Program in Ecology and Evolution
Interdisciplinary Program
Debbie Swierczek, Program Coordinator
School of Graduate Education
Knight Hall 247
Phone: 307-766-4128
Email: ecology@uwyo.edu
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany
PhD Advisor: Matt Kauffman & Kevin Monteith
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
UW Dissertation of the Year: Surfing Green Waves of Forage: Evaluating the Causes and Consequences of Ungulate Migration
Positions after graduation: Founder and Executive Director of Hirola Conservation Programme, Kenya
PhD Advisor: Jake Goheen
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Range Collapse, Demography and Conservation of the Critically Endangered Hirola Antelope in Kenya
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Ellen Currano
PhD Home Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS), Germany
PhD Advisor: Jake Goheen & Douglas Keinath
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Energetic drivers of behavior and body size in bats
Positions after graduation 1) Post-doctoral researcher, University of Cape Town, South Africa; 2) Proposal Writer/Editor,
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
PhD Advisor: Brent Ewers
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Spatial and Temporal Variability of Tree Transpiration and its Drivers Along a Soil Drainage Gradient in the Boreal Black Spruce Forest
Positions after graduation: Ecologist/Coordinator, Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia
PhD Advisor: Indy Burke
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Energy development and recovery in South Central Wyoming: soils, vegetation and productivity
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral research fellow, San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research & WildCRU, University of Oxford
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Coastal river otter sociality and demography in a changing environment
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Behavior, Oklahoma City Zoo
PhD Advisor: Sarah Benson-Amram
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Personality, problem solving, and social learning: Individual variation in behavior in Asian elephants and zebra finches
Positions after graduation: NSF postdoctoral fellow, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
PhD Advisor: Matt Carling
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: An Integrative Approach to Understanding Hybrid Zone Movement and Introgression in Sphyrapicus Woodpeckers
Positions after graduation: Assistant professor of nature resource management, New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM
PhD Advisor: Indy Burke
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: The Impact of Wildland Fire and Fire Mitigation on Forest Carbon Storage
Clay BuchananPositions after graduation: Grant biologist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division
PhD Advisor: Jeff Beck
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Elk response to disturbance from development of a coal bed natural gas field in northeast Wyoming
William "John" CalderPositions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Wyoming Department of Botany
PhD Advisor: Bryan Shuman
PhD Department: Geology and Geophysics
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Wyoming Game and Fish Department
PhD Advisor: Anna Chalfoun
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: The effect of sage-grouse conservation on wildlife species of concern: implications for the umbrella species concept
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Corey Tarwater
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doctoral researcher, University of New Hampshire Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, 2) Visiting Scientist at Luke, Sweden, 3) Postdoctoral researcher, International Atomic Energy Agency, Austria
PhD Advisor: Dave Williams
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Soil amino acids and plant use in a semiarid grassland exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2 and warming
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral research fellow, New York Institute of Technology
PhD Advisor: Mark Clementz
PhD Department: Geology and Geophysics
PiE Dissertation Title: The evolution and paleoecology of seals and walruses (Carnivora: Pinnipedia)
Christa Cooper SumnerPositions after graduation: Adjunct faculty of natural science, Southern New Hampshire University
PhD Advisor: Jeff Lockwood
PhD Department: Philosophy
PiE Dissertation Title: Perceptions of bark beetle impacted forests in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado: A mixed-methods study
Paige Copenhaver ParryPositions after graduation: Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology and Chemistry, George Fox University
PhD Advisor: Dan Tinker
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Scale-dependent contributions of abiotic and biotic factors to tree species composition
patterns in the US Rocky Mountains
Positions after graduation: Director of the Wyoming Research Scholars Program, University of Wyoming
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: The impact of nonnative species on river otters and aquatic-terrestrial linkages in Yellowstone National Park
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Peter Stahl (Retired)
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral Scholar of Plant Microbe Interactions at Penn State University
PhD Advisor: Linda van Diepen
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Soil properties and microbial dynamics associated with invasive plants and chemical control of unwanted weedy species
Reilly DibnerPositions after graduation: Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and Wyoming Natural Diversity Database
PhD Advisor: Dan Doak
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Ecological patterns vary across spatial scales for greater short-horned lizards
and ants
Position after graduation: Assistant Researcher at the Argentine Council Research (CONICET)
PhD Advisor: Steve Buskirk
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: The Interaction among pumas, wild camelids and grasses in the high plateaus of the Andes, Argentina
Positions after graduation:
PiE Student Co-President (2021-2022)
PhD Advisor: Matt Carling
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Profesor, Oklahoma State University
PhD Advisor: Jeff Beck
