Regular Graduate Students

Name: Nicholas Ballew (ballewn1@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology/EEBB
Advisor: Gary Mittelbach
Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.A., Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 2006
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Statement: I am interested in studying how populations evolve in response to ecological change, especially change that is the result of human behavior. I seek to understand how a population may evolve in response to interacting directly with humans (such as humans preying on the population), and also how a population may evolve in response to an anthropogenic alteration to the environment (such as the introduction of an invasive species). I hope to use results from this line of research to predict how a target population would adapt to ecological change that is the result of human behavior.

Website: https://www.msu.edu/~ballewn1/

Name: Tyler Bassett (basset17@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jen Lau
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Starting Year in Program: 2009
Statement: My research interests apply to a broad range of subjects of relevance to restoration ecology. In particular, I am exploring the mechanisms of local adaptation in plant species used in restorations in the upper Midwest, and the degree to which local adaptation should be considered in planning restoration projects. A related interest is the conservation and restoration of rare plant populations and their role in ecosystems. Ultimately, my goal is lifting the practice of restoration and applied conservation to a more ecologically effective and scientifically rigorous place. Applying experimental methods to restoration projects allows for analyzing questions of succession, community assembly, coevolution, and trophic interactions and further supplies insights to the practice of ecological restoration.

Name: Kali Bird (birdkali@msu.edu)
Department: Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (MMG)
Advisor: Jay Lennon
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, Oklahoma Baptist University, 2008
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Statement: Microbes may be the most abundant and diverse organisms on earth. They also mediate essential ecosystem processes, such as energy transfer to higher trophic levels and nutrient recycling. Broadly, I am interested in understanding feedbacks between the ecology of microbial communities and the environments in which they live. I am currently studying how availability of different phosphorus forms may impact microbial community structure, diversity, and ecosystem functioning through laboratory and field experiments. In the future, I hope to expand this research to include possible evolutionary feedbacks between the microbes and their environment.

Name: Jorge Celi (celijorg@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Steve Hamilton
Research Location: Napo River, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon
Degrees Held: M.Sc., Environmental Sciences, Florida International University, 2005; B.Sc., Biological Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University, Ecuador, 1997
Starting Year in Program: 2006
Statement: My goal is to understand how ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes and patterns at the watershed/landscape scale respond to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, and to draw on this understanding to generate recommendations to improve ecosystem protection and management. Currently, I am investigating the ecological-hydrological relationships between the lowland Napo River, in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon, and its associated floodplain and wetland environments. The objectives of my study are: 1) To assess the extent and diversity of floodplain/wetland environments; 2) To identify the spatial-temporal variability of areas directly flooded by the Napo River, and indirectly flooded by backwater effects that restrict drainage of local precipitation or runoff, and 3) To predict the impacts of changes in water level and other physical modifications caused by the development of an industrial waterway in the Napo.

Name: Micaleila Desotelle (desotell@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Steve Hamilton
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: M.A., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 2007; B.S., Biology, Environmental Science, Winona State University, 2002
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Statement: My research explores how food web subsidies can influence communities. I study the Kalamazoo River, which has several dams. Dams change the flow of the water and can increase the production of phytoplankton. The phytoplankton can act as a subsidy both temporally and spatially. Stream insect communities change along the river, and some of this response is to the subsidy from dams. Rivers frequently have multiple dams though many are aging and will be removed in the coming decades. Therefore, understanding how dams change food sources is important for the management of rivers.

Name: Sara Garnett (garnett3@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Tom Getty
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2009
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: I am interested in how individuals maximize their inclusive fitness by balancing cooperation and competition when interacting with their kin. Maximizing inclusive fitness requires individuals to avoid directly competing with kin as much as possible, but this becomes more difficult in systems where interacting with kin cannot be avoided. Frog and toad tadpoles are one such case, as many species form aggregations, often comprised of siblings, before they are capable of leaving ponds. When resources are limited, larger tadpoles of many species have been seen to inhibit the growth of smaller individuals through the use of chemical signals; there is some evidence, however, of smaller tadpoles performing better when grouped with siblings rather than non-kin, even under poorer conditions, suggesting that siblings respond to one another's signals in a way that maximizes inclusive and individual fitness for everyone. I plan to use two species that differ in kin-aggregating tendencies (Bufo americanus and Hyla versicolor) to test the hypothesis that kin-aggregating species will respond to sibling signals by limiting growth rate when a sibling's marginal fitness benefits are greater, whereas species that do not exhibit kin preferences will show no change in competitive behavior regardless of the situation. Website: http://www.msu.edu/~garnett3/index.html

