007 NABS President's Award
- 2007 ASLO Student Travel Award
- 2007 EPA STAR Fellowship
- UGA Presidential Fellowship
- 2008 Odum School of Ecology Graduate Student Symposium - 2nd Place Best Paper

Smith

Smith, Katherine - Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: December 2007
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Ecosystem-based management of water resources in the Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico: ecological, legal, and institutional analysis.

Current study is focused towards examining ecological, legal, and institutional factors related to ecosystem based management of water resources in the Caribbean National Forest.  Her research examines ecological effects of water diversion on downstream estuarine communities and foodwebs as well as the legal and institutional framework for catchment-level water resource management in Puerto Rico.

Honors/Awards:
- Luquillo NSF- LTER Project Grant
- Recipient of University-wide Assistantship and a Seagrant (NOAA) Project development grant
- 2007 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship
- Spent a year working for international fisheries policy issues for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, DC.

Snyder

Snyder, Marcia – Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: 2012
Tentative Title of Dissertation: N/A

Is working on the Costa Rica LTREB Project.
Todd

Todd, Jason - Ph.D Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: Spring 2008
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Measurement of flowpath, residence time and sediment oxygen demand in seasonally inundated floodplain swamps of the Georgia coastal plain.

Current study of focuses on investigating the causes of lowered dissolved oxygen levels in streams found on the coastal plain of Georgia.  Possible hypothesized reasons for these lowered levels are the slow movement of water and intense oxygen demand from bottom sediments.  Further, the numerous floodplain swamps found in this region may play a large role in this oxygen depletion.  Current research looks at the flowpath and time of travel as well as the sediment oxygen demand found within these floodplain swamps.    
Honors/Awards:
- Outstanding Graduate Student Poster at the 2007 USDA-CSREES National Water Conference.

Pedro Torres

Torres, Pedro – Ph.D. Ecology

Expected Date of Graduation: 2012
Tentative Title of Dissertation: Linking community structure to ecosystem processes: effects of native faunal extirpation and invasive species in neotropical island streams, Puerto Rico.

Current research focuses on how different biotic communities affect stream ecosystem function.  Work is being done in Puerto Rican streams, where large dams without spillway discharges act as impermeable barriers for migratory organisms (i.e. native shrimps and fishes) resulting in the extirpation of these populations from upstream reaches and in some cases, successful establishment of invasive fish species. I will compare different ecosystem processes between dammed and undammed streams and use experimental manipulations to establish the role of specific species (native shrimp and exotic fishes) in regulating these processes in streams island-wide.

Honors/Awards:
- 2007 LACSI Tinker Foundation Travel Award


Lab Alumni

Anderson, Elizabeth – Ph.D. Ecology, 2004
Ph.D. Dissertation: Ecological and social implications of hydropower development on a neotropical river system, Costa Rica.
Current Position: Deputy Director of the Global Water for Sustainability Program, Florida International University.  Conservation Sustainability Director at The Field Museum in Chicago

Since 2005, Elizabeth has been working under a USAID-sponsored initiative to promote more integrated water resources management worldwide.  She is based in the Department of Environmental Studies at Florida International University in Miami, but is also involved in providing technical and scientific support to water conservation and management projects in South America (Ecuador/Peru), East Africa (Tanzania/Kenya), and India.  For more information, please visit: http://www.globalwaters.net/

Recently, Mrs. Anderson was made Conservation Sustainability Director at The Field Museum in Chicago and will be working towards implementing conservation recommendations, with a focus on rapid biological inventories initiatives in South America.

Anderson
Ardon
Ardon, Marcelo - Ph.D. Ecology, 2006
Ph.D. Dissertation: Effects of leaf litter quality on decomposition dynamics in lowland neotropical streams.
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate at Duke University

Current research is focused on examining the biogeochemical consequences of a large-scale wetland restoration project in the Coastal Plains of NC. For more information see:
http://www.biology.duke.edu/bernhardtlab/people/ardon.html


Baer, Katherine - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1996
M.S. Thesis: When it rains, it drains: Stormwater management in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia.
Current position: Healthy Waters Campaign Director for the river advocacy group, American Rivers

After receiving her M.S. degree in Conservation Ecology from UGA, Baer worked for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, the Center for Progressive Reform, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.  She then received a law degree from the University of Maryland and now works with American Rivers as their Advocacy Director.  For more information see: http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AR7_bio_Baer

Baer
Benstead

Benstead, Jonathan - Ph.D. Ecology, 2000
Ph.D. Dissertation: Stream community and ecosystem responses to deforestation in eastern Madagascar.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Aquatic Biology Program, University of Alabama

Current research is focused on establishing linkages among populations, communities and ecosystem-level parameters in streams and rivers, with an integral study on aquatic vertebrates, namely fish.  For more information, please visit: http://www.as.ua.edu/biology/benstead.htm

Crook, Kelly – M.S. Ecology, 2005
M.S. Thesis: Quantifying the effects of water withdrawal on streams draining the Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico.
Current Position: High School Teacher

Currently teaching high school biology in Grapevine, TX.

