Faculty and Students Research and Grants

Faculty and Students Research and Grants

On-going Research Projects and Interests

Dr. Christine Brodsky

  • Summer habitat and roosting ecology of threatened bat species in Missouri. Missouri Department of Conservation. Graduate Student: Amy Hammesfahr.
  • Snapshot USA – Nationwide trends in mammal community assembly rules associated with environmental and anthropogenic filters. Collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution & North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Undergraduate Researcher: Caleb Durbin.
  • Bird Communities at the Tar Creek Superfund Site – Impacts of mined land reclamation on bird community composition and diversity. Collaboration with the Quapaw Nation Environmental Department. Undergraduate Researchers: Morgan Smith, Robin Goodreau, Kelly Mallett.
  • Urban Biodiversity Network (UrBioNet) – International network of urban ecologists studying biodiversity patterns across cities worldwide.
  • Ecology of Reclaimed Mined Lands – Herpetofauna and bird communities in southeast Kansas mined lands. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. Undergraduate Researchers: Kyle Findley, Jake Wright, Rachel Styers.
  • Baltimore Ecosystem Society – Birds in urban ecosystems; vacant lots as wildlife habitat. NSF Long-term Ecological Research Project.

Dr. Peter Chung

  • Protein analysis of potential tumorigenic genes in mouse fibroblast sarcomas - our lab is focused on analyzing, via Western blot, potential tumorigenic genes that differ in levels of expression between two mouse fibroblast sarcomas
  • Isolation of putative antibiotic-producing strains of soil bacteria - our lab is working on isolating different soil bacteria in the hopes of isolating potential antibiotic-producing strains of microorganisms

Dr. Andrew George

  • MOFEP - The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project is a planned 100-year landscape-scale ecological experiment. Dr. George and grad students David Hollie and Michael Barnes are working closely with collaborators from other universities and agencies to study the long-term effects of forest management on bird communities. A team of summer interns from PSU and other universities assists with field work.
  • Gray bats – Dr. George and his students are collaborating with the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife (KDWPT) to study and help protect Kansas’ only colony of the federally endangered gray bat.
  • Ecological Monitoring on Mined-Lands – Drs. Brodsky and George are developing a long-term project to monitor mined-land ecosystems, with special focus on birds, herpetofauna, and invasive plants.

Dr. Anu Ghosh

  • Community household environmental studies on potentially pathogenic Clostridium difficile (in collaboration with School of Pharmacy, University of Houston, TX)
  • Ecology of tick-borne pathogens in a peri-urban landscape of the Midwestern U.S (in collaboration with Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS)
  • Study of microbial diversity in an acid mine drainage site
  • Survey on mosquito-borne West Nile virus in southeast Kansas
  • Characterization of foodborne pathogens using whole genome sequence analysis” (in collaboration with USDA – Agricultural research Service, Athens, GA and Food Science Department, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR)

Dr. Phil Harries

  • Virus discovery in bryophytes.
  • Cellular basis for plant virus movement.
  • Targeted gene knockouts in Physcomitrella patens.
  • Optimization of a lead biosensor in coli.

Dr. Hermann Nonnenmacher

  • students have conducted or assisted in field projects with tall thistle, Mead's Milkweed, and native silk moths, especially Callosamia promethea (Spicebush Silkmoth, or Promethea Moth) both in Missouri and southeast Kansas.

Dr. Mandy Peak-Bryan

  • Comparison of isolated microorganisms of wastewater to the microbiome of the human gut in Crawford County. Undergraduate student participants: Tayita Abudu, Ben Kelm, Ryan Walker, Megan Peters
  • Deciphering important protein and DNA interactions in V(D)J recombination, which is responsible for a functioning immune system. Currently, the lab is examining specific RAG1 residues that, in a mutated form, may play a role in lymphoma.

Dr. Virginia Rider

  • Gender bias in autoimmunity.
  • Remodeling of the uterus in preparation for pregnancy.

