Research Projects

Scholars spend their first summer helping graduate students and faculty with ongoing field projects while completing their own independent research projects. 

University of Arizona - Student projects at the University of Arizona have included interactions between invasive and native turtle species, diet variability in big horn sheep, human-wildlife conflicts in urban Tucson, nesting success of Gray Hawks and Cooper's Hawks, community dynamics and habitat use of desert fishes, and abundance and habitat use of lizards along perennial and ephemeral streams in Arizona deserts. 

University of Florida - Research projects at the University of Florida have included  movements of invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades, distribution of invasive tegus in Everglades National Park, nutrient cycling in sea turtle nests, survival and productivity of endangered Florida Snail Kites, and small mammal community dynamics.

University of Idaho - Research projects at the University of Idaho have included nest success of Lewis' woodpeckers, the influence of tree cavity microclimates on tree health, correlates of avian diversity, ecology of endangered ground squirrels, effects of harvester ants on plant communities in sagebrush-shrubbe ecosystems, and behavioral and feeding ecology of Clark's grebes.

North Carolina State University -  Research projects at North Carolina State University have included nesting success of American oystercatchers, diet studies of amphidromous fishes, distribution of invasive earthworms in secondary growth forests, forest regeneration strategies, sea turtle nesting and the use of citizen science, and behavioral ecology and home range sizes of bog turtles. 

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Research projects at the University of Massachusetts have included the use of community science to assess the ecological impacts of urbanization on birds, using drone technology to study the ecology of salt marshes, the ecology and population dynamics of river herring, parasitism on box turtles on Cape Cod, population dynamics of endangered butterflies, and the effects of invasive crabs in Boston Harbor.