K. David Hambright

faculty-staff.ou.edu/H/Karl.D.Hambright-1/

Associate Professor, The University of Oklahoma, Department of Zoology

Ph.D., 1991, Cornell University

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Limnology, Plankton and Fish Ecology, Invasive Species and Mercury in the Environment.

RESEARCH STATEMENT
Ecological interactions between freshwater consumer and prey species are the primary focus of my research. My studies have covered a broad range of organisms including piscivorous and planktivorous fishes, metazoan and protozoan plankton, phytoplankton (algae) and bacteria. I am particularly interested in understanding how consumers affect community and ecosystem level dynamics through direct and indirect effects on both prey and non-prey species via mechanisms such as selective consumption, alteration of competitive forces, and changes in nutrient cycling dynamics. Laboratory and field experimentation play key roles in my research, though I typically employ additional multiple but separate approaches to any particular question. Most recently, these include field demographic surveys, allozyme electrophoresis, comparative morphology using computerized image analysis, paleolimnology, life history analyses, and motion analysis via high-speed digital video. Students working in my lab are free to explore any topic in aquatic ecology and evolutionary biology. Current projects include zooplankton grazing and nutrient remineralization in Lake Texoma, paleolimnology of Lake Kinneret, Israel, interactions between food stoichiometry and Daphnia behavior and metabolism, and cladoceran zooplankton feeding mechanics (i.e., the mechanism of food particle capture and selection), and ecotoxicology of golden algae in Lake Texoma.

Richard Zamor, Doctoral Student
M.S., 2005, University of Georgia

Anne Easton, Laboratory Research Technician

Emily Remmel, Doctoral Student