Principal Investigator
Ryan W. McEwan, PhD
Associate Professor of Ecology
Environmental Biology Program Director
Department of Biology
The University of Dayton
300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-2320
Office phone: 1.937.229.2558
Email: ryan.mcewan@udayton.edu
Graduate Students
Eric B. Borth, MS Student
Eric was an Undergraduate Project Leader and Honors Student in the lab. He started working in the lab at the beginning of his freshman year, acid washing glassware, sorting leaf samples, and performing nutrient analysis on water samples and chlorophyll analysis on NDS samples. He took on a leadership role over two summers working on the National Science Foundation funded experiment investigating the effects of invasive plants on stream ecosystem biodiversity. His Honors Thesis project involves using microcosms to understand the influence of Lonicera maackii on aquatic invertebrates.
Eric has transitioned in the lab to a MS student and will be working on forest dynamics and fire ecology of boreal forests in Siberia starting this summer!
Email: eborth1@udayton.edu
Publications
Custer, K.W., E.B. Borth, S.D. Mahoney and R.W. McEwan. 2017. Lethal and sublethal effects of novel terrestrial subsidies from an invasive shrub (Lonicera maackii) on stream macroinvertebrates. Freshwater Science 36: 750-759. Open Access: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/694895
Julia Chapman, PhD Student
Julia Chapman (B.S., M.S.) is a PhD student in the lab who came to UD from the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology at Ohio University where she worked with Dr. Phil Cantino on the ecology and control of garlic mustard. An avid and accomplished botanist, and banisher of invasive species, she was a 2009 winner of the Botanical Society of America’s Young Botanist Award.
Her work in the lab centers on understanding the relationship(s) between taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in forests of North America and Taiwan.
Julia’s
Website: https://jichapman.wordpress.com
Email: jichapman01@gmail.com
Publications: Google Scholar
Undergraduate Project Leaders
Jenea Adams
Jenea is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is working a project that looks at how the invasive shrub Amur honeysuckle is influencing stream macronivertebrates. She is also the primary leader of a project that revisits lab alumni Nolan Nicaise’s hypothesis that urban forests are spatially distributed based on socioeconomic status.
Taylor Buskey
Taylor is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is doing an Honors Thesis that focuses on the herb layer at Drew Woods Nature Preserve in Darke County OH. This is an old-growth wet woods that has recently undergone two significant perturbations- garlic mustard invasion and removal, and the loss of ash trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer. Taylor has already accepted a graduate position at Indiana University for next year!
Mitch Kukla
Mitch is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who has been incredibly engaged in the function of the lab for several years! He has worked full-time in the lab on the Amur honeysuckle NSF project and on our City of Dayton project. Mitch is co-leading macroinvertebrate sampling for our honeysuckle project, and launching a new vegetation sampling project with Corey Kuminecz. He will be working on the Bill Yeck habitat project in the summer of 2017.
Email: kuklam1@udayton.edu
Corey Kuminecz
Corey is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is engaged in a variety of projects. He has worked full-time in the lab on the Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) NSF project and on our City of Dayton project. Corey was co-leader of macroinvertebrate sampling for our honeysuckle project and did a large amount of the sample processing for that project. In addition, he worked on an herb layer project related to the NSF Lonicera project and an overstory vegetation sampling of Drew Woods an old-growth forest in Ohio. He is a Human Rights minor and has interests in thinking about linking environmental quality and sustainable human societies. He spent part of the summer of 2017 in Malawi working on a sustainability project!
Email: kumineczc1@udayton.edu
Michelle Little
Michelle is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is doing an Honors Thesis focused on how Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) influences stream macroinvertebrates. She is also the Environmental Biology Program Intern and a member of the UD Pep Band.
Meg Maloney
Meg is a junior at UD studying environmental biology with a minor in sustainability, energy and the environment. Meg started working in the lab for Rachel McNeish during her first semester freshmen year. She assists with chlorophyll analysis on NDS samples. On the weekends, Meg studies restoration ecology in native ecosystems the Dayton area. Meg also enjoys “herping” or looking for reptiles and amphibians in her free time. Summer of 2017 Meg is heading to China!
Email: maloneym11@udayton.edu
Celia Montemurri
Celia is a junior Environmental Biology (EVB) major at UD, who is also a river steward and a Sustainability Minor! Celia worked at a bat conservation organization in Chicago last summer and is currently working on a project related to land conservation and management using GIS as part of our Bill Yeck Park vegetation analysis project.
Taylor Sparbanie
Taylor is a junior Environmental Biology (EVB) major at UD. In the summer of 2017 she was a Fellow in the lab working on the Bill Yeck project and participated in a host of other research and training activities. Taylor is an Honors Student whose Thesis will be focused on forest ecology and conservation.
Community Partners
Meredith Cobb (Conservation Specialist, Five Rivers Metroparks)
Meredith is a friend of the lab, and collaborator. Her mission is to discover cost effective, methods for restoring forests. She graduated from Antioch College and currently coordinates and participates in conservation efforts for the Five Rivers Metroparks. She is also cofounder of the Manhattan Peace Garden.
Meredith’s Publications:
Cobb, Meredith., K. Watkins, E.N. Silva, I. Cardosa do Nascimento and J.H.C. Delbie. 2006. An exploratory study on the use of bamboo pieces for trapping entire colonies of arboreal ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 47: 215-223.
