Below are some pictures from our lab and field work:
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Our lab group was ready to go at the 2024 CNSM research symposium! Haley, Bryce, Eli, and Cameron worked very hard to get their research ready to present. We had fun at a lab pumpkin carving gathering in October 2023! Lab undergraduate Honors Thesis student Madison presented her research as a CNSM chalk talk in September 2023. She did a great job! The lab group during Fall 2023 (note we are missing a few important people!) A photo from our second lab meeting during Fall 2023 Felicia and Hal tried out a Biology Department boat - thanks to UCA Biology faculty Dr. Ben Cash for taking us out! Lydia successfully defended her thesis prospectus in August 2023 - congratulations! Setting up the STOICH database Hackathon during the Year 3 project summit in Hot Springs (summer 2023) Taking students sampling at night out at Gulpha Gorge in Hot Springs National Park as part of the Year 3 STOICH Summit! Hal presented a summary of our Brewer Lake work to the Conway Corp Board of Directors in July 2023 - highlighting all our hard work! Lydia and summer 2023 REU student Isabel collected Bryozoans out at Brewer Lake! The light trap in action - courtesy of UCA Biology faculty member Dr. David Dussourd! Eli prepping for light trapping to collect adult insects along one of his thesis sites. Lydia, Hal, and Haley worked with Conway Corp engineers to set-up a storm sampling tube underground at Cypress Creek. IT was a team effort! Brady and Eli bringing it home during summer 2023 after sampling one of Eli's thesis sites. Undergraduate lab technician Tyler helping with processing our Brewer Lake samples. Photos from the UCA College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM) research symposium - April 2023: Graduate student Anthony and his poster on organic matter stoichiometry in urban and forested Arkansas streams Undergraduate student Tyler and her poster on seston characteristics in Brewer Lake Undergraduate student Aidan Patton and his poster on water quality and phytoplankton in Central Arkansas ponds Undergraduate student Emily and her poster on water quality indicators in Central Arkansas streams Graduate student Molly and her poster on stream macroinvertebrates, water quality, habitat, and land use in south Arkansas streams Our lab group photo in January 2023! The new year looks bright. Pausing for a moment in December 2022 by our beloved field truck - after a full day of Molly's stream macroinvertebrate sampling! October 2022 - lab undergraduate Aidan sampling a study pond for water quality and seston stoichiometry Rachel and Anthony sampling stream macroinvertebrates during summer 2022 Anthony smiling as he collects macroinvertebrates from a study stream in summer 2022 Brewer Lake sampling during November 2022 - Lake water levels were at their annual lowest; we braved the cold to collect our samples! Can you see Lydia bundled up? Brewer Lake sampling during October 2022 - Lydia and Maya posing before sampling with "Sonderella" Cypress Creek bridge sampling during October 2022 Relief after our first stream sampling of 2022 for Anthony's thesis project - with undergraduate lab member Noah! Photos from the 2022 UCA College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM) annual research symposium! Molly Wozniak - Land use impacts on water chemistry in low-gradient Arkansas streams Brandy Everett - Land use effects on water quality in the rapidly urbanizing White Oak Bayou watershed, Arkansas Lydia Bradshaw - Annual and seasonal nutrient dynamics in a Central Arkansas drinking water reservoir Celeste Johnson - The relationship between phycocyanin, dissolved oxygen, and lake stratification in Brewer Lake, a monomictic southern reservoir Tyler Grandjean - The effects of Hydrilla presence on macroinvertebrate communities in Lake Maumelle, Arkansas Lab trip to "sample" pumpkins for carving during October 2021!
Capping off our 64th sampling of Brewer Lake with a selfie! It has been a thrill to work with Tori on this project and bring in new faces including Skye (center right), a summer 2021 REU student, and Lydia (far right), new M.S. thesis student! We are all smiles after a round of field work on the East Gulf Coastal Plains project! We have our baby sondes in the back of the truck :)
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Analyzing samples to quantify enzyme activity on decomposing leaf litter.