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Effects of disturbance on avian diversity at a grassland-sagebrush ecotone
Carolyn EckrichPositions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: The role of bottom-up and top-down processes in the dynamics of small mammal populations in Southeast Alaska
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Bill Reiners
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Soil Transport as a Metric for the Resistance of an Ethiopian Agroecosystem to Changes in Government Policy and Climate
Positions after graduation: Electrical engineer, US Forest Service
PhD Advisor: Brent Ewers
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: An eddy covariance study of a spruce beetle outbreak on summertime evapotranspiration and ecosystem CO2 exchange and winter sublimation dynamics
Position after graduation: Assistant Professor Colorado College
PhD Advisor: Melanie Murphy
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Assessing climatic influences to wetland ephemerality and the effect of variability
on wetland-dependent species diversity
Position after graduation: Post-doctoral researcher, Washington State University in the Department of Crop and
Soil Sciences
PhD Advisor: Pete Stahl
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title:Recovery of soil properties, sagebrush steppe community structure, and environmental
heterogeneity following drastic disturbance and reclamation
Position after graduation: Post-doctoral researcher, Illinois Natural History Survey
PhD Advisor: Frank Rahel
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:Range shifts from climate change: evaluating effects on species and assemblages
Susma GiriPositions after graduation: Scientist, Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences
PhD Advisor: Michael Dillon
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Visiting assistant professor, Lees McRae College
PhD Advisor: Katie Wagner
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Eco-evolutionary drivers of diversity in East African cichlid fishes
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doctoral research associate, Texas State University; 2) Assistant Professor, Utah State University
PhD Advisor: Alex Buerkle
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: The genetics of adaptation and speciation in populations
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Ann Hild (Emeritus faculty)
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Bridging the communication gap: the effects of priming language on reception of technical scientific information by ecosystem stakeholder audiences
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Anna Chalfoun
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Wyoming Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
PhD Advisor: Anna Chalfoun
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Behavioral plasticity and resilience of a montane mammal in a changing climate
Positions after graduation: Assistant Professor of Biology, Colorado Mesa University, website
PhD Advisor: Frank Rahel
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Temporal Variations in Riverine Fish Habitat and the Potential Responses of Fish
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Instructor of Biological Sciences, Northwest College
PhD Advisor: Alex Buerkle
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Geographic and environmental context of variation in the sprices of western North America
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Dave Williams
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: 1) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; 2) Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech University
PhD Advisor: Bob Hall
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Patterns and drivers of carbon cycling in streams and rivers
Positions after graduation: Scientist at Indigo Ag
PhD Advisor: Cynthia Weinig
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: 1) Postdoctoral Associate, Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity, Movement, and Global Change within the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University; 2) Assistant Professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech
PhD Advisor: Jake Goheen and Matt Kauffman
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Behavioral, Physiological, and demographic consequences of resource limitation for large herbivores
Positions after graduation: Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
PhD Advisor: Steve Jackson
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: The role of Native American fire regimes in the maintenance of longleaf pine savanna
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Frank Rahel
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:The Implications of Climate Change for Fish Assemblage Structure along the Great Plains - Rocky Mountain Continuum
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doc, University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science; 2) Post-doc, Northern Arizona University, Center for Ecosystem Science and Societ
PhD Advisor: Bob Hall
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Estimating the Strength of Consumptive and Nonconsumptive Interactions between Trout and Mayflies
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doc, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; 2) Assistant Professor, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
PhD Advisor: Bob Hall
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Fluxes and Controls of the Contribution of N2-fixation to the N budget in Streams
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher in the Genomic Variation Lab at University of California, Davis
PhD Advisor: Holly Ernest
PhD Department: Veterinary Sciences
PiE Dissertation Title: Genetic connectivity and infectious disease ecology in two Wyoming ungulates
Positions after graduation: Lab coordinator and instructor, Life Sciences Program, University of Wyoming
PhD Advisor: Amy Krist
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Factors mediating the invasion success and impacts of the non-native freshwater snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, on native mollusks
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Kevin Monteith
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doc, Syracuse University; 2) Research Assistant Professor, Syracuse University; 3) Assistant Professor, Shepherd University
PhD Advisor: Steve Jackson