Dr. Neil Snow

  • Systematics of New Caledonian Myrtaceae
  • Systematics of Myrtaceae from Madagascar
  • Systematics of Metrosideros polymorpha in Hawaii.
  • Floristic surveys regionally
  • NSF-funded expansion and curation of the T.M. Sperry Herbarium

Dr. James Whitney

  • Comparison of riffle-dwelling fish densities between the Neosho-Cottonwood and Spring Rivers: does changing water quality and food availability explain density differences?
  • Status and trends of the Blackside Darter (Percina maculata) in Kansas.
  • Kansas recovery plan for the Hornyhead Chub (Nocomis biguttatus) and Redspot Chub (Nocomis asper)
  • Assessing the invasive status of the nonnative Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) in an ecotonal riverscape.

Dr. Dan Zurek

  • Development of a novel antibiotic protein from soybean.
  • Development of pathogen-resistant soybeans.
  • Investigation of gene regulation by auxin in tomatoes.

Presentations

August 2019

Biology graduate student Jiawei Xu and her advisor Dr. Neil Snow attended the BOTANY 2019 conference in Tucson AZ. Dr. Neil Snow, presented and organized a symposium on Floristics in North America: Current Needs, Priorities and Opportunities. Presentations follow -

Posters: 

  • Graduate Student Jiawei Xu presented "Morphology and Patterns of Leaf Venation in New Caledonian Syzygium (Myrtaceae)".

Other poster and oral contributions included:

  • Byng, J., V. Hequet, J. Xu, N. Snow. 2019. A visual representation of New Caledonian Syzygium (Myrtaceae) to aid identification. Poster, BOTANY 2019, Tucson. (poster)
  • Snow, N., J. Munzinger, J. Byng, M. W. Callmander. Thirteen additional new species of Eugenia from New Caledonia. BOTANY 2019, Tucson. (poster)
  • Snow, N., J. Lendemer. Floristics as a foundation for training students broadly in plant and fungal diversity. Oral presentation as part of Colloquium Floristics in the 21st Century: Challenges, Opportunities and Priorities. Oral presentation, BOTANY 2019, Tucson. (oral)

June 2019

Dr. Brodsky presented a talk at the National Meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation on a project co-authored by former student Kelly Mallatt, “Remediation of Tar Creek: Shifts in bird community composition over time.”

May 2019

Dr. James Whitney attended the Society for Freshwater Science conference in Salt Lake City and presented “The environmental niche of two imperiled stream ecosystem engineers: Hornyhead Chub and Redspot Chub”.

April 2019

Biology graduate and undergraduate students participated in the annual PSU Research Colloquium, presenting oral papers and posters in the “Primarily Science and Technology” group.

Oral - graduate

  • Michael Barnes. Advisor: Dr. Andrew George. “Title: Avian Response to Habitat Structure and Experimental Forest Management in Upland Hardwood Ecosystems”.
  • Kali Boroughs. Advisor: Dr. James Whitney. “Does Pollution Reduction Alter Longitudinal Richness Gradients of Stream Fishes? A Case Study in Cow Creek, Southeastern Kansas”.
  • David Hollie. Advisor: Dr. Andrew George. “Bird Community Response to Experimental Forest Management in Upland Hardwood Forests”. First place in the oral group by a graduate student.
  • Elena Olson. Advisor: Dr. Anuradha Ghosh. “Characterization of bacterial isolates obtained from commercial poultry feed using whole genome sequence analysis”.

Oral - undergraduate

  • Jake Wright. Advisor: Dr. Andrew George. “Status and Population Trends of the Gray Bat Colony in Pittsburg, Kansas”

Poster - graduate

  • Ashleigh Elbert and Mallory Gibson (presenter). Advisor: Dr. Virginia Rider. “Maternal Immunity: Preimplantation Preparation”.
  • Amy Hammesfahr. Advisors: Dr. Christine Brodsky and Dr. Kathryn Womack. “Habitat Ecology, Species Occupancy, and Public Perception of Three Declining Bat Species in Southeastern Missouri”. Second place in the poster group by a graduate student
  • Abigail Morgan. Advisor: Dr. Phillip Harries. “Optimization of a lead biosensor to test environmental samples in an in vitro and in vivo system”.
  • Enrico Aveiro. Advisor: Dr. Mandy Peak Bryan. “Human Gut Microbiome”.