Crook
DeVivo

DeVivo, Joe - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1996; Pringle co-chair with Gene Helfman
M.S. Thesis: Fish assemblages as indicators of water quality within the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River basin.
Current Position: Program Coordinator, Southeast Coast Inventory & Monitoring Program, National Park Service, Atlanta, GA

Currently designing and implementing long-term ecological monitoring program for seventeen National Park Service units in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.  For more information, please visit: http://www1.nature.nps.gov/im/units/secn/

Dye, Susan - M.S. Ecology, 2005
M.S. Thesis: Top-down and bottom-up forces in an Appalachian stream: Can consumers differentially mediate effects of nutrient loading on algae?
Current Position: Research Coordinator

Upon graduation, Susan worked as research coordinator for Dr. Amy Rosemond at the Institute of Ecology at UGA.  She oversaw a long-term nutrient addition experiment at the Coweeta LTER site in the southern Appalachians, and developed methods to determine algal community composition using HPLC analysis of pigments.  She currently works for the Environmental Protection Agency in Athens, GA.

Dye
Esselman
Esselman, Peter - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 2001
M.S. Thesis: The Monkey River Baseline Study: Basic and applied research for monitoring assessment in southern Belize.
Current position: Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources Current a Ph.D Candidate at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources focusing on fish conservation and biogeography with an emphasis on potential disruption of native fish communities by Tilapia.

Greathouse, Effie – Ph.D. Ecology, 2005
Ph.D. Dissertation: Large dams and migratory biota affect tropical stream ecosystems at different scales in Puerto Rico
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, EPA

Currently undergoing postdoctoral research under the direction of Dr. Jana Compton at EPA's National Health & Environmental Effects Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon. Research is focused towards relating landscape characteristics to stream nutrients in the Oregon Coast Range.

Greathouse
Gregory

Gregory, Brian - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1997
M.S. Thesis: Use of benthic macroinvertebrates to assess the effectiveness of riparian buffer zones on intermittent streams in the southeastern USA.
Current Position
: Aquatic Ecologist at USGS

Currently working at the USGS in Atlanta, GA with the NAWQA Program with importance on issues related to how urbanization effects stream ecosystems in the GA Piedmont as well as nationally, how nutrient and agricultural effects coastal plain streams in the SE, and how hydrologic alteration effects fish communities in the Tennesse River Drainage.

Hellmer-Powell, Natalie – M.S. Ecology, 2001
M.S. Thesis: The role of crayfish in leaf decomposition across a leaf litter quality gradient.
Current Position: Working at EPIC, a medical software company in Madison, Wisconsin

Current Implementer/Project Manager Outpatient EMR Team and is Co-Chair of Environmental Task Force for the Madison Christian Community.

Hellmer

Hiers, Stephanie D. - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 2000; Pringle co-chair with Dr. Steve Golladay
M.S. Thesis: Assessing impacts of animal agriculture on macroinvertebrates in intermittent coastal plain streams in the southeastern USA: Implications for biomonitioring.
Current Position: Environmental Scientist with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)

Currently serves as an aquatic Ecologist and endangered species Biologist, technical lead for Environmental Assessments (EA), Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), Biological Assessments (BA), and various other assessment documents related to potential impacts in aquatic, terrestrial, and marine habitats in the Southeast, particularly in FL and GA.

Kominoski, John Ph.D. Ecology, 2008
Ph.D. Dissertation: Linking resource and consumer diversity to ecosystem function in a detritus-based watershed
Current Position - Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Current research under the direction of Dr. John Richardson examines the effects of selective forest harvesting on stream and riparian food webs.  For more information, please visit: http://jkominoski.googlepages.com

Kominoski

Laidlaw
Laidlaw, Tina - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1996
M.S. Thesis
: The implementation of a volunteer stream monitoring program in Costa Rica.