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Tree Migration: An Integrated Study of Ponderosa Pine Colonization and Expansion
Position after graduation: Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Arizona
PhD Advisor: Steve Jackson
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Integrating fossil pollen data into ecological modeling to study long-term ecology:
From sampling to inference to hypothesis testing
Positions after graduation: Lecturer, Department of Ecology at National University of Mongolia
PhD Advisor: William Lauenroth
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Dynamics of aboveground net primary production of boreal steppe of Northern Mongolia
Positions after graduation: Adjunct Instructor at Walla Walla Community College, Postdoctoral Research in the Department of Ecoystem Science and Managment, University of Wyoming
PhD Advisor: Urzula Norton & Linda van Diepen
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Legacy Effects of Bark Beetle on Biogeochemical Transformations, Microbial Communities, and Tree Regeneration One Decade Post Infestation
Positions after graduation: Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, Concordia University Wisconsin
PhD Advisor: Bob Hall
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Coupled nitrogen and metabolism fluxes of western streams
Positions after graduation: Water Resources Science-Policy Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
PhD Advisor: Frank Rahel
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Isotopic ecology of aquatic communities along the Rocky Mountains–Great Plains ecotone
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Wyoming; Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph
PhD Advisor: Alex Buerkle
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Hybridization and species cohesion in Catastomus fishes
PiE Student Co-President (2021-2022)
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Urszula Norton
PhD Department: Plant Sciences
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doc researcher at the Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology Lab at the University of Minnesota; 2) Lecturer, Botany, University of Oklahoma
PhD Advisor: Dan Tinker
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Postfire Species Shifts, and the Growth and Regeneration of Western Red Cedar (Thuja picata), a Range Margin Species, in Glacier National Park, Montana
Positions after graduation: 1) Gaylord donnelly postdoctoral fellow, Yale Insitute for Biospheric Studies; 2) Assistant Professor, University of California Berkeley
PhD Advisors: Steve Buskirk and Matt Kauffman
PhD Departments: Zoology and Physiology and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
PiE Dissertation Title:The Influence of large carnivore recovery and summer conditions on the migratory elk of Wyoming's Absaroka Mountains
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Jake Goheen
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: William Lauenroth
PhD Departments: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Phenology as an integrator of climate change in the shortgrass steppe
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doctoral researcher, Penn State University; 2) Research Assistant, Penn State University - website
PhD Advisor: Brent Ewers
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Spatial and Temporal Controls on Population and Flux Processes in Steppe Ecosystems
Positions after graduation: Post-doctoral fellow, Environmental Science, Desert Research Institute
PhD Advisor: Dan Tinker
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Drivers of Fuels, Flammability, and Fire Behavior in Young, Post-Fire Lodgepole Pine Forests
Positions after graduation: Life Sciences Program Instructional Laboratory Coordinator, University of Wyoming
PhD Advisor: James R. Lovvorn
PhD Department:
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Matt Kauffman
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cincinnati
PhD Advisor: Michael Dillion
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Geographic variation in thermal physiology and climate-driven redistribution of bumble bees
Positions after graduation: Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology: Website
PhD Advisor: Steven Buskirk and Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Ecological Studies of the American Marten
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Craig Benkman
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation:STCP/Hamerstrom Prairie Grouse Research Chair, George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center
PhD Advisor: Jeff Beck
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Partial migration, habitat selection, and conservation of greater sage-Grouse in the Bighorn Basin of Montana and Wyoming
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology & Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:
David ReedPositions after graduation: 1) Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dickinson College; 2) NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, UW-Madison
PhD Advisor: Bob Kelly and Brent Ewers
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Observing and diagnosing biological fluxes and canopy mechanisms with implications
for climate change and ecosystem disturbance
Positions after graduation: NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology at Cornell University
PhD Advisor: Katie Wagner
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Population and phylogenomic investigations into Lake Tanganyika’s pelagic fishes
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Naomi Ward
PhD Department:
PiE Dissertation Title:
Cait RottlerPositions after graduation: Climate Hub Fellowship, United States Department of Agriculture
PhD Advisor: Indy Burke
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Matthew RubinPositions after graduation: Postdoctoral research fellow, Syracuse University
PhD Advisor: Cynthia Weinig
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:Genetic architecture and fitness consequences of quantitative variation in the circadian
clock
Positions after graduation: Assistant Professor, Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
PhD Advisor: Peter Stahl
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title: Diversity, Disturbance and Restoration of Forests in Terai and Siwalik of Central Nepal
Position after graduation: Research Biologist, Western EcoSystems Techology Inc.