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Gorgeous views from Brewer Lake, Arkansas
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Collecting water depth samples for nutrient analyses at Brewer Lake, Arkansas
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Nutrient-diffusing substrates deployed at one of our sites in the Point Remove watershed, Arkansas.
Point Remove nutrient-diffusing substrate study w/ Tori Hebert, M.S. student at UCA |
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Collecting leaf disks from nutrient-diffusing substrates.
Point Remove nutrient-diffusing substrate study w/ Tori Hebert, M.S. student at UCA |
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Nutrient-diffusing substrate study in the Point Remove watershed, Arkansas - after 3 weeks of deployment, leaves were harvested and returned to the laboratory for assays.
Point Remove nutrient-diffusing substrate study w/ Tori Hebert, M.S. student at UCA |
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The lab group pauses for a photo after an intensive day of laboratory assays.
Point Remove nutrient-diffusing substrate study w/ Tori Hebert, M.S. student at UCA |
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Decomposing tulip poplar litter showing signs of "skeletonization"
(and sampling to collect leaf disks to measure microbial activity and biomass!)
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
(and sampling to collect leaf disks to measure microbial activity and biomass!)
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
Flume set-up featuring shaded flumes to reduce light availability during leaf decomposition
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
Flume set-up under light. We use light canopy to reduce solar heating and ultraviolet light. We are interested in whether leaf decomposition occurs differently in the presence versus absence of light.
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Cheyenne Brady
In December 2017, we received 3-4 inches of snow in Southern Mississippi! This flume study was manipulating both light conditions and dissolved nutrient availability during leaf decomposition.
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Taylor Price
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Taylor Price
Large, slow-circulating wetland mesocosms allow us to manipulate factors including temperature, light, and nutrients in a greenhouse setting. Each of these plexiglass sheets represents a different light treatment.
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn and Eastern Michigan M.S. student Joel Bonney
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn and Eastern Michigan M.S. student Joel Bonney
Floating incubation boats allow us to conduct microbial assays (e.g. degradative enzymes) under experimental light and temperature conditions in the greenhouse.
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn and Eastern Michigan M.S. student Joel Bonney
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn and Eastern Michigan M.S. student Joel Bonney
We compare microbial biomass and activity on leaf litter (Typha latifolia) in the presence versus absence of algae. Can you tell which sample was incubating under the light?
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn, and Southern Miss REU student Tori Hebert
Collaborative project at the University of Alabama w/ Francoeur, Findlay, Kuehn, and Southern Miss REU student Tori Hebert
Our team of students and faculty from Eastern Michigan, Southern Miss, and Alabama working to understand how algae influence carbon flows during leaf decomposition!
We built a system to feed radioactive-labeled leaf litter to detritivorous caddisflies (Pycnopsche sp.) in the fume hood. Stay tuned for some interesting findings as we try to resolve the ingredients in the "peanut butter" on the cracker!
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Taylor Price
M.S. thesis experiment at Southern Miss w/ Taylor Price
Leaf litter diets (Typha) conditioned in the presence/absence of light prior to feeding to snails (Planorbella sp.) in the laboratory.
Collaborative experiment at University of Alabama w/ Carla Atkinson and UA undergraduate students including Lucas Glisson, Gabriella Dickinson, and Abby Rankin
Collaborative experiment at University of Alabama w/ Carla Atkinson and UA undergraduate students including Lucas Glisson, Gabriella Dickinson, and Abby Rankin
Conducting excretion trials with Planorbella after feeding on leaf litter conditioned under high/low nutrients and dark/light conditions.
Collaborative experiment at University of Alabama w/ Carla Atkinson and UA undergraduate students including Lucas Glisson, Gabriella Dickinson, and Abby Rankin
Collaborative experiment at University of Alabama w/ Carla Atkinson and UA undergraduate students including Lucas Glisson, Gabriella Dickinson, and Abby Rankin