Poster - undergraduate

  • Kylie Dominick. Advisor: Dr. Anuradha Ghosh. “Ecology and prevalence of ticks and tick-borne bacterial pathogens in southeast Kansas”.
  • Caleb Durbin. Advisor: Dr. Christine Brodsky. “Camera trap study of the mammal communities across an urbanization gradient”.
  • Joshua Holloway (Contributing group members: Kali Boroughs, Robin Goodreau, Ashton McManis, Adam Pistorius, DeAundre Puritty, Michael Ramirez, Rachel Styers, and Jake Wright). Advisor: Dr. James Whitney. “Historical and Contemporary Distribution of the Nonnative Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) in the Spring River Subbasin of Kansas”.
  • Ryan McGinty. Advisor: Dr. Andrew George. “Microclimate use by the gray bat colony in Pittsburg, Kansas”.
  • Morgan Smith. Advisor: Dr. Christine Brodsky. “Pittsburg State University goes native: a study on the resources and wildlife attraction of a native pollinator garden on college campus.
  • Rachel Styers and Jake Wright. Advisors: Dr. Christine Brodsky and Dr. Andrew George. “Establishing long-term monitoring of birds, herpetofauna, and vegetation in mined land wildlife areas in Crawford and Cherokee Counties.”
  • Lindsey Williams. Advisors: Dr. Christine Brodsky. “Climate change impacts on bird communities vary throughout cities in Kansas”.
The annual Distinguished Thesis award was won by Abrar Alzahrani for “Ecology and Prevalence of Ticks and Tick-Borne Bacterial Pathogens in Southeast Kansas”. Dr. Anuradha Ghosh was the advisor.

First place for Undergraduate Poster at the Capitol Research Summit held in Topeka, KS was Rachel A. Styers (Contributing Group Member: Jake Wright) for “Establishing Long-Term Monitoring of Birds, Herpetofauna, and Vegetation in Mined Land Wildlife Areas in Crawford and Cherokee Counties”. Dr. Christine Brodsky is the advisor.

March 2019

Biology graduate student Ashleigh Elbert was lead author of a poster presented at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences annual Research Symposium. The poster was "Expression of Ligand CCL19 in Sprague-Dawley Rat Uterine Tissue and the Possible Action to Prepare for Implantation and Placentation in the Uterus" and was co-authored by Mallory Gibson and Dr. Virginia Rider

Dr. Hermann Nonnenmacher presented the poster "Insect Foragers on Tall Thistle, Cirsium altissimum (L.) Spreng., and Late Boneset, Eupatorium serotinum Michx., in Cherokee County, Kansas" to the 95th Annual Kansas Entomological Society Meeting.

January 2019

Several Biology faculty and students attended the 2019 KINBRE Symposium (Overland Park, KS).
  • Nicholas A. Burnett, Abrar Alzahrani, Leah Cuthill, and Anuradha Ghosh. “Ecology and Prevalence of Ticks and Tick-Borne Bacterial Pathogens in Southeast Kansas”.
  • Gibson, Mallory, Ashleigh Elbert, and Virginia Rider. “Spatial distribution and regulation of CCL19 and CCL21 expression in rat uteri in preparation for embryo implantation”.
  • Robin Goodreau, Kelly Mallatt, and Christine Brodsky. “Remediation of Tar Creek: Ecological diversity and potential human health impacts”.
  • Nathan Kerr, Daniel Zurek. “Cytotoxicity of a Novel Antibiotic Protein”.
  • Ryan Walker, Megan Peters, Tayita Abudu, Mandy M. Peak. “Analyzing the Gut Microbiome of Human Populations in Fort Scott, KS and Shoal Creek, MO”.
  • Abigail Morgan, Phillip Harries. “Optimization of a lead biosensor to test environmental samples in an in vitro and in vivo system”.
  • Elena Olson, Andrew Micciche, Steven Ricke and Anuradha Ghosh. “Understanding the characteristics of bacterial isolates obtained from commercial poultry feed using whole genome sequencing approach”.

Several Biology faculty and students attended the 2019 Kansas Natural Resources Conference (Manhattan, KS).