Name: Patrick Hanly (hanlypat@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology/EEBB
Advisor: Gary Mittelbach
Research Location: KBS and Lux Arbor Reserve
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: I am broadly interested in understanding the processes that influence how communities of organisms assemble and fluctuate through time. Specifically, I utilize both natural and experimental plankton communities to investigate the interaction betwwen dispersal rate and establishment probability. I look at how this interaction is further shaped by the individual traits of species (e.g., body size and trophic position), as well as the attributes of communities (e.g., structure and stability). Additionally, I am compiling a database of global zooplankton distributions to assess the importance of long-term dispersal limitation at the regional scale.

Name: Nikhil Jaikumar (jaikumar@msu.edu)
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Statement: My research focuses on high-yielding perennial grasses and newly developed hybrids of annual crop plants with perennial wild relatives, which are being considered as potential perennial food crops. Perennial grain and oilseed crops could allow for food to be produced in ways that minimize nutrient leaching and soil erosion and foster healthier symbioses with insects and fungi. I am trying to determine to what extent these perennial food crops (perennial rye, perennial wheat and intermediate wheatgrass) show trade-offs between seed production and medium-term survival, and how their production might compare to annual grains over several years. I am comparing different genotypes to quantify to what extent genotypes with higher first-year seed yield have lower longer term survival and future seed yield. I am also determining the effect of reproduction and crop load on the metabolism and physiology of perennial wheat plants to determine to what extent they can compensate for changes in crop load.

Name: Jean Johnson (john2597@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology/EEBB
Advisor: Tom Getty
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, Augsburg College, 2005
Research Location: Lux Arbor Reserve, Kellogg Biological Station
Starting Year in Program: 2006
Research Interests: Parental investment, sexual conflict, and maternal hormones
Statement: I study behavioral ecology. My research looks at the role of maternal testosterone in sexual conflict and parental investment in house wrens (Troglodytes aedon). I focus on whether female house wrens enhance testosterone levels in their eggs to increase male care for offspring when she has been cheating on her mate.

Name: Daniel Kane (kanedan1@msu.edu)
Department: Crop & Soil Sciences
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Degrees Held: B.A., Biology, Middlebury College, 2009
Starting Year in Program: 2011
Research Interests: Effects of conservation tillage on soil health
Statement: Conventional tillage systems (moldboard plowing, etc.) have long been used in agriculture to prepare fine seedbeds, mineralize soil nitrogen, and control weeds. But they can often result in the loss of soil carbon through the breakdown of soil aggregates and stimulation of microbial activity. Recently, no-till systems, which only disturb the soil in planting rows, have been widely adopted in the Midwest for their well-documented benefits to soil carbon pools and overall soil health. However, no-till systems are heavily dependent on herbicides to control for weeds and fertilizer to supply plants with soluble nitrogen.

Zonal management systems (ridge tillage, strip tillage, etc.) aim to combine the benefits of conventional and no-till systems by creating "soil functional zones" within crop rows. A planting zone is managed with minimized tillage that mineralizes some soil nitrogen and prepares a narrow seedbed, while an adjacent soil building or carbon sequestration zone is either planted with a cover crop or left undisturbed to increase soil carbon pools, maintain soil health, and prevent erosion. My research focuses on the efficacy of zonal management systems, particularly ridge tillage, by evaluating the spatial variability of soil properties, carbon pools, and microbial communities both on a small scale (across ridges) and large scale (across fields). As well, I will be investigating the potential of zonal management systems to help farmers adapt to future climate scenarios projected for the Upper Midwest due to anthropogenic climate change.

