Current Lab members
Research Interests: Nitrogen deposition, carbon dioxide emissions, and species invasions and extinctions are occurring at continental and global scales. These complex changes can control disease risk, agricultural production, and species conservation. I want to understand how these global changes are altering ecological communities and ecosystem processes. My interests are wide-ranging, but much of the empirical work in my lab involves grassland plants, insects, microbes, and disease.
Anita Porath-Krause
Research Scientist
Laboratory Manager
aporathk@umn.edu
I am interested in molecular mechanisms that produce large-scale patterns. I am also interested in the role of microbial communities in natural populations. Currently, I am using genomics to capture the diversity of viral communities in plants to determine if they respond differently to fertilizer treatments.
Research Interests: My research interests span a broad array of basic and applied topics in community ecology including the community ecology of diseases, biological invasions, and restoration ecology. The following are some major research themes: Community ecology of disease; Consumer and resource control of productivity, diversity, and invasibility of communities and ecosystem; Invasion and restoration of grasslands; Invasions and coastal geomorphology and protection; and Behavior- and consumption-mediated effects of consumers on plant communities.
Former Lab members
Lab managers
Burl Martin (2004-2006)
Angela Brandt (2004-2006)
Emily Orling (2006-2008)
Shawn Gerrity (2009)
Missy Rudeen (2010-2014)
Alexis Rogers (2014)
Borer and/or Seabloom
Grad Students and Postdocs
Tony Graziani – PhD (2008-2009)
Lydia O'Halloran – Postdoc (2008-2010)
Cara Benfield – MS (2009)
Sean Moore – PhD (2010)
Kelly Farrell – MS (2011)
Christelle Lacroix - Postdoc (2011-2015)
Katrina Fruend - MS (2011-2014)
Yann Hautier - Postdoc (2012-2014)
Bradford Condon - Postdoc (2013-2015)
Aaron David - PhD (2011-2016)
Candice Lumibao - Postdoc (2014-2016)
Siddharth Bharath - PhD ( 2014-2020)
Mayank Kohli - PhD ( 2014-2020)
Lauren Shoemaker - Postdoc (2017-2018)
Jeremiah Henning - Postdoc (2017-2019)
Ashley Asmus - Postdoc (2017-2019)
Alex Strauss - Postdoc (2017-2020)
Rachel Paseka - Postdoc (2018-2020)
Max Zaret - PhD (2018-2023)
Megan Wilcots - PhD (2018-2023)
Peter Wilfahrt (2020-2023)
UG Honors, REU students, Directed Research, UG Research Assist.
Autumn Adams – REU (2007)
Vince Adams – REU/University Honors (2007)
Canan Schumann – University Honors (2008)
Suzie (Sue-Jie) Koo – REU (2009)
Scott Armendiaz - Directed Research (2011)
Laura Dill - Directed Research (2011)
Erik Joerres - Directed Research (2011)
Margaret Kelly - Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2011)
Michael Kempnich - Directed Research/REU/UG Honors (2011-2013)
Christopher Kim - UG Research Assist. (2011)
Yein Kim - UROP/Directed Research (2011-2013)
Kurra Renner - UG Research Assist./Directed Research (2011-2015)
Derek Schmidt - REU/Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2011-2013)
Kelsey Thurow - Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2011, 2013)
Kimberly Wisbar - Directed Research (2011)
Emily Johnson - UG Research Assist. (2012)
Anna Matthews - Directed Research (2012)
Eric Ogdahl - Directed Research (2012)
Aditi Pradeep - Directed Research (2012)
Alexis Rogers - UG Research Assist. (2012-2015)
Abdulrahman Gamam - REU/Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2013)
Brittney Hemmesch - UG Research Assist. (2013)
Emily Boak-Nyberg - Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2014-2015)
Nicholas Cupery - Directed Research (2014-2015)
Casey Easterday - REU/Directed Research/UG Research Assist. (2014-2015)
Hannah Hoekstra - UG Research Assist. (2015)
Anna Beckstrom - UG Research Assist. (2016-2017)
Ryan Campbell - REU/UG Research Assist. (2016-2017)
Teachers
Gareth Engler – OR high school teacher (2007)
Rima Givot – RET, OR high school teacher (2009)
Terence Doud - RET, MN science teacher (2021)
Current Research Assistants
Katherine Schroeder
Sara de Sobrino