Ecology Student Symposium 2014

The third Ecology Student Symposium will be held February 21, 2014 in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center at the University of Wyoming.  The Symposium, coordinated and hosted by the PhD students of the Program in Ecology, will feature student research currently underway in the Program in Ecology, ranging from soil microbes and climate change to short-horned lizard ecology to Arabian wolf movement in Israel.

The event is free and open to the public - all are welcome to attend!

Download the flyer here!

> Download the Program/Abstract Book here!

Agenda

12:00 - 12:15 pm  Opening remarks, Dr. Khaled Gasem, Associate Provost of Graduate Education.  Berry Center Auditorium (rm. 138)

12:15 - 1:15 pm  Keynote Address, "Developing a Map of Life: A Conceptual and Cyberinfrastructure Framework for Documenting Global-scale Biodiversity and Monitoring its Change," Dr. Rob Guralnick, University of Colorado at Boulder.   Berry Center Auditorium (rm. 138).  Click here to visit Dr. Guralnick's website.

1:15 - 1:30 pm  Break

1:30 - 5:00 pm  Oral Presentations by Program in Ecology Students, Berry Center Auditorium (rm. 138). 

1:30 "High spatial variation in the consumer isoscape: is it individual specialization?" Carolyn Eckrich
1:45 "Study of Homeoviscous adaptation in native bees of Wyoming," Susma Giri
2:00 "Visitor Perceptions of Bark Beetle Impacted Forests in the Rocky Mountains: Preliminary Findings," Christa Cooper Sumner
2:15 "Habitat use in a changing environment: A story of cold stress in a heat-sensitive mammal," Embere Hall

2:30 - 2:45  Break

2:45 "Planning Future Restoration for Long Term Persistence of a Declining Species," Beth Fizpatrick
3:00 "Twelve years of high resolution near surface radiometer data provides insight into controls on end of season in a dry grassland," Lynn Moore
3:15 "How much do bark beetles change the annual water cycle of a spruce-fir forest?" John Frank
3:30 "An ecological engineer maintains consistent spatial patterning across environmental gradients, with implications for community-wide effects," Reilly Dibner 

3:45 - 4:00 Break

4:00 "The effects of disturbance on the structure and functional diversity of cloud forest insect communities," Guinevere Jones
4:15 "Direct measurement of stream nitrogen fixation via membrane inlet mass spectrometry," Hilary Madinger
4:30 "Understanding wetland ephemerality in the context of climate change," Charlotte Gabrielsen

4:45  Closing remarks, Dr. Matt Kauffman, Program in Ecology

5:00 - 8:00 pm  Poster Presentations & Social by Program in Ecology Students, Berry Center Lobby. 

"Using data to help increase STEM retention rates for at-risk students; Student expectations and skill building," David Reed

"Uptake of 15N tracer by different functional types across a sagebrush/lodgepole pine ecotone," Cait Rottler

"Application of Stable Isotopes to Reconstruct Greater Sage-Grouse Chick Dietary History: Dietary Selection and Relative Body Condition," Kurt Smith

"Fitness Consequences from Different Migration Behavior in Greater Sage-Grouse," Aaron Pratt

"Competitive interactions among native snails and the New Zealand mud snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, using grazing experiments and stable isotope analysis," Michele Larson

"Surface and canopy fuels vary widely in 24-yr old postfire lodgepole pine forests," Kellen Nelson

"Variation in the expression of the ecophysiological traits among croptypes of Brassica rapa," Yulia Yarkhunova

"Tank organisms of Ecuadorian cloud forest bromeliads," Megan Wilson

"Did Native American fires maintain the longleaf pine ecosystem?  A paleoecological approach," Rachel Jones

"Understanding baseline and elevated urinary cortisol in a captive polar bear," John Whiteman

The Berry Center is located just west of the Geology Building on Lewis Street between 9th and 10th Streets. Call 766-6240 or email brenna.marsicek@uwyo.edu with any questions.