Current position: Monitoring Specialist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Denver CO

When she first graduated with her MS from the CESD program, Tina became the statewide manager of the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program for the state of Alabama.

March, James - Ph.D. Ecology, 2000
Ph.D. Dissertation: The role of freshwater shrimps: patterns and processes along a tropical stream continuum, Puerto Rico.
Current Position: Associate Professor, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA

For more information, please visit: http://www.washjeff.edu/users/jmarch/

March
Parsons
Parsons, Doug - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 2000
M.S. Thesis: The development of the WATER-FOR-LIFE web page: An environmental outreach tool on water resources issues for Costa Rica and Latin America.
Current position: Partnerships Coordinator, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Currently works for the Florida government focusing on climate change issues.

Pohlman, Scott - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1998
M.S. Thesis: Towards implementation of community-led conservation in lowland rainforest: The WATER-FOR-LIFE program in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica.
Current Position: Natural Resource Planning and Conservation, Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Currently a senior staff scientist for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Pohlman
Rabeson
  • Rabeson, Pascal - M.S. Ecology, 2000
  • M.S. Thesis: Composition and temporal emergence of aquatic insects in the Mariavaratra stream at the Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.
    Current Position: Field Coordinator of the Insects and Spiders Survey, National Museum of Insects, Madagascar.

Ramirez, Alonso - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1997; Ph.D. Ecology, 2000
M.S. Thesis: Structure, function and production of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in lowland tropical streams, Costa Rica.
Ph.D. Dissertation: Control of benthic assemblages in detritus-based tropical streams.
Current Position
: Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico, and Scientific Director of El Verde Field Station.

Currently working on the ecology of tropical aquatic ecosystems with emphasis on aquatic insects and the role they play in ecosystem processes as well as the taxonomy and systematic of aquatic insects with emphasis on immature stages or larvae.

Ramirez
Schofield
Schofield, Kate - Ph.D. Ecology, 2001
Ph.D. Dissertation: Top-down interactions in southern Appalachian streams: An examination of temporal and spatial variability.
Current position: Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C.

Upon completing her Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, Kate received a prestigious Croasdale Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dartmouth University.  Kate currently worked for the Environmental Protection Agency.

  • Stallcup, Lindsay - M.S. Ecology, 2004
  • M.S. Thesis: Effects of water chemistry and leaf species on leaf breakdown in neotropical headwater streams.
Stallcup

Vargas, Rodney - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1995
M.S. Thesis: History of municipal water resources in Puerto Viejo, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica: A socio-political perspective.
Current Position: Assistant Director for Latin America, Africa and the Middle East

Currently working in the Study Abroad Office at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as Assistant Director for Latin America, Africa and the Middle East as well as program management and development for Latin America, Caribbean, Middle East and Africa.

Wenger, Seth - M.S. Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, 1999; Ph.D. Ecology, 2006
M.S. Thesis: Developing science-based riparian buffer protection policies.
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Researcher

Currently working at the UGA River Basin Center focusing on applied ecological research and environmental policy development.  For more information, please visit: http://www.rivercenter.uga.edu/people/ecologists.htm#sw

Wenger

Past Postdoctoral Fellows

Bixby, Rebecca - Ph.D. - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Current Position: Adjunct Professor, University of New Mexico

Dr. Bixby's research interests focus on diatom biodiversity and how it relates to ecological and evolutionary processes. She is currently funded by the National Science Foundation's International Research Fellowship Program and the Americas Program to examine the biodiversity and landscape patterns of algae in lowland, neotropical streams in Costa Rica.

Bixby
Hamazaki

Hamazaki, Toshihide - Ph.D. - Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia.
Current position: Biometrician, Alaska. Department of Fish and Game.

Rosemond, Amy - Ph.D. -Vanderbilt University
Current position: Assistant Professor, Odum School of Ecology

Rosemond
Verburg Verburg, Piet – Ph.D. Ecology 2004 – University of Waterloo, Ontario

Dr. Verburg investigates food webs in mountain streams in Central America, using stable isotopes and nutrient stoichiometry to examine ecosystem change as a result of the massive loss of amphibian species diversity by an epidemic disease.

In past work, Dr. Verburg has examined the effects of meteorology and regional climate on limnological properties and in particular the effects of the recent warming of the climate.


Some Lab Photos

Some Helpful Advice for Graduate Students


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    Last Updated: 3/31/08