Jake Kerby (PI) and Jeff Wesner (Co-PI) received a State Wildlife Grant to study the effects of tile drains on prairie pothole wetlands. This comprehensive study will measure chemical contaminant levels in 18 wetlands (e.g. Se, Neonicotinoids, Nutrients) and their effects on amphibians, insects, and fish.
Author Archives: jeffwesner
Brianna Henry is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow!
Congratulations to Brianna Henry! Brianna is an undergraduate at Clarion University of Pennsylvania who was just awarded an NSF GRFP fellowship to conduct research on herbicides and wetland ecosystem ecology. This award is highly competitive – only 12% of the 16,500 submitted proposals were funded. She will join our lab at USD this summer, andContinue reading “Brianna Henry is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow!”
Welcome to Eric Sazama!
Eric joined the lab in Fall 2014 to pursue his M.S. He’s developing a fascinating project that will ask how Wolbachia, a widespread endosymbiotic bacterium, is distributed within aquatic insects. He will then ask how infection by Wolbachia might alter the ability for insects to complete metamorphosis, a key process in linking aquatic-terrestrial food webs.
Habitat selection paper published in Ecology and Evolution
Wesner JS, Meyers P, Billman EJ, Belk MC. Habitat selection and consumption across a landscape of multiple predators. Ecology and Evolution. We tested whether egg-laying female insects could detect differences in predator community composition. Because some predators are more lethal than others, the ability to differentiate predator risk when laying eggs can have large fitnessContinue reading “Habitat selection paper published in Ecology and Evolution”
Second metamorphosis paper accepted to ES&T! UPDATED
Kraus, JM, DM Walters, JS Wesner, CA Stricker, TS Schmidt, and RE Zuellig. In press. Metamorphosis alters contaminant transfer and diet tracers in insects. Environmental Science and Technology (open access) We’re on a roll with metamorphosis at ES&T. Johanna Kraus, a Mendenhall Fellow at the USGS, led the way on this very important paper. It shows differential contaminant lossContinue reading “Second metamorphosis paper accepted to ES&T! UPDATED”
Metamorphosis paper 1 accepted to ES&T
Wesner, JS, JM Kraus, TS Schmidt, DM Watlers and WH Clements. Accepted. Metamorphosis enhances the effects of metal exposure on the mayfly, Centroptilum triangulifer. Environmental Science & Technology This paper shows that metal concentrations that are non-lethal for mayfly larvae can become lethal when those larvae undergo metamorphosis to become winged adults. This points to an intriguingContinue reading “Metamorphosis paper 1 accepted to ES&T”
Northern leatherside chub paper accepted in Ecology of Freshwater Fish
Last week brought great news that our work on the food webs of northern leatherside chub was accepted to Ecology of Freshwater Fish. This study documents a shift in trophic position of common fishes in streams where NLC is absent. The shift is independent of habitat variation, meaning the food webs at these sites may beContinue reading “Northern leatherside chub paper accepted in Ecology of Freshwater Fish”
We got our first grant!
An internal grant from USD will help to establish “Model systems to understand threats to freshwater ecosystems.” That is – we can now hire several undergraduate students and buy equipment to help build 1) a large outdoor artificial stream system, and 2) an indoor culture of the model mayfly Centroptilum triangulifer.
Welcome to Jerry Warmbold!
Jerry will start his M.S. in the Wesner lab in January 2014. He’s interested in fisheries and fish ecology. His project will answer questions related to the influence of fish species loss on linked aquatic-terrestiral ecosystems.
New paper in Freshwater Science
Wesner, JS. 2013. Fish predation alters benthic, but not emerging, insects across whole pools of an intermittent stream. Freshwater Science 32:438-449 Direct predation on developing insects undoubtedly reduces the number of emergers, right? In this paper, the answer is maybe. We blocked off 10 entire pools of a small stream in Oklahoma, and created aContinue reading “New paper in Freshwater Science”
