2008 REU Projects

Click on name for project abstract (under construction):

Ainsworth, Krystle (Spelman College). Mentor: Kristal Cain (Indiana University). How does testosterone in development affect adult female aggression?

Billak, Brittany (University of Virginia). Mentor: Tami Ranson (University of Virginia). Factors influencing the distribution of invasive earthworms in Southern Appalachia.

Butterfield, R. Eileen (Univerity of Texas, Austin). Mentor: Vince Formica (Swarthmore College). Temporal niche construction in Forked Fungus Beetles ( Bolitotherus cornutus ).

Castillo, Dean (Cornel University). Mentors: Michele Dudash and Charles Fenster (Univerity of Maryland). Ecological context dictates the sign of the interaction in the nursery pollinated system between Silene stellata (Carophyllaceae) and Hadena ectypa (Noctuidae).

Dibble, Chris (Dennison College). Mentor: Eric Liebgold (University of Virginia). Investigating the adaptive significance of color morphology in the terrestrial Woodland Salamander, Plethodon cinereus.

Jacobsen, Deidra (University of Nebraska, Lincoln). Mentors: Laura Galloway and Lindsay Dierkes (University of Virginia). Changes in reproductive allocation in response to leaf damage and pollen limitation in spiderwort ( Tradescantia ohiensis).

McLeod, Hayley (University of South Carolina, Columbia). Mentor: Kristine Grayson (University of Virginia). The role of maternal effects and the larval environment on developmental plasticity in a pond breeding amphibian.

Meyers, Camille (St. Mary's College of Maryland). Mentor: Erica Crespi (Vassar College). The importance of environmental moisture on brooding females and offspring in red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus).

Ortiz, Vanessa (University of Puerto Rico). Mentor: Christopher Binckley (Old Dominion University). Does predation and desiccation risk influence Desmognathus salamander distributions?

Redmond, Miranda (University of California, Berkeley). Mentors: Henry Wilbur and Becky Wilbur (University of Virginia). Recruitment and dominance of Quercus rubra and Quercus alba in a previous Oak-Chestnut forest from the 1980s to present. 

Shapiro, Jeff (University of Georgia). Mentor: Dustin Reichard (Indiana University). Male song performance correlates of reproductive success and morphological characters in the Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis).