JUNE 2006

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Stephanie Douglas (Major Advisor: David Kuhn) will defend her Master’s Thesis entitled: “Developing molecular markers from expressed sequence tags for use in all plant species” on 28 June 2006 at 3:00 in WC 130.

Rudolf von May (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) will present his Dissertation Proposal Seminar entitled “Diversity patterns of amphibians in lowland Amazonian forests in southeastern Peru” on 30 June 2006 at 11:00 am in WC 130.

GRANTS

Laura May Collado (Major Advisor: Douglas Wartzok) received a $1500 grant from the American Society of Mammalogists (a 2006 Latin American Student Field Research Award) to support her field research on dolphins. Laura was one of 5 students to win the award from a field of 28.

Allison Adonizio (Major Advisor: Kalai Mathee) received a Travel Grant to attend the American Society for Microbiology Meeting held 21-25 May 2006 in Orlando, Florida.

Steven Whitifield (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recevied a grant ($4000) from the American Philosophical Society (Committee of the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research) to support his research on faunal declines in lower Central America.

Chad Husby (Major Advisor: Steve Oberbauer) received a $400 travel grant from Pteridological Section of the Botanical Society of America to present my paper “Salinity tolerance ecophysiology of the giant horsetail, Equisetum giganteum, in the Atacama Desert, Chile” at the 100th Anniversary Botanical Society of America Meetings in Chico, California.

Josette La Hee (Major Advisor: Evelyn Gaiser) received a $1000 grant from the Society of Wetland Scientists Student Grant Award. Josette was one of six awardees from a field of 39!

Rudolf von May (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) received a $6867 grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society to support his project “Diversity patterns of anurans in lowland Amazonian forests, southeastern Peru.”. Rudi received one of 12 research fellowships in the 2006 competition. The field of 130 was halved in the first round and 12 were awarded from the field of 65!

In addition to Meagan Dunphy-Daly and Zayda Halun (reported in May 2006), several of our students were awarded travel grants from the Judith Parker fund:

Richard Chang (Major Advisor: Frank Jochem) received a $900 Parker travel grant to study gene flow in copepod populations in Yucatan.

Theresa Chominski (Major Advisor: Jennifer Richards) received a $900 Parker travel grant to study the biology of bladderworts in Belize. She will be working with her “academic sister” Jenise Snyder this summer in Belize.

John Geiger (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) received a $500 Parker travel grant to study the biology of Ipomoea microdactyla in the Bahamas.

Karen Laubengayer (Major Advisor: Javier Francisco-Ortega) received a $900 Parker travel grant to study species in the genus Aiphanes(Arecaceae) in the Lesser Antilles.
Nora Oleas (Major Advisor: Javier Francisco-Ortega) received a $750 Parker travel grant to examine specimens of Phaedranassa in herbaria.

Janna Rose (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) received an $800 Parker travel grant to work on anti-diarrheal medicines in Brazil.

Cliff Ruehl (Major Advisor: Joel Trexler) received an $900 Parker travel grant to survey primary consumers in the Sian Ka’an wetlands.

Rob Ruzicka (Major Advisor: Chris Brown) received a $600 Parker travel grant to survey the hog fish living in coral reefs of the Yucatan.

Several of our students received Kelly Scholarship funds as follows:

Chad Husby (Major Advisor: Steven Oberbauer) received a $500 grant to present his paper on Equisetum giganteum physiology at the 100th Anniversary Botanical Society of America meetings in Chico,California at the end of July.

Zayda Halun (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean) received a $500 grant to purchase materials for the assembly of whole quadrat gas exchange chambers for the measurement of seagrass productivity.

Theresa Chominski (Major Advisor: Jennifer Richards) received a $736 grant to present her paper on the morphology of Utricularia species in the Everglades at the 100th Anniversary Botanical Society of America meetings in Chico, California at the end of July.

Cary Pirone (Major Advisor: David Lee) received a $595 grant to present her paper on the structure of arils in the Strelitziaceae at the 100th Anniversary Botanical Society of America meetings in Chico, California at the end of July.

