VCU Rice Center Hosts Third Annual Research Symposium

The Virginia Commonwealth University Rice Center hosted its Third Annual Research Symposium, an event that brought together faculty and students and researchers from cooperating universities, agencies and organizations to share the latest research in river ecology, wetland and stream ecology, and plant and vertebrate ecology.

Leonard Smock, Ph.D., director of the VCU Rice Center, who welcomed a group of approximately 70 participants, said, “ … the day’s program represents further maturation of research at the Rice Center. … In many ways, the front door to the Rice Center isn’t actually Rt. 5, it’s the James River.”

The day-long event, held May 6, included 14 oral presentations and 11 poster presentations from faculty, staff, students and partners of the center.

During the first session, which focused on river ecology, VCU Integrative Life Sciences student Drew Garey presented the effects of hydropeaking on the benthic invertebrates of a large river system. Next, Zack Ghahramani, a graduate student from the VCU Department of Biology, discussed research examining variation in sound production of the blue catfish; and VCU Integrative Life Sciences student Matt Balazik presented his group’s efforts tracking the movements of spawning of the Atlantic sturgeon in the James River. Anne Schlegel, a graduate student from the Department of Biology, discussed the composition of suspended and sedimented particulate matter in the tidal freshwater of the James River. Graduate student John R. Furry wrapped up the session with a discussion about his work characterizing the distribution of planktonic fecal bacterial in the James River along an urban gradient in Richmond.

The session on wetland and stream ecology included a presentation of the Kimages Creek stream and wetland restoration at the VCU Rice Center by Mark Kalnins, a wetlands restoration specialist with The Nature Conservancy. Integrated Life Sciences student Ember Morrissey discussed linking resource availability to the structure and function of microbial nitrate reducers in freshwater wetlands, and graduate student Molly J. Sobotka presented her group’s work on nutrient partitioning between dissolved and particulate phases during simulated sediment re-suspension events. Leigh McCallister, Ph.D., and Arif M. Sikder, Ph.D., with the VCU Center for Environmental Studies, discussed the biogeochemistry and mineralogy of the Rice Center bore hole sediments.

The plant and vertebrate ecology session included a presentation by Anna Riggan, a graduate student with the VCU Center for Environmental studies, who discussed bird-mosquito interactions and disease transmission. Spencer Bissett, a doctoral candidate with the VCU Department of Biology, presented his group’s research examining the ecological application of LIDAR imagery. Jonathan Moore, a doctoral student with affiliations at both VCU and Virginia Tech, discussed the effects of increased clutch size and supplemental food on reproductive success in the Prothonotary Warbler. Integrated Life Sciences student Sheri A. Shiflett presented work on light use and water relations of three evergreen shrubs in an eastern temperate forest understory. The session wrapped up with John (JD) Kleopfer from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, who presented the life history and ecology of the canebrake rattlesnake of Virginia.