Name: Kane Keller (keller47@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jen Lau
Degrees Held: B.S., Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007; A.S. with Highest Honors, Rock Valley College, 2005
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Statement: My research explores processes that regulate community structure or determines assembly trajectories and the effects of multiple levels of diversity on ecosystem processes and evolution in prairie habitats. I am focusing on the interface between community ecology and evolution to explore topics such as: the independent and interactive effects of genetic diversity and propagule pressure on plant establishment and invasion into novel communities; and the effects of genetic and species diversity and genotypic order or arrival on community and ecosystem functions as well as the maintenance of these diversity patterns and their implications for the evolutionary potential of species. Additionally, I plan to explore how locally native switchgrass populations can be influenced by increasing agricultural switchgrass biofuel production and what consequences may arise from these plantations. Overall, I believe that understanding the mechanisms that drive community changes, determine species interactions, and influence the assembly of biodiversity would enhance the aestheticism of natural systems as well as the ability to recreate or restore communities.

Name: Dustin Kincaid (kincai32@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Steve Hamilton
Degrees Held: B.S., Zoology & Biological Aspects of Conservation, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Starting Year in Program: 2011
Statement: I am broadly interested in understanding and predicting how freshwater ecosystems, mainly streams and wetlands, respond to environmental change and how these processes influence surface water chemistry and ecosystem productivity. I am specifically interested in the flux and transformations of nutrients and organic matter within these systems.

Name: Lauren Kinsman (kinsmanl@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Steve Hamilton
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Research Interests: Shallow freshwater ecosystems
Statement: I study the ecology of shallow freshwater ecosystems like ponds, wetlands, and streams. I am particularly interested in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in these ecosystems. For my dissertation research, I am investigating how fluctuating water levels influence phosphorus binding and release processes in sediments. I am currently testing the hypothesis that processes of phosphorus binding and release and controls over these processes depend heavily on characteristics of the sediment in an ecosystem (e.g., organic matter content, iron content).

Name: Melissa Kjelvik (kjelvikm@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior program (EEBB)
Advisor: Gary Mittelbach
Degrees Held: B.S., Natural Resources, 2007
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Research Interests: ecological tradeoffs, maintenance of intraspecific variation, foraging behavior, aquatic ecologyStatement: The overarching question that motivates my research is centered on how intraspecific variation can be maintained within a population. There are a variety of proposed mechanisms for the diversity of individual animal behaviors, or personalities, observed in nature. Two of these mechanisms include ecological tradeoffs and behavioral syndromes (correlated behavioral types, e.g. boldness, aggressiveness). I study foraging behavior in bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) to examine the importance of maintaining various behavioral strategies within a population and the ecological consequences of opposing strategies. Much of the current research on behavioral syndromes, or animal personalities, is done in a laboratory setting. With the controlled environment of the pond lab facility at KBS, I am able to extend laboratory results to a more natural field setting.

Name: Colin Kremer (kremerco@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Chris Klausmeier
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology and Mathematics, SUNY - Geneseo, 2008; A.S., Math and Science, Jamestown Community College, 2005
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Statement: I am broadly interested in mathematical ecology at the population and community levels, spatial ecology, non-equilibrium dynamics, interfacing ecological and evolutionary models, and using a diversity of statistical approaches to connect theoretical predictions with empirical biological data. Currently, I'm studying the role of nutrient levels in promoting cyanobacteria blooms. This involves testing predictions of resource competition theory by developing new statistical methods, which I am applying to a large limnological data set. I'm also working on an eco-evolutionary model of the diversification and coexistence of phytoplankton in a non-equilibrium, single resource environment.

Website: http://www.msu.edu/~kremerco

Name: Cara Krieg (kriegca1@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
KBS Advisor: Tom Getty
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, Grinnell College, 2010
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: I'm broadly interested in behavioral ecology, specifically in behavioral interactions between individuals.  My research focuses on the differences between female-female aggression and male-male aggression using the house wren (Troglodytes aedon).  Studies of intrasexual aggression have historically focused on males, despite the fact that aggression between females is widespread and can have important impacts on breeding decisions and female fitness.  Recent work comparing male and female aggression suggests female-female aggression may be relatively more responsive to the value of the contested resource.  I am testing the hypothesis that these differences are caused by sex differences in the costs to losing an aggressive encounter.