Karen Laubengayer (Major Advisor: Javier Francisco-Ortega) received a $500 grant to
support travel in the Lesser Antilles to collect samples for an anatomical analysis of problematic members of the Arecaceae.

Jed Redwine (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) received a $898 grant to measure nutrient and stable isotope contents of leaf samples of tropical hammock tree species.

PUBLICATIONS

Ralph Saporito (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a multi-authored paper: Saporito, R.A., M.A. Donnelly, H.M. Garraffo, T. Spande, and J.W. Daly. 2006. Geographic and Seasonal Variation in Alkaloid-Based Chemical Defenses of Dendrobates pumilio from Bocas del Toro, Panama. Journal of Chemical Ecology 32:795-814. Congratulations Ralph!

Jed Redwine (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) recently learned that his co-authored paper is in press: Redwine, J.R., R. Sawicki, J.J. Lorenz, and W. Hoffman. 2007. Ripe fruit availability in the fragmented hardwood forests of the northern Florida Keys will be published in the Natural Areas Journal in January 2007. Congratulations Jed!

PRESENTATIONS AT SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS

Several current and former students from the Mathee lab gave presentations at the American Society for Microbiology Meeting held 21-25 May 2006 in Orlando Florida as follows:

Allison Adonizio presented a multi-authored paper: A. L. Adonizio, K-F. Kong, S. Leal, K. Downum, K. Mathee. The Ability of the Medicinal Plant Conocarpus erectus (Combretaceae) to Inhibit Bacterial Virulence through Interruption of Cell-Cell Communication.

Melissa Doud presented a multi-authored paper: M. Doud, D. Mills, M. Light, J. Martinez, K. Mathee. Molecular-Based Diagnostic of Cystic Fibrosis Lung Infection Using Amplicon Length Heterogeneity - Polymerase Chain Reaction (ALH-PCR).

Robert Sautter presented a co-authored paper: R. T. Sautter, K. Mathee. AlgO, a Positive Regulator of Alginate Production is a Putative Perisplamic Protease with High Homology to Escherichia coli Prc.

Robert Sautter was a co-author on a paper: L. Moreno, D. Mills, J. Entry, R. Sautter, K. Mathee. Molecular and Chemical Characterization of Three Miami-Dade Soil Types for Forensic Comparison.

Robert Sautter and Kok-Fai Kong were co-authors on a paper: S. M. Leal, Jr., K. Kong, S. Jayawardena, R. T. Sautter, K. Mathee. A Co-Regulatory Network of Antibiotic Resistance, Alginate Production, and LasA Protease Activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Cassandra Quave (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) recently presented papers at two international conferences:

Quave, C.L., J.Graham, S.Mendez, L.R.W. Plano, & B.C. Bennett. A comparative assessment of microbiological methods for natural product antibacterial screening. Fourth International Congress on Natural Products. Leysin, Switzerland. May 28-31, 2006.

Quave, C.L., A. Pieroni, & B.C. Bennett. An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants for the treatment of skin disease in southern Italy. The 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany. Chiang Mai, Thailand. June 5-8, 2006.

RESEARCH NEWS

Ralph Saporito (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently attended the orientation week for the Research Experience for Undergraduates at the La Selva Biological Station in northeastern Costa Rica. Ralph is working with two students that are conducting research over a 10 week period in La Selva. A cohort of 12 students will be working at La Selva. Ralph will join the students at the end of the program in August.

Rudolf von May (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently had his guide to the Reptiles of Los Amigos posted online at the Field Museum website:

http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/animalguides/guideimages.asp?ID=21

MOVING ON

Patrick Gibson (Major Advisor: Dan Childers) will begin a Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina in the Fall.

FORMER STUDENTS

Gustavo Rubio (Major Advisor: Dan Childers) recently published his thesis. The full citation will be reported in the July accomplishments.

James Watling (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) has a co-authored paper in press in Conservation Biology: Watling, J.I. and M.A. Donnelly. 2006. Fragments as islands: A synthesis of faunal responses to habitat patchiness.

Kristen Bell (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) has a co-authored paper in press in Conservation Biology: Bell, K.E. and M.A. Donnelly. 2006. Influence of forest fragmentation on community structure of frogs and lizards in northeastern Costa Rica.

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