Way to be an amazing science communicator, Laura! ... Graduate Research Assistant at Odum School of Ecology. Urban specialization reduces habitat connectivity by a highly mobile wading bird. Movement Ecology 8, 49 (2020). For example, ectotherms experienced trade-offs between immune performance at the host’s optimal temperature and the consistency of immune performance across temperatures, but these trade-offs were absent in endotherms. The eradication of human infectious diseases has proven remarkably difficult. Chagas disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi that is carried in the guts of hematophagous triatomine vectors. Students work with faculty to become independent thinkers, researchers and decision-markers in ecology. The Mission of EcoReach The purpose of this program is to connect graduate, undergraduate, and professional ecologists at the University of Georgia with school-age children in order to heighten awareness of the science of ecology and environmental issues. At the larger village cluster level, the geographic position and climate of a village were most important. Graduate Student Researcher at the Odum School of Ecology Athens, Georgia 177 ... Graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University Congratulations, Lexi! We sampled mixed leaf packs from the enclosures on days 11, 19, 28, 34, and 42. Previous schedules can be found here. In her second chapter, Ashley further explored relationships between immune performance and temperature across vertebrate species, finding that the effects of temperature on immune performance depended on host thermoregulation strategy. Their consumption and egestion activity may affect nutrient availability and transformation by stimulating microbial activity during leaf breakdown and converting coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) to fine particulate organic matter (FPOM). The official website for the graduate students at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Mobile animals transport nutrients and propagules across habitats, and are crucial for the functioning of food webs and for ecosystem services. https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0008620, Written by Mikey Fager, OSE undergraduate and Rosemond lab member, Humans and aquatic biota both rely heavily on the many services that river and stream systems provide. In her first chapter, she examined variation in relationships between testosterone and immunity in free-ranging American alligators, finding that the effects of testosterone on microbial killing depended on levels of co-circulating hormones, the microbe of interest, and temperature. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-020-00233-7. Check out a video of the crabs shredding! Only applicants who have applied by December 1st, and are nominated by a potential major professor, will be considered for funding to attend the Odum School of Ecology’s graduate student recruitment event and Graduate Student Symposium in January.  The School’s Graduate Program Committee meets in mid-December to review completed applications and select 10-15 highly qualified applicants for travel funding to this invite-only event. Freshwater crabs are the largest macroconsumers in many neotropical headwater streams, but few studies have examined their roles in ecosystem processes such as leaf litter breakdown. For admission to the M.S. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Rebeca de Jesús Crespo, Phd, ’15. Identifying correlates of Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) infection in domestic dog populations. Evaluating Low Streamflow Effects on Biota to Support Management in Perennial Systems. Claim your free account to keep your graduate school's data up-to-date and get insights on user activity for your profile. To make formal application for the M.S. We observed crabs manipulating, shredding, and consuming leaves, with leaf fragments and egesta present in tanks with crabs but not in control tanks. We found the leaves of one species (. Human activities such as urbanization can alter animal movement behavior, including site fidelity and resource use. Congratulations, Kaylee! https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13524. The Odum School of Ecology is the first standalone school of ecology in the world. The school enrolls more than 80 undergraduates. To see more of Laura, check out her social media on Twitter and Instagram. Leaf mass loss was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in tanks with crabs (0.49 ± 0.07 g, mean ± 1 SD) compared to control tanks (0.31 ± 0.05 g). Explore the people in the Sasaki Lab at the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology. Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at University of Georgia provides on-going educational opportunities to those students seeking advanced degrees. degree program in Ecology, you should submit additional information to the Graduate Program Office, such as your statement of purpose, and curriculum vitae (if not previously uploaded to your application). Off-campus research facilities include the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, the UGA Marine Institute, the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, the UGA Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe, and the San Luis Research Station in Costa Rica. Students gain rigorous training in theoretical ecology and skills in research design, data analysis, and communicating results to the broader public, while addressing a novel research question in basic and/or applied ecology. Laura’s research expertly identifies the areas of concern that water managers, conservationists, and other stakeholders need to consider. Students address research topics appropriate for a two-year program, learning research design, specialized skills, data analysis and interpretation, and how to communicate their results to the broader public. Hall. Here is the abstract of her thesis, entitled Invertebrate herbivory of understory trees in the Georgia Piedmont in response to soil warming: As the global mean surface temperature increases, changes in biogeochemical cycling have the potential to have cascading effects on plant and invertebrate interactions. We conducted three nine-day laboratory trials with pseudothelphusid crabs (Ptychophallus tumimanus (Rathbun, 1898)) and leaves (Koanophyllon pittieri) to investigate whether crabs shred leaves. It offers environmental ethics certificate program that provides an interdisciplinary forum for students, faculty and community to discuss social and scientific responsibilities towards environment. Half of the enclosures were randomly selected to contain two crabs (mean carapace width = 30 mm) and half were controls without crabs. We are an official student organization of the UGA Involvement Network. Furthermore, single T. cruzi infections were found in 34% of sampled individuals (91/288) and also displayed significantly greater alpha diversity when compared to uninfected individuals (Kruskal-Wallis H test, p < 0.001). The 2019 Odum School of Ecology Graduate Student Symposium (GSS) was held on January 25 and 26, 2019. Takao Sasaki joined Odum School of Ecology at University of Georgia in August 2018 Tweets University of Georgia, Ecology Bldg., Room 194D, Athens, GA 30602 Laura’s masters thesis research does just this, as she analyzed a variety of literature to assess how algae, invertebrates, and fishes respond to extended periods of low flow in streams and rivers, using the Upper Flint River Basin as her focal system. Although studies have examined the feeding habits of trichodactylid crabs, little is known of this behavior in pseudothelphusid species, and specifically whether they actually consume leaf material. Odum School of Ecology provides post graduate and doctorate degree programs in conservation ecology. program, you should have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in an area of biological science, a strong undergraduate GPA, and three letters of recommendation. Through her masters thesis research, Ashley explored such context-dependence in immune dynamics. The Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia (UGA), named for prominent ecologist Eugene Odum, is part of UGA's College of Environment and Design.The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in ecology and conservation, and seeks to encourage the public's ecological literacy through interdisciplinary research and study. Richards RL, Cleveland CA, Hall RJ, Tchindebet Ouakou P, Park AW, Ruiz-Tiben E, Weiss A, Yabsley MJ, Ezenwa VO. She moved to coastal Georgia in 2011 to establish this research lab and graduate student program in collaboration with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. This study has also demonstrated that short‐term enclosure experiments are useful in measuring in‐stream effects of crab activity on leaf breakdown. However, since animals encounter a range of conditions in natural environments, the observation of these physiological trade-offs are likely shaped by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Kate Sabey, a PhD Candidate in the Ezenwa Lab and an IDEAS Trainee, was selected as a P.E.O. James (Jeb) Byers. Well done, Kate! Odum School of Ecology Events ← → Friday, January 31 Ecology Graduate Student Symposium. Ecology building, Rm. The keynote speaker was Virginia Schutte, Ph.D. ’14. Kimberly is an Assistant Research Scientist employed as Graduate Faculty at the Odum School of Ecology. The Graduate Diversity Award in Ecology. Graduate Research Assistant Odum School of Ecology June 2018 – Present 1 year 4 months. Scholar. In the first two chapters, Laura hypothesized that algal biomasses would increase, while richness and density of aquatic invertebrates (particularly filter-feeders) and fish abundance would decrease during periods of low flows. A highly mobile wading bird Connelly s, Freeman MC including reproduction nutrition. P. Odum School any other parasite for this context-dependence will be Dr. Rebeca de Jesús Crespo,,... 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