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Gary N. Ervin |
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Plant Ecology Lab |
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Ervin Graduate Students |
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Present students (see below for alumni)
Steven Hughes (M.S.)
Steven began work in my lab during Summer 2007. He worked on projects related to invasive plant ecology in the Mid-South US (TN, AL, MS, AR, LA) as part of work funded by the USDA and USGS through MSU's Geosystems Research Institute. He presently is finishing up his thesis on habitat modeling for Blackland Prairies in Mississippi. Steven received his B.S. from Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. He is now employed with the US Forest Service Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research.
Rima Lucardi (Ph.D.)
Rima began work in the Ervin lab during Spring semester 2007. She is studying the population genetics of an invasive grass (Imperata cylindrica) in the southeastern US. Rima received her B.S. from the University of Texas at Arlington in December 2005, where she spent considerable time working in the lab of Dr. Laura Gough.
Mary Catherine Mills (M.S.)
Mary Catherine began work in my lab during Summer 2008. She is working on projects related to restoration of rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea) as part of research funded by a US EPA, Region 4 Wetlands Development Program grant. Mary Catherine received her B.S. from the University of North Carolina in Asheville, NC.
Chris Doffitt (Ph.D.)
Chris Doffitt began work on his PhD during Spring of 2007. He has worked in my lab on projects related to invasive plant ecology and distribution in the Mid-South US (TN, AL, MS, AR, LA). This work is part of USDA and USGS grants through MSU's Geosystems Research Institute. Chris received his M.S. from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has worked in plant taxonomy and systematics for a number of years, including extensive survey work in Louisiana and Arkansas, and a stint with the Nature Conservancy in south Florida. Chris' dissertation research is focused on geographic and systematic delimitation of species in the genus Amsonia (Apocynaceae). His dissertation is being developed under the direction of Dr. Lisa Wallace.
Daniel Millican (Ph.D.)
Daniel joined the Ervin lab in Fall 2007, after the departure of his major professor, Dr. Chris Taylor. He is finishing up a study of the effects of landscape structure and stream habitat characteristics on fish assemblages in tributaries of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway (US ACE) in eastern Mississippi. Read more about the waterway here. Daniel presently is working with the Nature Conservancy's Ozark Highlands Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Previous students
Jason Bried (M.S. 2005)
Jason began work in my lab during the summer of 2002. He worked on projects to evaluate the potential effectiveness of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) at indicating freshwater wetland ecological integrity. Specifically, he assessed the short-term direction, pattern, and sensitivity of adult Odonata diversity response to mowing, fire, drainage, and other human activities.
Jason was awarded a Society of Wetland Scientists Student Research Grant (2004) and SWS Regional Best Student Presentation Award (Spring 2005). Jason took a position with the Nature Conservancy's Eastern New York Chapter, where he serves as a Preserve Ecologist for the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.
Thesis: Community and conservation ecology of dragonfly and damselfly adults in Mississippi wetlands
Brook Herman (M.S. 2005)
Brook began work in my lab during the summer of 2002. Brook's work was aimed at development of tools for use in assessment and monitoring of freshwater wetlands, specifically vegetation assessment methods (based on the FQAI approach) and invertebrate assessment techniques (IBI-type approach).
After completion of her M.S. studies, Brook took a temporary position with the Nature Conservancy at the Kankakee Sands Restoration Project. She then worked as a Plant Ecologist with Land Resource Management Group, Inc. in Bradley, Illinois. Brook now is employed with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Chicago, Illinois and working on her Ph.D. at The University of Illinois, Chicago.
Thesis: Testing the Floristic Quality Assessment Index in natural and created wetlands in Mississippi, USA
Lucas Majure (M.S. 2007)
Lucas worked as a graduate student in my lab from Fall 2004 until Summer 2007. He worked on projects related to invasion ecology in the Mid-South US (TN, AL, MS, AR, LA) as part of a larger USGS grant to MSU's Geosystems Research Institute. His primary contribution to that work was mapping of native cactus (Opuntia spp.), in support of efforts at monitoring the invasive cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum.
Lucas received the 2007 GSA Graduate Research Assistant of the Year award at MSU for his research on Opuntia and other floristic work. Lucas' thesis laid the groundwork for Ph.D. studies in the taxonomy of southeastern Opuntia; that work began in the Department of Botany at The University of Florida in Fall 2007.
Chris Holly (Ph.D. 2008)
Chris Holly began work in my lab during Fall of 2004, after receiving his undergraduate degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, MS. He worked on projects related to invasive plant ecology in the Mid-South US (TN, AL, MS, AR, LA) as part of a larger USGS grant to MSU's Geosystems Research Institute and grants from the USDA. His primary focus has been ecology of cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) invasion.
Chris received a 2008 GSA Graduate Research Assistant of the Year award at MSU for his research on Imperata cylindrica. He began studies at the University of Mississippi School of Law in Fall 2008.
Matt Roberts (Ph.D. 2008)
Matt joined the Ervin lab in Fall 2007, after the departure of his major professor, Dr. Chris Taylor. His dissertation was on a comparative survey of fishes in portions of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway (US ACE) and one of its principle tributaries. Matt developed a comparison of food resources of present-day fish assemblages versus those in the system prior to construction of the TTW and large-scale disturbance of the Tombigbee River. Read more about the waterway. Matt presently is a staff Ichthyologist at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Sciences.
Dissertation: Long-term trophic shifts among fishes after extensive modification of a southeastern US river system
Michael Calloway (M.S. 2010)
Michael joined the Ervin lab in Fall 2007, after the departure of his major professor, Dr. Chris Taylor. He worked on a comparative survey of fishes in the Noxubee River - a tributary of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway (TTW; US ACE) - comparing present-day fish assemblages with those present in the Noxubee prior to construction of the TTW and large-scale disturbance of the Tombigbee River. Read more about the waterway. Mike presently is employed with the USFWS in Luddington, MI.
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Department of Biological Sciences PO Box GY 114 Harned Hall, 295 Lee Blvd Mississippi State, MS 39762 662-325-1203 gervin <at> biology . msstate . edu |
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