Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

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Buried in their Work!

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EEB Volunteers get Dirty Digging Roots to Help with Invasive Species Research

Christy Leppanen, Dan Simberloff, and Kimberly Sheldon pose in front of a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii.

In July, a group of EEB faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, family, and friends helped dig roots as part of a study of belowground communities associated with hemlock trees.  Prof. Daniel Simberloff and Christy Leppanen (EEB lecturer and postdoc), are collaborating with Melissa Cregger (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to characterize microbial communities associated with native and non-native hemlocks.  Some of the trees are vulnerable to infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid, but some appear to be resistant.

Distribution of hemlock species (Tsuga spp., Family: Pinaceae)

The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae or HWA) is a sap-feeding insect introduced in the 1950s from Asia to eastern North America, where it kills native eastern (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina (T. caroliniana) hemlocks.  In Asia and in western North America, HWA feeds on, but does not kill, hemlocks that are native there.  Therefore, aspects of communities where HWA is native and trees that are apparently resistant are studied to help understand impacts and develop management approaches where HWA is introduced.

EEB graduate students Chelsea Miller (Kwit Lab) and Angela Chuang (Riechert Lab) collect roots and soil from under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.

Simberloff and Leppanen traveled with a group of 14 volunteers to North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, in Mills River, North Carolina, to collect roots and associated soil from native and non-native hemlocks that are vulnerable or appear resistant to HWA infestation.  From these samples, Cregger will characterize microbial communities: archaea, bacteria, and fungi associated with the different trees.  The team will then meet to discuss the results and consider implications and next steps.

Kylie Hannahs digs under a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii, with Chase Steele, EEB undergraduate research assistant in the Fitzpatrick and Simberloff Labs.

Microbial communities influence and can indicate associated host organism health.  Microbial diversity and composition can influence large-scale nutrient fluxes across ecosystems.  Loss of native hemlocks, or even HWA infestation of living hemlocks, may impact important ecosystem-level processes as a result of losses or changes to associated microbial communities.  Additionally, suggested replacement of our native hemlocks with non-native species such as the Chinese hemlock (T. chinensis) may have ecosystem-level implications if microbial communities associated with the Chinese hemlock differ.  Microbial communities associated with non-native “replacement” trees may not only prevent the return of native ecosystem dynamics but may also influence our native ecosystems in entirely new and unpredictable ways.

Ruth Simberloff and Frank Scott examine roots under a Himalayan hemlock, Tsuga dumosa.

Fine roots are collected to characterize microbial communities associated with different hemlock species.

T.J. Rogers, SULI Intern working with Melissa Cregger at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and EEB undergraduate researchers Jake Lockyer and Casey Fellhoelter finish work with a Chinese hemlock, Tsuga chinensis. (SULI, Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships)

EEB student workers Damon Christensen and Michael Ellison excavate under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.

Gross Named Fellow of Society for Mathematical Biology

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Louis GrossA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), Gross is also the founding and current director of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) and director of UT’s Institute for Environmental Modeling. His research focuses on computational and mathematical ecology, with applications to plant ecology, conservation biology, natural resource management, and landscape ecology.

Read more at Tennessee Today or the NIMBioS Website

Burghardt in the News

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Professor Gordon Burghardt appears in the June 23 Knoxville News-Sentinel, in an article by Philip Kronk called, “Fear of snakes may date to evolution in Africa.”

Burghardt also appears on The Evolution Institute website, in a conversation with Kevin Laland, author of “Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind.”  They discuss adaptive trends and parallel evolution generated by niche construction.  Associate Professor Joe Bailey’s research gets mentioned, too!

Penley Fellowship for Bayliss

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Shannon Bayliss (Bailey Lab) has received a Penley Fellowship from the Graduate School at UT.  This award is quite new and was first bestowed in 2016.  Awardees are selected on the strength of the applicant’s ability to make a persuasive case for the importance of their project and evidence that the fellowship is necessary to carry out a crucial aspect of the project.

Congratulations, Shannon!

Freeberg Featured in Natural History

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The June 2017 issue of Natural History has a ½ page article featuring Adjunct Professor Todd Freeberg.  The article reports on a behavioral ecology study he conducted with colleagues on naturally-occurring flocks of over-wintering Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, and white-breasted nuthatches to find out why some birds regularly travel in mixed-species flocks.

Author:  Wilson, Niki
Source:  Natural History. June 2017, Vol. 125 Issue 6, p8-8.

Todd, whose main department is Psychology, is very active in his adjunct position in EEB.  He participates in the Comparative Animal Behavior discussion group and mentors several EEB graduate and undergraduate students.

 

Gavrilets and the Role of Social Norms

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Sergey Gavrilets has coauthored a recent paper in PNAS called “Collective action and the evolution of social norm internalization.” Following social norms can sometimes be costly for individuals if norms require sacrifice for the good of the group. The study sheds light on the power of norms and the origins of cooperation. Read the NIMBioS press release about the article, here.

DoD Fellowship for Scott

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Shelby Scott (Gross Lab) has been awarded a three-year 2017 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship!  The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored and funded by the Department of Defense (DoD). NDSEG selections are made by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research, and the Army Research Office. The American Society for Engineering Education administers the NDSEG Fellowship.

Congratulations, Shelby!

 

Undergrad Herbarium Research Opportunity at UT

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1) Student Assistant – Herbarium Curation Technician, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The TENN herbarium is seeking highly organized, detail-oriented individuals, to join our team as an Herbarium Curation Technician. Students will assist members of our staff with plant specimen curation. The TENN herbarium houses over 600,000 plant and fungal specimens, which is one of the largest plant research collections in the southeastern United States. Research in the herbarium focuses on taxonomy, systematics, conservation of rare plants, floristics, and field botany.

Duties and responsibilities may include but are not limited to: Mounting dried plant specimens and labels onto archival quality paper;  Quality control: Confirming that plants and labels match each other;  Sorting and filing plant specimens by geography (TN county, state, world region) and by taxonomic relationship (family, genus, species); Assisting introductory botany students with class projects during the semester.  Training will be provided.

Qualifications: All aspects of this position require strong attention to detail and organizational skills. Strong work ethic with the ability to work independently and as part of a team is required.  Good verbal and written communication skills are required.  Students majoring or minoring in a biological science, information science, or a related field are preferred.  Previous experience with plants and familiarity with geography is preferred.

Please submit a cover letter, resume, and contact information for two references as a single document. Send applications to Dr. Jessica Budke (jbudke@utk.edu).  Please put “Student Assistant – Herbarium Curation Technician” in the subject line.

Paid hourly, approximately 8 – 15 hours per week. Work study students are encouraged to apply.