Website: www.msu.edu/user/kriegca1/index.html

Name: Michael Kuczynski (kuczyns8@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Tom Getty
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Univ. of Minnesota, 2009
Starting Year in Program: 2009
Statement: I am broadly interested in communication and sexual selection. Specifically, I study how life history trade-offs affect sexual signaling in American toads (Bufo americanus). Many species face a trade-off between current and future reproductive effort: greater current sexual signaling and reproductive effort reduces longevity and future reproduction. Older individuals however experience reduced marginal costs of reproductive effort due to declining future reproductive opportunities. All else being equal, older, poor quality males are expected to signal as intensively as younger, high quality males. This could potentially reduce the correlation between observable signals and unobservable qualities of importance to females, which could affect reproductive and population dynamics. I utilize field recordings of the calling behavior of male toads of different ages and physical condition to examine these predictions.

Name: Raffica La Rosa (larosara@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jeff Conner
Starting Year in Program: 2006
Statement: My dissertation research is on the adaptation and evolution of novel floral parts in response to visiting pollinators. The questions I am working on are: how does natural selection produce evolutionarily novel structures, what traits are adaptive, and using a comparative approach, what is the outcome of selection on adaptations across species and environments? I am using members of the milkweed sub- family (Asclepiadoideae) to answer these questions because they have very unique flowers and are found in a variety of environments throughout the world. To measure direct selection, with the intent of identifying adaptations to pollinators, I will focus on three native species in the genus Asclepias.

Name: Megan Larsen (larsenm9@msu.edu)
Department: Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Advisor: Jay Lennon
Starting Year in Program: 2009
Research Interests: My research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary interactions of marine cyanobacteria and their viruses under nutrient stressors in the environment.
Website:  www.msu.edu/~larsenm9

Name: Susan Magnoli (magnolis@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jen Lau
Degrees Held: M.S., Biology, Sonoma State University, 2011; B.S., Plant biology, UC-Davis, 2008
Starting Year in Program: 2011
Statement: My research interests are community ecology and invasion ecology.  More specifically, I am interested in how the novel species interactions and ecosystem changes caused by exotic plant invasions affect community structure and diversity.  My goal is to conduct research that both contributes to the management invaded ecosystems and improves our understanding of basic community ecology.

Name: Beth Miller (mill1455@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Chris Klausmeier
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Starting Year in Program: 2009
Statement: My research looks at how communities assemble in seasonal environments. I study how the trait distribution of the phytoplankton community in a temperate freshwater lake changes through the year and how that correlates with changing conditions in the lake. I am interested in what drives that community assembly and whether by knowing those drivers we can predict how communities will respond to environmental change.  I address these issues both through observational and experimental studies that quantify the trait distributions in the community as well as with mathematical techniques to understand how tradeoffs between traits could shape communities.

Name: Mario Muscarella (muscare2@msu.edu)
Department: Microbiology & Molecular Genetics (MMG)
Advisor: Jay Lennon
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: My research focuses on microbial communities in aquatic systems. In particular, I am interested in how heterotrophic microbial communities are involved in the transformation of complex carbon compounds. I am currently exploring linkages between carbon quality and diversity and microbial diversity.  The majority of my dissertation work will be done on lakes in Michigan (areas around KBS and in the Upper Peninsula) and will involve both field based studies and controlled laboratory experiments.

