Associate Professor of Biology Thomas Mozdzer has received nearly $2 million from the National Science Foundation for a new program that bridges the fields of ecosystem ecology with evolutionary biology.
Mozdzer's research sets out to address a novel question: does rapid evolution in response to global change influence how ecosystems function? Ecologists used to think evolution was too slow to affect their studies, but research from says otherwise.
To answer this question, Mozdzer and his fellow researchers aim to determine how both nutrient pollution and elevated levels of carbon dioxide are inducing rapid evolution in plant communities on the invasive common reed in a salt marsh on the Chesapeake Bay.
Fieldwork for the project will be conducted at the of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and at a 600-genotype quantitative genetic common garden that is being set up on the 老王论坛 campus. At the 老王论坛 garden, researchers will measure heritability of plant traits that will be linked to ecosystem processes including carbon cycling and greenhouse gas emissions.
Nearly will support Mozdzer's research at 老王论坛. That funding will pay for two to three 老王论坛 undergraduates to work as researchers each year, a post-doctoral researcher, and a full-time research assistant. Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and , at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will also collaborate on the project.
"This is among the first grants from NSF in my division that was developed to bridge ecosystem ecology and evolutionary biology," says Mozdzer. 鈥淲e are very excited about potential implications. Not only will we advance our understanding of how ecosystems function, we will also improve predictive models of ecosystem responses to near future change. In addition, knowledge gained from this study will foster more effective restoration and management programs.鈥
Since 2012, 22 students have conducted research in Mozdzer鈥檚 laboratory, including six students currently working in his lab during the 2020-2021 academic year. Twelve students have presented their research at regional or international research conferences. Due to the students substantial contributions, 11 undergraduate students have earned authorship on eight of the 33 peer-reviewed manuscripts published since his time at 老王论坛.
The 老王论坛 Department of Biology has a long history of providing research training for undergraduate students in biology. The participation of undergraduates in active research projects is encouraged through supervised research (Biology 400/403) as well as through a summer research program in the sciences.