New Dimension of Plant Mating Systems
In spring 2018, Daniel Malagon won the EEB Undergraduate Research Poster Contest as a junior. He has been conducting out-of-class research over the course of his undergraduate career. He has devoted as much of his time as possible into two labs – one led by Professor Susan Kalisz (EEB) and one led by Professor Matt Gray (FWF).
Using the genus Collinsia as a model, the Kalisz lab investigates the ecological causes and genetic and genomic consequences of mating system divergence between closely related sister species pairs. Daniel added a new dimension to ongoing studies on the evolution of plant mating systems. His research asked if senescence differed between outcrossing and selfing mating species using pollen performance as the metric. An outcrossing mating system relies on a vector to move pollen among flowers, while selfers autonomously move pollen within the same flower.
“Daniel arrived in our lab the first day of his freshman year on fire,” Kalisz says. “He was eager to learn the research ropes and do his own project. His research produced novel, surprising, and soon-to-be-published results: selfers pollen does not show senescent decline, while outcrossers do!”
In the UT Center for Wildlife Health (CWH), Daniel studies amphibian disease epidemiology. Currently, he is helping determine the potential impact a recently discovered fungal pathogen (Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans) may have on endemic salamander species. Using disease epidemiology models, the Gray-Miller Lab hopes to thwart invasion of this pathogen should it ever reach North America. Daniel’s senior thesis project focuses on the probability of disease transmission via direct contact between salamanders as the disease progresses.
“It has been a privilege to co-mentor Daniel with Dr. Debra Miller,” says Gray, associate director of the UT CWH. “We look at all undergraduate researchers as significant and important components of the CWH, capable of advancing the frontier of science.”
“I strongly encourage any motivated student to look into participating in undergraduate research with a professor whose research they find interesting,” Daniel says. “My participation in these two research labs has been the highlight of my undergraduate experience. I feel very privileged to have had this opportunity to engage with such an incredible faculty and staff. I hope to take everything that I have learned with me to graduate school next fall.”
The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) is an invasive insect that is devastating hemlock populations (Tsuga canadensis and T. caroliniana) in eastern North America. Anna and fellow students in the lab analyzed the type and frequency of information presented by the media, including newspaper, radio, and television. In April 2018, they presented posters about their research at UT’s Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA).
Although it is likely most people have experienced ants at a picnic, they may not realize ants are important seed dispersers, a mutualism referred to by ecologists as myrmecochory. Seed dispersal by ants exists worldwide, but the eastern deciduous forests are a hotspot for this ant-plant interaction. Approximately 35 percent of the herbaceous plants in the understory of forests in eastern North America rely on ants for seed dispersal. Plant species that have coevolved myrmecochory have an oil-rich appendage, known as an elaiosome. The elaiosome attracts the ants with chemical cues. Ants pick up the seed by the elaiosome and return with it to their nest where they feed the elaiosome to their brood. The seed either remains in the nest or is taken outside of the nest. Thus, in myrmecochory, ants gain food, and seeds receive dispersal away from their parent plant, protection from seed predators, and a nutrient-rich germination site in or around ant nests.
Pursuing his DDS at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, John Patrick (J.P.) Carney (’13) begins his fourth and final year of dental school this fall. He will graduate May 2019. A graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Carney received his BS in biological sciences with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology. Before he began his first year at UT, Carney knew he wanted to become a dentist.
“Microbes can sometimes get a bad reputation, causing disease, food spoilage, etc.,” Kivlin says. “But, people are often surprised to learn that most microorganisms are beneficial for humans; increasing crop yields, purifying water, and recycling nutrients from dead plants back into soils.”
“Simply speaking, I am interested in identifying mechanisms responsible for different outcomes when communities are considered the same,” Leppanen says. “For example, a particular insect pest or biocontrol agent kills its host plant in one location, but not another. We increase the likelihood of success and reduce the risk of negative non-target effects when management takes these mechanisms into account.”
With more than 40,000 jars of specimens, it is the largest fish collection in the state of Tennessee and one of the most valuable in the southeastern United States. It has become a highly celebrated, nationally renowned biological archive. In fact, many southeastern US specimens in the collection have prompted the discovery of new species and have been used to study the effects of climate change and water quality on aquatic communities. The UTEIC is considered the most comprehensive tool enabling researchers to identify and predict changes in where fishes live and the size of their populations throughout Tennessee.
Natural history collections such as the UTEIC are becoming increasingly important as researchers become more interested in how organisms are related, interact with each other, and respond to largely human-caused and relatively rapid changes in global environments. In these areas, the UTEIC is very much an active and growing collection. Our current curator, Benjamin Keck, has described new species, including the 
Over the past two years, the UT Herbarium has proudly supported student botanical research through awards from the L. R. Hesler Fund and the Breedlove, Dennis Fund. More than $15,000 from these two funds has supported six undergraduate and 10 graduate students. Student research projects have included using species distribution modeling to detect dispersal limitation in endemic species, evaluating post-fire fungal associations, examining seed dispersal via ants, and determining how predacious crab spiders affect plant-pollinator interactions.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, a Biodiversity Hotspot, and a naturalist’s paradise. The Smokies also are at our own backdoor. Since 2016, EEB has offered a field course, EEB 480: Natural History of the Great Smoky Mountains, that allows students to explore the plant and animal communities, geology, geography, and human history of our nation’s most visited national park. Over a two-week period in the summer mini-term, students immerse themselves in the natural history of our Southern Appalachians.