Name: Jakob Nalley
Department: Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior (EEBB)
Advisor: Elena Litchman
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Biological Sciences (emphasis in Ecology) and B.S., Environmental Science, 2011
Starting Year in Program: 2011
Research Interests: Community ecology, algal biofuels, climate change, sustainability, trait-based approaches, aquatic ecosystem ecology
Statement: I have a strong interest in anthropogenic climate change and how technological and scientific solutions can entwine to address issues of sustainability. My graduate work focuses primarily on the application of community ecology principles to algal biodiesel production, specifically investigating how large outdoor algal ponds can be efficient and high-yielding during fluctuating environmental conditions. My main objective is to construct a multi-species community of algae that will produce large yields of neutral lipids, the diesel feedstock. Through identifying and quantifying physiological parameters, such as growth rate, lipid % per cell, temperature range and nutrient requirements, I aim to select candidate algal species to construct a highly efficient and continuous high lipid-yielding polyculture. This work has very broad impacts, including addressing rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to algal biofuels potential carbon neutrality from production to consumption, and also reduction in overall fuel costs though creating a reliable and domestic energy source.

Name: Nicole Nelson (nelso505@msu.edu)
Department: Animal Science
Advisor: Santiago Utsumi
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Dairy Science and Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, 2011

Name: Christine Neiman (niemanc2@msu.edu)
Department: Animal Science
Advisor: Santiago Utsumi
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, 2010
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: : I am interested in nutrition for grazing dairy cows. I am studying the effects of stocking rate and supplementation on the pasture based robotic dairy at KBS. I am looking at how stocking rate and supplementation affect cow performance, robot performance, and pasture production. By looking at this data I can discover if cows under certain grazing management systems consume more forage and produce more milk. My goal is to provide information about grazing strategies that allow for greater utilization of the pasture and higher milk production for small grazing dairies in the Midwest.

Name: Anne Royer (royerann@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jeff Conner
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.A., Oberlin College, 2002
Starting Year in Program: 2006
Research Interests: Floral evolution and plant-pollinator interactions
Statement: My research focus is on the evolutionary ecology of plant-insect interactions, particularly plant-pollinator relationships.  I am interested in integrating the fields of evolution and ecology, from genetics to community composition, to understand how species interactions contribute to biodiversity.Current projects include:- Investigating the function of short stamens in the Brassicaceae (the mustard family) and the roles of selection and constraint in the evolution of stamen loss in Arabidopsis thaliana- Understanding how spatial and temporal variation in pollinator communities affects selection on floral shape and color in Claytonia virginica (the Spring Beauty wildflower, in the Portulacaceae)
Website: https://www.msu.edu/~connerj/Conner_Lab/Anne_Royer.html

Name: Leilei Ruan (ruanleil@msu.edu)
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Advisor: Phil Robertson
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: M.S., Soil Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, 2007; B.S., Land Resources Management, Anhui Agricultural University, 2004
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Research Interests: Soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, impacts of growing biofuel crops on climate change in terms of GHG emissions from cultivationStatement: I study soil science & environmental science and policy. My research focuses on greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4 and N2O) emissions from agricultural ecosystems. Specifically, my research 1) explores the response of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and biomass yields to nitrogen application rate and attempts to reduce GHG emissions through proper nitrogen fertilization management while still maintaining crop yields; 2) explores to what degree no-till practices can reduce GHG emissions after conversion from the Conservation Reserve Program land to cropland; 3) explores whether freeze-thaw cycles caused by global warming will increase GHG emissions from tilled soil.

Name: Elizabeth Schultheis (schulth5@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Jen Lau
Degrees Held: BA, Environmental Biology, Colgate University, 2008
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Research Interests: Community ecology and invasion biology
Statement: My research is on invasive plant species and their interactions with the communities they invade. Specifically, I am interested in studying the role of plant soil feedbacks (PSF) in species invasions. I plant to look at factors such as time since invasion and relatedness to other individuals in the community to see if these factors affect the acquisition of soil enemies for a new invader. My current research uses Acer platanoides to study the Enemy Release Hypothesis and PSF to determine if A. platanoides' ability to invade intact forests comes from a relatively more positive PSF as compared to the native A. saccharum, and whether these feedbacks can alter the outcome of competition.

