Lab Alumni
Heather InczauskisHeather's M.S. work involved modeling movement of the Northern leopard frog in Prairie Pothole landscapes. Heather conducted field experiments in 4 landcover types (Ungrazed grass, Grazed grass, Corn and Soybeans) to assess movement rates of frogs. She then used the field experiments to develop and parameterize a model for frog movement in a Prairie Pothole landscape using the NetLogo modeling platform. Heather was co-advised with Dr. Dave Mushet from Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, which also provided funding for her project through the CESU partnership with NDSU. Heather currently works for the public library system in the state of Washington as a conservation education coordinator for Elementary and Middle School children. She is an avid runner and coached Middle School track.
Dr. Jeff DiMatteo
Jeff studied the ecology of American white pelicans nesting at Marsh Lake in southern Minnesota. The Marsh Lake colony is one of the three largest colonies in North America, yet recruitment dynamics (and consequences for the continental population) were not well understood. Jeff found within-season variation in chick growth exceeded among-season variation, flood dynamics impact the timing and success of nesting and that individuals in the population are unlikely to reproduce prior to 5 years of age. Jeff is currently a consultant working in Bemidji, Minnesota. He continues to band chicks in the summer at Marsh Lake. His research was generously funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Dr. Brianna Stenger
Brianna's research was part of the USDA funded project on Cryptosporidium incidence in free-living rodents. She examined relationships of density and prevalence, but also found a novel strain of Cryptosporidium associated with Eastern chipmunk. She also found that tree and ground squirrels with overlapping ranges harbor different strains of Cryptosporidium in North America. Brianna received a fellowship from the North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute for part of her Ph.D. Brianna currently works as a microbiologist in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at NDSU. Brianna is also an accomplished pianist and piano teacher. Brianna was co-advised with Dr. John McEvoy.
Jeba Chelladurai
Jeba isolated Cryptosporidium from free-living Red-winged blackbirds. This was the first instance in which Cryptosporidium was detected in a free-living bird. In fact she found that over 25% of the Red-winged blackbirds she collected from feed lots were infected with Cryptosporidium. Jeba was co-advised with Dr. John McEvoy in the Department of Microbiological Sciences at NDSU. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Veterinary Pathology at Iowa State University.
Dr. Megan Niner
Megan's research was funded by a USDA project on reducing impacts of Red-winged blackbirds on sunflower crops. She found that 9,10-anthraquinone, which has been proposed as a repellent to prevent blackbirds from feeding on sunflower, was ineffective when applied under typical field conditions (i.e., by ground sprayer in standing crops of sunflower). Megan also contributed to work with American white pelicans as a side project to her M.S. thesis. This involved using molecular methods to distinguish sex of pelican chicks, and characterizing stress using heterophiles and lymphocytes. Thus began her interests in genetic tools and disease, which she has pursued in her Ph.D. work on fish viruses at University of Toledo. Megan completed her Ph.D. in Summer 2019!
Dr. Mark Wiltermuth
Mark was co-advised with Dr. Mike Anteau at Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. In fact, Mark was the first student supported as part of the CESU partnership. He also received funding from other sources such as Ducks Unlimited. Mark's Ph.D. research examined landscape and climatic factors on wetland productivity in the Missouri Couteau. He was particularly interested in re-examining secondary productivity in a number of wetlands that had been studied 10 years earlier. Mark is now a staff scientist with the USGS at Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, and you can learn more about his current research here.
Shawn Weissenfluh
Shawn's M.S. research looked at adult characteristics associated with the timing of nesting in Franklin's gull. Specifically, Shawn captured nesting adults in the first week of incubation, and examined body condition, corticosterone stress response and immune function as it related to the timing of nesting. He found that later nesting individuals had lower body condition (including reduced flight muscle), were more sensitive in their corticosterone stress response and had a reduced efficacy of blood complement proteins. Shawn's work provided our first insight into how adults that initiate nesting at different dates can differ. His work is a foundation for future studies to determine a central question in the nesting phenology of Franklin's gull: do individuals that nest later do so because they are in poorer condition and arrive later? Shawn's research was supported by North Dakota Department of Game & Fish. Shawn worked on a number of projects with the USGS and USFWS on impacts of wind farms on migratory birds. He now works for an energy consulting firm, specializing in assessing and minimizing wind farm impacts on wildlife.
Dr. Will Clark
Will's Ph.D. research examined life history variation in the White sucker across the Minnesota-North Dakota region. Will found that body condition was negatively related to blood-borne parasites in White sucker populations. He also identified landscape-level differences in growth and size of individuals from populations across the region. Will was awarded a fellowship from the North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute to support his graduate work. Will is also an outstanding photographer. Will is currently an Associate Professor at Western Wyoming College, where he teaches a number of courses in Biology. He recently led a course to the Galápagos Islands, and even teaches a recreational course on fly-fishing!
Emily Berg
Emily's M.S. research initiated our work with Franklin's gull. Emily found that local nest density was negatively related to nest success. That is, nests with many nests close by were less likely to successfully produce a chick than more isolated nests. In addition, she found condition at hatch, as measured by the relationship between tarsus and mass, increased across the season. This was in fact due to chicks hatched from eggs laid later in the season having shorter tarsi than chicks hatched from eggs laid early in the season. Thus began my interest in effects of the timing of nesting on recruitment. Emily received support from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Emily is currently the Director of the Office of Institutional Research & Analysis at NDSU, and is completing her Ph.D. in academic administration. The analytical skills she developed working with ecological data on Franklin's gull have served her well.
Dr. Brittany Smith
Brittany explored effects of density on the physiology of Rainbow darters for her M.S. research. She experimentally manipulated the number of individuals occupying territories in an aquarium and made repeated measures of individual O2 consumption. She found that darters inhabiting aquaria with more individuals exhibited greater routine O2 consumption rates, even though individuals could not directly contact one another in an aquarium. After completing her M.S. thesis, Brittany completed a Ph.D. in Biology Education with Dr. Lisa Montplaisir at NDSU. Brittany is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Minnesota State University, Mankato and you can learn about her work here.
Todd Boonstra
Todd studied maternal investments and embryonic metabolism in the Canada goose. Todd was the first person to characterize maternally-derived Testosterone and Estradiol in the yolks of any Anseriform. Waterfowl produce precocial chicks, so constituents of the egg (such as hormones present in the yolk) may be especially critical to the development and growth of the embryo and gosling. Todd found that concentrations of yolk testosterone follow a pattern similar to that of egg size within a female's clutch. Namely, testosterone concentrations increase with position in the clutch until the third egg, then decrease with position thereafter. However the concentrations of testosterone and estradiol were not related to embryonic metabolic rates, which increase with position across the entire clutch. Todd's work was funded by Delta Waterfowl. Todd is currently the Assistant Refuge Manager at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. He's also the best pheasant shot I've ever seen.
Rachel Bush
Rachel's M.S. thesis was funded by the USDA as part of their long term research on Red-winged blackbird - sunflower interactions in the Northern Plains. Rachel studied the effects of female blackbird density during breeding on maternal egg investments and offspring performance. Rachel manipulated female interactions using simulated territorial intrusions in which a caged female was placed in the nesting area of another female. Simulated territorial intrusions increased the likelihood of nest abandonment, but did not affect yolk testosterone concentrations present in eggs or the subsequent chick growth or survival. Rachel is employed by Pheasants Forever, where she is the State Coordinator for North Dakota.