PhD Advisor: Jeff Beck
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title:Identifying habitat quality and population response of greater sage-grouse to treated
Wyoming big sagebrush habitats
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Brent Ewers
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Sarah Benson-Amram
PhD Department: Zoology/Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title:Experimental Investigations of Cognition in Highly Adaptable Species
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Daniel Laughlin
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Data Scientist (Artifical Intelligence), Western EcoSystems Technologies; Postdoctoral researcher, USDA APHIS Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health
PhD Advisor: Carlos Martinez del Rio
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Eradication of invasive rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the Falkland Islands:effects and
strategy
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral associate, Département de biologie, Université du Québec à Rimouski.
PhD Advisor: Craig Benkman
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: The evolution of landscape structure: Eco-evolutionary dynamics drive spatial variation in serotiny in lodgepole pine
Positions after graduation: 1) Postdoctoral Research Scientist,University of Alaska; 2) Postdoctoral ecologist, Canyonlands Research Station, United States Geological Survey
PhD Advisor: Elise Pendall
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Winter soil respiration in southeast Wyoming
Positions after graduation: 1) Post-doctoral researcher, University of Vienna, Department of Limnology; 2) Scientist, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
PhD Advisor: Bob Hall
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Sources, fates, and export of organic carbon in the Colorado River Basin
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Tim Collier & Brian Mealor
PhD Department: Ecosystem Science and Management
PiE Dissertation Title:Functional trait variation in response to nitrogen and phosphorus: Implications for Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) invasion, removal, and native species restoration
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisors: Bryan Shuman and Amy Krist
PhD Department: Geology & Geophysics
PiE Dissertation Title:
Positions after graduation: Adjunct Faculty, American University (Washington DC); Postdoctoral Researcher, Virginia Tech
PhD Advisor: Annika Walters
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Ecological responses to multiple stressors in headwater streams
Positions after graduation: 1) Research Associate (Independent), Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global; 2) Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Wyoming and University of New Mexico (supported by the North Pacific Research Board).
PhD Advisor: Merav Ben-David
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Physiological ecology of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Alaska during summer
Positions after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Wyoming
PhD Advisor: Corey Tarwater
PhD Department: Zoology and Physiology
PiE Dissertation Title: Spatiotemporal Variation in Animal Behavior, Species Interactions, and Their Impacts on Seed Dispersal Potential in a Novel Ecosystem
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Bill Baker
PhD Department: Geography
PiE Dissertation Title: Landscape Reconstruction and Analysis of Historical Structure and Disturbances in Dry Western Forests Using General Land Office Survey Data
Website
Positions after graduation:
PhD Advisor: Cynthia Weinig
PhD Department: Botany
PiE Dissertation Title: Phenotypic diversification of crops involves the evolution of complex circadian,
morphological, and physiological associations
Program in Ecology and Evolution
Interdisciplinary Program
Debbie Swierczek, Program Coordinator
School of Graduate Education
Knight Hall 247
Phone: 307-766-4128
Email: ecology@uwyo.edu