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50th Anniversary of Island Biogeography Studies

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In honor of the 50th anniversary of the seminal Simberloff and Wilson island biogeography studies, the Bulletin for the Ecological Society of America published a special extended edition of their “Paper Trail” series in October. In this series, young researchers tell stories of how a particular paper influenced them, and the original authors of the papers in turn describe their experiences with the paper.

For this special edition, a collection of researchers, ranging from graduate students to full professors, describe how the Simberloff and Wilson 1969 papers influenced their careers. From our department, Jeremiah Henning, Jordan Bush (graduate students), Christy Leppanen (lecturer and post doc), and Kimberly Sheldon (assistant professor) all contributed to this section. Dan Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson then wrote a reflection on the original paper, complete with photographs and stories from the mangrove experiments. 

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: Editor’s Note
(overview, by Young, Stephen L.)

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Arising and Established Researchers
(Authors: Henning, Jeremiah A.; Leppanen, Christy; Bush, Jordan; Sheldon, Kimberly S; Gotelli, Nick; Gravel, Dominique; Strauss, Sharon)

A Pioneering Adventure Becomes an Ecological Classic: The Pioneers
(Authors: Simberloff, Daniel; Wilson, Edward)

 

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.

EEB Departmental Awards 2017

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Congratulations to all the graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff who received awards at the EEB Awards Ceremony on May 1.   To view more photos, please visit the EEB Facebook page.  For more information about any of the awards below, please visit the Departmental Awards and Scholarships page.

2017 EEB Outstanding Master’s Thesis
Alix Pfennigwerth (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Jim Tanner Outstanding Dissertation
Michael Van Nuland (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Best Progress Toward Dissertation
Sam Borstein (O’Meara Lab)

2017 EEB Sandy Echternacht Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student
Tyson Paulson (Fordyce Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Publication by a Graduate Student
Rachel Wooliver (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Tom Hallam Appreciation Award
Angela Chuang (Riechert Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Outreach and Community Service by a Graduate Student
Alannie-Grace Grant (Kalisz Lab)

2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Award
Sarah Ottinger (Classen Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Undergraduate
Patrick McKenzie (Armsworth Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Undergraduate Research
Hannah Anderson (Riechert Lab)

2017 EEB Undergraduate for Professional Promise
Katie Plant (Williams Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Outreach and Community Service by an Undergraduate Student
Heiler Meek (Schweitzer Lab)

2017 EEB Outstanding Administrative Service Award
Marva Anderson

Going Above and Beyond Award
Jess Welch (Simberloff & McCracken Labs)

Science Writing Award for Bush

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Graduate student Jordan Bush (Simberloff Lab) will receive the J. Paul Blakely Award of Excellence in the category of Science Writing, Graduate Division at an awards ceremony on May 4, 2017. This award from the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC-ETC) recognizes students with an interest in technical/professional communication or science writing, from any accredited institution of higher education in East Tennessee.  Congratulations, Jordan!

Bush Authors Scientific American Blog Post

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Graduate student Jordan Bush (Simberloff lab) wrote a guest blog post for “Not Bad Science” on the Scientific American blog network.  It features some of Gordon Burghardt’s studies on play behavior and some of Todd Pierson’s photography.

Read the post, titled “Looking Past the Scales: The Truth about Reptilian Behavior,” here.

Simberloff Receives John Pritzlaff Award

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Daniel Simberloff, the Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Science, received the Honorable John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award at the 2016 California Islands Symposium.  The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden presents the award annually to a “global trailblazer in conservation.”  For details about Simberloff’s dedication to conservation, read the full press release at Island Conservation.  Congratulations, Dan!

 

Simberloff in Wired and Slate

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Prof. Dan Simberloff appeared in articles in both Wired and Slate in August.

Wired featured Simberloff in a story about human control over species population size.  Tennessee Today also posted a synopsis of Simberloff’s contributions to the article.

Slate featured Simberloff in a debate about whether biocontrol is a better alternative to pesticides. Tennessee Today summarized Simberloff’s contributions to the article.

 

Scientific American Blog Highlights UT Research

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The popular Scientific American Blog has posted an article about bat research done by grad student Jessica Welch (McCracken and Simberloff labs) and NIMBioS postdoc Jeremy Beaulieu.

The article, “Are Bats Facing a Hidden Extinction Crisis? A new way of calculating bat extinction risk reveals previously hidden conservation priorities,” can be viewed here.

Tennessee Today also did an article covering the blog post.

Eppley Foundation Grant Awarded for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Research

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Professor Daniel Simberloff and postdoc Christy Leppanen have been awarded a $16,500 grant from The Eppley Foundation for Research for their proposal:  Effects of Evolutionary Ecology and Ecosystem Variability in Native and Introduced Predator-Prey Systems.

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Simberloff and Leppanen study interactions involving introduced predators and their prey, the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae, or HWA.  A sap-feeding insect native to Asia, HWA has spread to eastern North America where infestations have caused sharp declines in native hemlocks, including in some locations complete losses of eastern hemlock and Carolina hemlock, which is now vulnerable to extinction.  Predators transplanted from Asia are considered a long-term solution.  Little is known, however, about HWA and predator behavior and interactions in their native or introduced ranges.

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Funds from the Eppley Foundation will be used to study HWA where it is introduced and native, where trees seem relatively unharmed by the insect.  Hemlock species, climate, and invertebrate communities differ between native and invaded areas.  Simberloff and Leppanen are interested in understanding what influences HWA population size, for example, whether predators experience different levels of success in their native and introduced habitats, much like HWA imparts different levels of damage where it is native and introduced.  They suspect that HWA control likely involves a variety of influences and interactions that vary by location.  In their research, they will evaluate interactions involving HWA, its predators, and other native and non-native species in different locations.  For example, they have documented and will assess the significance of predator entrapment in droplets of HWA’s liquid waste, a previously unreported phenomenon that may influence predator success and thus HWA populations; and, if the outcome of entrapment differs by predator species, HWA populations may differ further where predator communities differ.  They will also consider interactions among mites, lichen, and another invasive predator, the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, which shares its native range with HWA.

The results of this research will be included in a review of what is known about evolutionary ecology and ecosystem variability in native and non-native HWA systems relevant to its population size and impacts.  This is a model system with broad applicability in education; information from the review will also be used to develop a teaching lesson.

The Eppley Foundation for Research was incorporated in 1947 for the purpose of “increasing knowledge in pure or applied science…in chemistry, physics and biology through study, research and publication.”  The Foundation funds projects in biological and physical sciences. Particular areas of interest include innovative medical investigations, endangered species and ecosystems in the U.S. and abroad, and climate change.

 – From The Eppley Foundation for Research website