Graduate Students

Interested in ecological physiology and investigating how the environment influences development, genetic modifications, and the health of organisms

Interested in understanding the mechanisms of temperature-dependent sex determination in alligators and the ways in which man-made stressors like climate change and environmental contaminants can possibly interact with these mechanisms to produce consequences at both the individual and population levels

Research investigates the long-term and historical impacts of development and urbanization on aquatic insect communities in Atlanta, Georgia, including exploring functional responses of stream invertebrates using species’ traits in order to determine which traits allow stream biota to survive in urbanizing regions

Research interests include upland game bird ecology, rangeland ecology, and wildlife parasitology; primary research focus is roosting behavior of northern bobwhite broods and using molecular techniques to elucidate the diets of bobwhite chicks

Broadly interested in forest ecology; current research focuses on fire ecology and tree physiology or the physiology of trees

Research interests are primarily in plant physiology and ecology as well as the use of mathematical modeling to study patterns in plant physiology

Research will identify and evaluate pollution-sensitive aquatic macroinvertebrate communities distributed across five major stream systems on the Savannah River Site; research interests are conservation of freshwater ecosystems, land use, sustainable development, and climate change

Research interests and experience include reintroducing gopher tortoises, massasaugas, and flatwood salamanders; currently working in turtle conservation and management

Investigating the efficiency and dynamics of carrion removal within the southeastern United States; research interests include wildlife damage management, species interactions, nutrient cycling and conservation biology

Interested in wildlife conservation and behavioral ecology; research investigates survival, movement, and the physiological condition of head-started Mojave desert tortoises

Conducting research on the environmental impacts of wild pigs with a focus on using molecular methods to determine wild pig food habits; interests include wildlife conservation and management, behavioral ecology, and human-wildlife conflict

Research focuses on social-ecological resilience as a guiding principle in forest management, and how the concept has been implemented across U.S. Forest Service lands

Passionate about wildlife conservation and education; current research focuses on a collaborative project with the USDA estimating raccoon densities with camera traps

Studying how intermittency shapes aquatic communities and food web dynamics of secondary consumer fishes in streams

Interests include disturbance ecology, ecophysiology or the physiology of trees, and forest restoration; research will focus on the relationship between canopy complexity and physiological function with ecosystem resilience within old-growth long-leaf pine ecosystems

Research investigates the behavior and perception of ducks in response to approaching vehicles to help reduce collisions with aircraft

Interested in ecotoxicology, biogeochemistry, and environmental remediation; current research investigates the utilization of biochar, a form of charcoal, for remediation of mercury from contaminated soil

Research interests include conservation of threatened and endangered species, human-wildlife conflict, and habitat management; research will compare biological communities in historically contaminated sites to reference sites within SRS to inform future remediation efforts

Research focuses on the impacts of environmental contamination and temperature on amphibian sex ratios with implications for long-term population viability; research interests include wildlife conservation, behavioral ecology, and herpetology

Interested in the influence of land management practices on terrestrial and aquatic microbial structures and nutrient processing

Research focuses on assessing contaminant loads in alligator tail muscle and the degree to which alligators travel onto and off of the Savannah River Site to investigate exposure concerns associated with the public harvest and consumption of alligators in the region

Research interests in environmental policy and governance; currently investigating how environmental research and environmental policy influence one another

Interests include practical conservation strategies for endangered and threatened species, wetland and landscape ecology and public education; research will focus on the effectiveness of head-starting in Mojave desert tortoises as a mitigation tool to increase juvenile survival

Investigating gopher tortoise ecology in pine production forests of the Southeastern United States

Research investigates carryover effects and habitat impacts in at-risk amphibians to help improve headstarting and habitat management strategies; research interests include conservation ecology, behavioral ecology, wetland ecology, ecotoxicology, and herpetology

Interested in conservation, herpetology, ecotoxicology, wetland ecology, and disease ecology; research focuses on factors that influence amphibian community dynamics in the Southeast

Investigating how seasonally linked cycles of sulfur redox chemistry affect the sequestration of heavy metals within emergent plants, known as macrophites, and sediments in two constructed wetlands

Interested in behavioral ecology, wildlife conservation, and human-wildlife interactions; research investigates the behavior of deer and wild pigs to help reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions

Research interests include spatial and community ecology, species conservation, and wildlife management; currently researching movement, survival, and predation risks of post-release head-started Mojave desert tortoises

Conservation management, declining species, and movement ecology; research will focus on translocated northern bobwhite from private to public land (Apalachicola National Forest) and assess movement, habitat use and site fidelity

Interested in sustainable development and conservation management; currently interning in the Office of Sustainability as the Chew Crew intern and working on ecological restoration with prescribed grazing

From the level of DNA to cells to whole organisms, research is focused on the impact the environment has on embryonic development; studying alligators to determine the consequences of environmental contaminants on embryonic gonadal development and the epigenome to understand how these translate into later life stages and overall health; interests include general ecology, physiology, and behavior of reptiles and amphibians

Studying wetland restoration techniques to improve wetland plant communities for at-risk amphibians; investigating head-starting practices to increase juvenile survival in Carolina gopher frogs; interested in restoration ecology, herpetology, wetland plant communities, and disturbance ecology

Interests include behavioral ecology, biodiversity and community ecology of fishes; research focuses on the effects of legacy contaminants on freshwater fish communities

Research involves wild pig population dynamics and using game cameras to estimate wild pig populations; investigating various trap types for wild pigs and their individual efficacies; interests include wildlife-human conflict, invasive species, behavioral ecology, and the conservation and management of game species

Research interests include forestry, ecology and prescribed fire management; research will focus on energy dose thresholds for tree stem mortality

Using genetics and genomics to investigate the social structure and mating strategies of wild pigs