Name: Iurii Shcherbak (shcherba@msu.edu)
Department: Crop & Soil Sciences
Advisor: Phil Robertson
Degrees Held: B.S., Computer Science, Moscow State University, 2006
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Research Statement: During the last century, severly distorted natural cycle of active nitrogen by growing leguminous crops and applying large amounts of chemical fertilizers to the fields. Along with leaching, volatilization, and runoff, denitrification is one of the ways active nitrogen leaves the site of application. Denitrification produces two gases: dinitrogen gas, which is a major component of the atmosphere; and nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas approximately 300 times "stronger than carbon dioxide. Scientists studied denitrification for more than a century, concentrating attention on topsoil denitrification, because topsoil generally is the most biochemically active zone that is also easier to access. Out of ~10,000 papers on the topic, only 30 are related to deeper soil processes, with only a handful on agricultural soils.What portion of overall denitrification is occurring below the topsoil layer, and how important is it for gas emissions (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) from soil to the atmosphere? Answering the above questions will enhance our understanding of the nitrogen cycle, improve estimates of agricultural contributions to global climate change, and assist in improving soil managmenet practice recommendations. Previous research indicated that subsoils do not contribute a significant amount of gas to the atmosphere, despite exremely high concentrations of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide at depth. New research at the Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University, located in Southwest Michigan, indicates that high gas concentrations of the gases at depth contribute significatn amounts of gas to the atmosphere. Data on soil temperature, soil moisture, soil air samples, gas flux to the atmosphere, and water percolated below root zone were repeatedly collected.Further analysis in comination with stable 15N isotope data will provide clarifications to the results. To validate research outcomes KBS experiments need to be implemented in different locations, which will extend results applicability to most of the temperate agricultural soils.

Name: Christine Sprunger (sprunge5@msu.edu)
Department: Crop & Soil Sciences
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Degrees Held: B.A., Program on the Environment, University of Washington, 2010; B.S., Environmental Science and Resource Management, University of Washington, 2010
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: Research investigates carbon sequestration potential of annual and perennial root systems by examining both root carbon quality and quantity.

Name: Kate Steensma (steensm7@msu.edu)
Department: Animal Science
Advisor: Santiago Utsumi
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Ecology, Seattle Pacific University, 2010
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Statement: I am interested in behavioral ecology, particularly in animal movements and resource utilization.  My current research focuses on the foraging behavior of dairy cattle in a pasture-based, robotic milking system.  By looking at spatial and temporal foraging preferences, I hope to better understand how dairy cows respond to the pasture environment.  My goals are to explore how satiety and the rules of optimal foraging together influence grazing patterns, and to develop practical and effective grazing management strategies based on ecological principles.

Name: Mridul Thomas (thomasmr@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Elena Litchman
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: M.Sc., Marine Science, University of Goa, 2007; B.Sc., Zoology, University of Madras, 2005
Starting Year in Program: 2007
Research Interests: Community ecology, microbial ecology & evolution, thermal biology, aquatic ecosystem ecology, and climate change
Statement: I'm interested in understanding how communities are likely to reassemble as a result of anthropogenic climate change. I study the role temperature plays in determining the fitness of phytoplanktonic species and the composition of phytoplankton communities, in order to be able to predict changes that will result from lake & ocean warming. Specifically, I'm attempting to link the temperature-response traits of individual species and functional groups to changes in their abundance across time and space. As rapid evolution of phytoplankton may buffer the impact of climate chage on these communities, I will also attempt to quantify rates of adaptation to temperature change, both in the lab and Gull Lake.

Name: Sienna Tinsley (tinsle10@msu.edu)
Department: Crop & Soil Sciences
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.A., Geology, Amherst College, 2008
Starting Year in Program: 2010

Name: Tomomi Suwa (suwatomo@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology and EEBB
Advisor: Jen Lau
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: M.S., Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008; B.Sc. (Honors), Ecology, University of Guelph, 2004
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Statement: I am broadly interested in mutualism, species coexistence and diversity. Using plant-rhizobia interactions as a model system, I am currently working on two main projects:

1. The potential ecological and evolutionary impacts of novel stressors (herbicides) on soil microbial organisms and, consequently, on crops that rely on the ecosystem services provided by the soil microbial community (e.g., nutrient availability, pathogen suppression).
2. Effects of environmental stress (e.g. drought, light) on plant-rhizobia interaction in natural systems.