Two of our undergraduate students won awards for Best Student Poster or Paper from their respective professional societies. The Kansas Chapter of the Wildlife Society awarded undergraduate field biology student Ryan McGinty for the poster "Microclimate Use by the Gray Bat Colony in Pittsburg, Kansas". The faculty sponsor and co-author was Dr. Andy George. The Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society awarded field biology undergraduate Josh Holloway for his talk was entitled: "Historical and Contemporary Distribution of the Nonnative Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) in the Spring River Subbasin of Kansas." This was a group project in Dr. James Whitney's Fisheries Management class from Fall 2018.

Dr. Hermann Nonnenmacher presented the poster "Insect Foragers on Tall Thistle, Cirsium altissimum (L.) Spreng., and Late Boneset, Eupatorium serotinum Michx., in Cherokee County, Kansas".

Publications

Dr. Brodsky

  • Birt, J.A.1, Khajeloo, M.1, Rega-Brodsky, C.C.1, Siegel, M.A.1, Hancock, T.S., Cummings, K., & Nguyen, P.D. 2019. Fostering agency to overcome barriers in college science teaching: Going against the grain to enact reform-based ideas. Science Education 103(4): 770-798. doi 10.1002/sce.21519  1Equal first-author contribution.
  • George, A. D., Hammesfahr, A. M., Barnes, M. W., Rega-Brodsky, C. C. Accepted. Patterns of herpetofaunal species richness along environmental gradients in Kansas. Collinsorum.

Dr. Andy George

  • George, A. D., Porneluzi, P. A., Haslerig, J. M. and Faaborg, J. (2019), Response of shrubland birds to regenerating clearcut area and shape. Journal of Wildlife Management 83: 1508–1514.
  • George, A. D., Hammesfahr, A. M., Barnes, M. W., Rega-Brodsky, C. C. (2019), Patterns of herpetofaunal species richness along environmental gradients in Kansas. Collinsorum - In press
  • Kellner, K. F., Renken, R. B., Millspaugh, J. J., Porneluzi, P. A., Wolf, A. J., Fantz, D. K., Gitzen, R. A., Faaborg, J.,Timm, S. R., Ehlers, S., Buchanan, M. L., Haslerig, J. M., George, A. D., and Rota, C. T. (2019). Effects of forest management on vertebrates: synthesizing two decades of data from hardwood forests in Missouri, USA. Ecological Applications 00( 00)
  • George, A. D., Connette, G. M., Thompson, F. R., III, Faaborg, J. (2017), Resource selection by an ectothermic predator in a dynamic thermal landscape. Ecology and Evolution 7: 9557–9566.

Dr. Ghosh

  • Steinbock B., Bechtold R., Sevigny, J. L., Thomas, D., Thomas W. K., and Ghosh A. 2019. Draft genome sequences of ten bacterial strains isolated from an abandoned coal mine land in southeast Kansas. Microbial Resource Announcement (Under review)
  • Pohlenz T., Zavadilova K., Ghosh A., and Zurek L. 2018. Prevalence of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli in house flies, Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae) in an urban environment. J. Med. Entomol. 55:436-439.
  • Savage H. M., Godsey Jr., M. S., Tatman J., Burkhalter K. L., Hamm A., Panella N. A., Ghosh A., and Raghavan R. K. 2018. Surveillance for Heartland and Bourbon Viruses in Eastern Kansas, June 2016. Journal of Medical Entomology.
  • Puri-Giri R, Ghosh A., Thomson J. L., and Zurek L. 2017. House flies in the confined cattle environment carry non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. J. Med. Entomol. 54:726-732.
  • Puri-Giri R., Ghosh A., and Zurek L. 2016. Stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) from confined beef cattle do not carry Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) in the digestive tract. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 13:65-67.

Dr. Rider

  • Ortona, E., Pierdominici, M., and Rider, V. Editorial: Sex hormones and gender difference in immune responses. Frontiers in Immunology, 2019, 10:1076. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01076, PMID: 31156632.

