Alina produced a manuscript based on earlier research in our lab on the tolerance of Miscanthus cultivars to grasshopper herbivory, She demonstrated that cultivars of this potentially invasive grass in protected areas vary in their response to herbivores. Her dissertation work on biotic resistance showed that grasshoppers may serve agents for biotic resistance of imported grasses through their selective feeding on exotic species over native species. This work shows that exotic grass cultivars which vary in morphology and color also vary in their resistance and tolerance to herbivory. See the article here.
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The Fishing Creek blog has become a tradition in our BSCI 467, Freshwater Biology, course each fall. After our last field trip to a beautiful and biologically-diverse stream in the Catoctin Mountains north of Frederick, each student submits a blog of their observations after learning about the ecology of streams. Then, the students are given copies of the top 10% (or so) of the blogs to select their favorite. We had two winners this year that stood out above the rest. First place went to Arthur Young, who wrote about his encounter with a crayfish from the CRAYFISH perspective ("The Cold, Dark Well)". Spoiler alert: the crayfish wins the encounter! Second place went to Shea Buczkowski for her excellent description of the role of dissolved oxygen to support life in the stream ("We All Need to Breathe"), and includes a dynamic photo of the turbulence of Fishing Creek. Check out both blogs here.
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