May 2007

DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS

Danielle Mir (Major Advisor: Jim Fourqurean) presented her thesis defense seminar entitled "Groundwater nutrient availability controls on nearshore benthic community structure in Biscayne Bay, Florida on 23 May 2007 at 10:00 in WC 130.

Paulo Olivas (Major Advisor: Steve Oberbauer) presented his thesis defense seminar entitled "The interactive roles of microtopography and moss cover for whole-ecosystem carbon flux in coastal wet tundra of Alaksa" on 24 May 2007 at 11:00 in WC 130.

GRANTS & AWARDS

Marcy Lowenstein (Major Advisor: Lidia Kos) was recently awarded a 2007 TA Excellence-in-Training Award awarded by the FIU Academy for the Art of Teaching. Congratulations Marcy!

Kristin Kuehl (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) received a Sydney L. Wright Fellowship ($2508) from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS). Congratulations Kristin!

Clayton Williams (Major Advisor: Frank Jochem) and Amanda Quillen (Major Advisor: Evelyn Gaiser) were awarded 2007-08 Dissertation Year Fellowships to support them as they write up their dissertation research. Congratulations Clayton & Amanda!

Sat Gavassa (Major Advisor: Philip Stoddard), Caroline Peyer (Major Advisor: Craig Layman), Roxaneh Khorsand (Major Advisor: Suzanne Koptur) and Vivian Maccachero (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) received funding from the Judith Parker Fellowship fund to support their early field work in the tropics. Sat will be working on electric fish in South America, Caroline will be studying fishes in the Bahamas, Roxaneh is studying palms in Brazil, and Vivian is going to work on amphibian communities in Brazil. Congratulations to all.

CLUB ACTIVITIES

The BGSA officers for the 2006-07 academic year have "retired" and I want to thank all of the involved students for their work for us in the past academic year. The members of the club have elected new officers for the 2007-08 academic years as follows: President-Jay Munyon, Vice President-Adam Obaza, Secretary-Elizabeth Harrison, Treasurer-Sat Gavassa, Representative-Christine Hunker, and Representative-Nora Oleas. Congratulations to the new officers and I thank all of them on behalf of the department for the willingness to serve the greater good of our department.

PRESENTATIONS

Cassandra Quave (Major Advisor: Brad Bennett) presented two papers at the annual meeting of the Society of Economic Botany that convened in Chicago: Quave, C.L. and B.C. Bennett. "The search for new anti-staphylococcal leads: comparing the antibacterial efficiency of Italian plants based on ethnobotanical use categories" and Mendez, S., C.L. Quave, J. Graham, J. Gaskin, and B.C. Bennett. "Anti-Pseudomonas activity of selected plants used in traditional ethnoveterinary practices". The senior author of the second paper is an undergraduate student that Cassandra has worked with for the last two years.

PUBLICATIONS

Ralph Saporito (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a co-authored paper online in PNAS: Saporito, R.A., M.A. Donnelly, R.A. Norton, H.M. Garraffo, T.F. Spande, and J.W. Daly. 2007. Oribatid mites as a major dietary source for alkaloids in poison frogs. PNAS 104:8885-8890. Congratulations Ralph!

Lonnie Kaczmarsky and Jamie Myers, and former students Josh Voss and Elizabeth Remily (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) recently published a co-authored paper with Laurie: Richardson, L.L., R. Sekar, J.M. Myers, M. Gantar, J.D. Voss, L. Kaczmarsky, E.R. Remily, G.L. Boyer, and P.V. Zimba. 2007. The presence of the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin in black band disease of corals. FEMS Microbiology Letters 2007:1-6. Congratulations Lonnie, Jamie, Josh, and Liz!

Barbie Freeman (Major Advisor: Tim Collins) recently published a co-authored paper on the research she did for her undergraduate honor's thesis. Freeman, B., L.G. Nico, M.Osentoski, H.L. Jelks, and T.M. Collins. 2007. Molecular systematics of Serrasalmidae: Deciphering the identities of piranha species and unraveling their evolutionary histories. Zootaxa 1484:1-38. Congratulations Barbie!

FORMER STUDENTS

Cristina Ugarte (Major Advisor: Maureen Donnelly) recently published a co-authored paper from her dissertation: Ugarte, C.A., K.G. Rice, and M.A. Donnelly 2007. Comparison of diet, reproductive biology, and growth of the Pig Frog (Rana grylio) from harvested and protected areas of the Florida Everglades. Copeia 2007:436-448.

Josh Voss and Elizabeth Remily along with current student Jamie Myers (Major Advisor: Laurie Richardson) recently publsihed a co-authored paper: Voss, J.D., D.K. Mills, J.L. Myers, E.R. Remily and L.L. Richardson. 2007. Black Band Disease Microbial Community Variation on Corals in Three Regions of the Wider Caribbean. Microbial Ecology, published online 28 March 2007.

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