Dr. Snow

  • Pryer, S.Y., N. Snow, J. Kartesz. 2019. Floristic survey of vascular plants in Crawford and Cherokee counties in southeastern Kansas. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. In press.
  • Gâteblé, G., L. Barrabé, G. McPherson, J. Munzinger, N. Snow, U.  Swenson. 2018. One new endemic plant species on average per month in New Caledonia, including eight more new species from Île Art (Belep Islands), a major micro-hotspot in need of protection. Australian Systematic Botany 31: 448–480.
  • Sur, G., R. Keating, N. Snow, E.A. Stacy. 2018. Leaf micromorphology aids taxonomic delineation within the hypervariable tree species Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) in Hawai’i. Pacific Science 72(3): 345–361.
  • Thomson, S.A, R.L. Pyle + 182 other authors. 2018. Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation. PLoS Biology 16(3): 1–12.  http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2005075
  • Snow, N., P.M. Peterson, K. Romaschenko, B.K. Simon. 2018. Monograph of Diplachne (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Cynodonteae). PhytoKeys 93: 1–102.

Dr. Whitney

  • Gido, K.B., D.L Propst, J.E. Whitney, S.C. Hedden, T.F. Turner, and T.J. Pilger. 2019. Pockets of resistance: response of arid-land fish communities to climate, hydrology, and wildfire. Freshwater Biology 64: 761-777.   https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/fwb.13260
  • Whitney, J.E., J.A. Holloway, D.T. Scholes, and A.D. King. 2019. Long-term change of fish communities in a polluted watershed: does cleaner water “act” on fishes? Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 148: 191-206.  https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tafs.10130

Grants Received

Dr. Brodsky

  • Missouri Department of Conservation, co-Pi Dr. Kathryn Womack. “Summer habitat use and roost ecology of tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and northern long-eared bat (M. septentrionalis).” 2018 – 2021.
  • Wildlife Management Institute, co-PI Amy Hammesfahr. “Post white-nose syndrome summer occupancy and improved survey methods for the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) in southeastern Missouri.” 2019.
  • Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism, co-PI Dr. Andrew George. “Establishing Baseline Ecological Data to Enhance Habitat Restoration on Reclaimed Mined Land.” 2018 – 2019.
  • K-INBRE. Summer Scholars, University Scholars & Recruitment Package “Remediation of Tar Creek: Shifts in bird community composition over time.” 2017-2019.

Dr. George

  • George, A. D. The effects of select forest management practices on forest songbirds in Missouri oak-hickory forests. Missouri Department of Conservation. 2017–2019.
  • George, A. D. Microclimate use by the gray bat Myotis grisescens colony in Pittsburg, Kansas. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. 2018–2019.
  • George, A. D. Population demographics, habitat-use, and long-term monitoring of the gray bat Myotis grisescens colony in Pittsburg, Kansas. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. 2017–2022.
  • Rega-Brodsky, C. C. and George, A. D. Establishing long-term ecological monitoring to enhance habitat restoration on reclaimed mined land. Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. 2018–2022.

Dr. Ghosh

  • Walton Family Foundation Grant in 2017
  • Ghosh, A. (Co-Principal), A. Townsend Peterson (Principal), et al. RII Track-2 FEC: “Marshalling diverse big data streams to understand risk of tick-borne diseases in the Great Plains. NSF EPSCoR. Federal in 2019

Dr. Rider

  • NIH (Wright, PI). 2019-2024. Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE). Dr. Rider, campus coordinator. $186,840.

Dr. Snow

  • Snow, N. 2018. CSBR: Natural History: Expansion and curatorial support of the T.M. Sperry Herbarium at Pittsburg State University to enhance teaching, research and outreach in the 21st Century. National Science Foundation. $307,203 (2018–2020).

Dr. Whitney

  • State Wildlife Grant, United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “Comparison of Neosho Madtom (Noturus placidus) population density between the Neosho-Cottonwood and Spring Rivers: does changing water quality and food availability explain density differences?” April 2019-March 2021. $97,739.64.
  • Chickadee Checkoff Small Grants Program, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “Status and Trends of the Blackside Darter (Percina maculata) in Kansas.” February 2019-Februrary 2020. $7,000.00.
  • Research Services Contract, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. “Kansas Recovery Plan for the Hornyhead Chub Nocomis biguttatus and Redspot Chub Nocomis asper.” January 2018-August 2019.  $18,200.00.

See the K-INBRE page for more research information.