Research Ideas for Students

Dr. Gregg Hartvigsen

I believe students should develop their own research projects but recognize that students may be timid about diving into an entirely new research area. Students  have many opportunities to develop and conduct independent research both within my broad research program and in closely allied research areas. Students are encouraged to couple empirical and theoretical approaches to answer important questions in ecology and evolutionary biology. Currently I share a large NSF grant with Tony Macula, Chris Leary (Math), and Wendy Pogozelski (Biochemistry) and am focusing on these biomathematical projects (see biomath website).

Opportunities are divided into two phases. Phase I projects are appropriate for students new to the program. Phase II projects assume the student has been in the laboratory for at least on semester and assume some facility with the techniques used to address hypotheses (e.g., experience in c programming). Some projects can be worked on by students in either Phase I or Phase II.

Phase I Research Projects

• Effect of predator (3rd trophic level) in food web model.
• Effect of increasing window sizes (neighborhood size) on the dynamics of populations in food web model.
• Explore collecting data from literature or web to test hypotheses in the field of ecology.
• Develop conceptual model for a complex ecological system and identify the data required to test a hypothesis.
• Learn c programming (course work).
• Develop a computer program (using C, for instance) of a simple population model (e.g., exponential growth) and analyze its dynamics.
• Assess structure complexity of forest canopies using fractal geometry.

Phase II Research Projects

• Investigate vaccination strategies against influenza in a realistically structured model of hosts.
• Investigate the evolutionary dynamics of influenza in a realistically structured model of hosts.
• Investigate the evolution of species over time in a spatially structure community.
• Investigate the effect of predators on a spatially-structured model of plants and herbivores.
• Effect of increasing window sizes (neighborhood size) on the dynamics of populations in food web model.
• Investigate conditions under which a biocontrol agent can be used to control an invasive weed species.
• Assess the dynamics of logistically growing population, coupled in a network structure.
• Investigate how cooperation emerges on a small-world network
• Investigate the dynamics of various ecological systems structured on a network, including diseases, populations, and other behaviors of individuals.

In addition, I'm interesting in working with dedicated students to tackle any of these problems (as time/resources permit):

• Assess the ecological communities in our new Research Reserve. This could be anything from the natural history of the site to experiments involving prescribed burning.
• Collect historical information and map data/aerial photographs of Research Reserve
• Establish vegetation transects in Research Reserve as basis for long-term studies of plant community dynamics
• Investigate plant competitive interactions (see Hartvigsen, 2000)
• Vegetation analysis in the Roemer Arboretum
• Analyze vegetation communities of the Genesee Valley Conservancy holdings (~5000 acres)
• Determine soil microfauna abundance/diversity in Arboretum
• Put together a brochure for an interpretive walk through the Arboretum
• Continue developing maps of the Roemer Arboretum (using new GIS and spatial statistical software in my lab)
• Map and analyze distribution of large trees in Arboretum
• Inventory large trees on Geneseo campus or work on the Geneseo Big Trees project
• Determine spatial pattern of bird territories in the Roemer Arboretum
• Determine change in fractal dimension of leaves and/or whole plants over environmental gradients using digital imagery (see Hartvigsen 2000)
• Research the land use history of the Lake Conesus watershed
• Detemine current land patterns of the Lake Conesus watershed (aerial photos/ground truthing)
• Investigate the fractal shape of communities around Geneseo over time
• Determine the shape of forests using clinometer, laser rangefinder, and fractal geometry
• Develop and test individual-based, evolutionary programs (e.g., see Hartvigsen & Levin, 1997)
• Extend a spatially-explicit model of cooperation (see Hartvigsen, Worden, & Levin 2000)
• Model pest spread and management.
• Investigate small-world network dynamics (cooperation, influenza, food-web dynamics)
• Work on the SUNY Geneseo Journal of Science and Mathematics.
• Develop and implement educational programs for kids using the Roemer Arboretum
• Create a virtual walking tour of the Roemer Arboretum on the web.

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