Visiting Graduate Students

Name: Carina Baskett (baskettc@msu.edu)
Department: Plant Biology
Advisor: Doug Schemske
Degrees Held: B.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, 2010
Research Location: East Lansing and KBS
Starting Year in Program: 2011
Statement: I am interested in evolutionary ecology; specifically, how biotic interactions such as pollination can affect plant evolution. Currently I am focusing on plant mating sytem evolution and the latitudinal diversity gradient, but I have not yet settled on a dissertation topic.

Name: Ryan Disney (disneyry@msu.edu)
Department: GLBRC
Institution: Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Garden
Advisor: Gross
Degrees Held: B.S., Botany, Michigan State University, 2004
Research Location: KBS
Starting Year in Program: 2011

Name: Krista Isaacs (isaacskr@msu.edu)
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Degrees Held: B.A., Sociology, University of Montana, 2000; M.P.S., International Agriculture and Rural Development, Cornell University, 2007
Research Location: Rwanda
Starting Year in Program: 2008
Statement: I am broadly interested in how agrodiversity effects ecosystem function and provides multiple ecosystem services in subsistence agriculture. My research is based in Rwanda where I collaborate with farmers to design improved intercropping systems. Specifically, I am looking at the mechanisms of interspecific dynamics that affect the performance of different common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes in three cropping systems. I also use mixed methods to understand from the perspective of farmer households the impact of seed and crop diversity on ecosystems services such as food security, food diversity and cultural value. My applied research aims to address how we can utilize genetic and crop diversity in the design of sustainable systems, to improve participatory bean breeding activities, and inform agricultural policy in Rwanda.

Name: Mary Ollenburger (ollenbur@msu.edu)
Department: Crop & Soil Sciences; Ecological Food and Farming Systems
Advisor: Sieglinde Snapp
Research Location: Kellogg Biological Station
Degrees Held: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2006
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Research Interests: My research uses crop modeling to explore aspects of sustainable intensification using legumes in maize-based smallholder farming systems in Malawi. I am specifically focusing on the impacts of climate variability and climate change, and the interaction between climate and the ecosystem services provided by legumes, including grain yield, soil fertility benefits, and food security.

Name:  Brendan O'Neill (oneill33@msu.edu)
Department:  Crop and Soil Sciences
Advisor: Tom Schmidt
Research Location:  Kellogg Biological Station (LTER)
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, Indiana University, 2000; B.A., Spanish, Indiana University, 2001; M.Sc., Crop and Soil Science, Cornell University, 2007
Starting Year in Program: 2010
Research Statement: My research focuses on how cropping system diversity alters belowground ecosystem processes. I am conducting research on the Biodiversity Experiment of the  LTER, and will monitor greenhouse gas flux, nutrient turnover potentials (primarily for carbon and nitrogen), and various measures of biological activity, such as soil enzyme activity. I will relate these processes to the composition of the soil microbial community using genomic analysis. A key question is whether cropping system diversity reshapes dominant ecosystem processes carried out by the microbial community. A goal of his work is to better understand controls on oil ecosystem function and relate them to sustainable farming practices and provisioning of ecosystems services.

Name: Alycia Reynolds-Lackey (reyno340@msu.edu)
Department: Zoology
Advisor: Jenny Boughman (MSU) / Tom Getty (KBS)
Research Location: East Lansing
Degrees Held: B.S., Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006
Starting Year in Program: 2009
Research Statement: My research lies at the intersections of evolution, behavior, and speciation. I started my Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 with Dr. Jenny Boughman. In the fall of 2009, I moved with my research advisor to Michigan State University to continue my degree. Here is a link to our lab website: https://www.msu.edu/user/boughman

I study how reproductive isolation between species evolves and how it maintains distinct species, especially in the face of environmental change and hybridization. I am currently exploring the causes and consequences of hybridization between two species of threespine stickleback fish. Some questions I am interested to answer are: When barriers break down, which are the first to be lost? How does ecology mediate the loss or maintenance of these barriers? I compare this case study of isolation loss to other stickleback species pairs that maintain reproductive isolation. My research examines how the speciation process works by studying the process as it progresses and breaks down.