Other Projects

This page highlights other research that I have conducted (or cucrrently am).
In addition to my thesis research, I have a number of side projects at Cornell.  
I have also worked in a number of other labs prior to coming to Cornell.

Side Projects

Evolutionary Ecology of Predator-Prey Interactions

I associate myself with the ever-growing and international, yet Cornell-based, chemostat working group.

Although I don't currently work directly with the chemostats, I find this group to be quite intellectually stimuating and enjoy the melding of theoretical and emperical approaches.

Plus the people are nice.

See Steve Ellner's website for more info.

Long- and Short-Term Dynamics of Pond Zooplankton Communities

I am studying the long-term ("assembly") and short-term ("seasonal succession") dynamics of zooplankton communities in six virtually-identical ponds at the Cornell University Experimental Ponds facility (CUEP). These ponds were all dug in the 1960s.

Most zooplankton go dormant during adverse conditions (e.g., winter), and many of these dormant eggs are buried in the soft sediments, forming an egg bank akin to seed banks of annual plants. I am using the vertical profiles of these dormant stages to study the historical changes in the pond communities.

Aerial photo of the ponds (from Microsoft Live Search)

Effect of Invasive Species on the Dry Forests of Hawai`i

During January 2009, I traveled to the Big Island of Hawai`i to participate in Tropical Field Ecology course offered by the EEB Department at Cornell.

On this trip, I was a member of the terrestrial ecology group [also consisting of Courtney Couch, Mark Manuel, Dr. Jed Sparks, and R. Quinn Thomas]. We conducted our work in collaboration with Dr. Creighton Litton and Dave Faucette and many other sets of helpful hands.

The primary goal of our two projects was to understand how the Hawai`ian dry forests are being affected by invasive species. Currently, less than 10% of the Hawai`ian dry forest remains and is being threatened by many invasive species.

One project focused on the influence of fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) on the growth dynamics of intact-canopy dry forests.

The other project examined the spatial epidemiology of an invasive gall-making wasp on the Hawai`ian Coral Tree (aka Wili wili, Erythrina sandwichensis).

Ecology of Flower-Inhabiting Crab Spiders

I conducted a short field project during the 2008 Cornell EEB Florida course at Archbold Biological Station in Central Florida.

My study examined the distribution and ecology of Misumenops celer, a crab spider which is frequently found in the flowers of the netted pawpaw (Asimina reticulata).

This work was done in collaboration with Susan Cook, a graduate student in Anurag Agrawal's lab at Cornell. Susan was primarily interested in the florivory and pollination of A. reticulata.

simonis_pawpaw

misumenops asimina asimina3

Previous Research Projects

Effects of Herbivores on Plant Population Dynamics

From June 2006 through July 2007, I was a technician in the lab of Dr. Nora Underwood at FSU working with her and Dr. Stacey Halpern (Pacific University, Oregon) on a USDA and NSF-funded project examining plant-insect interactions and population dynamics, centered around Solanum carolinense, a noxious native weed, and its array of insect herbivores. My main task was the set-up of a long-term field experiment testing the combined effects of population density and herbivory on population dynamics.

leptinotarsa solanum

Degradative Capabilities of Freshwater Fungi

While an undergrad at UIUC, I conducted research in the lab of Dr. Carol Shearer on the enzymatic capabilities of freshwater ascomycete fungi. These fungi likely play a key role in the turnover of carbon in freshwater systems, and so I assayed a selection of species for the ability to breakdown key plant structural compounds (e.g. lignocellulose) which are chocked full of carbon. I wrote an undergrad thesis on this work (which has been accepted for publication in Fungal Diversity) and compiled a database of similar studies and enzyme methodologies which will be added to Dr. Shearer's online ascomycete database in the near future.

simonis_plates

Resource Ecology of Host-Parasite Interactions

In the summer of 2005, I was an REU student in the lab of Dr. Carla Cáceres (UIUC) and stationed at Kellogg Biological Station (MSU) on a multi-PI project examining host-parasite interactions with a Daphnia-Metschnikowia system. Working with Dr. Cáceres and Dr. Spencer Hall, my main project focused on determing the sensitivity of virulence to host resource availability.

Happily made on a PC