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.
RESEARCH STAFF
James Easton, Scientist/Researcher
Ph.D., 2003, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Karen Looper, Scientist/Researcher
Richard Zamor, Doctoral Student
M.S., 2005, University of Georgia
Anne Easton, Laboratory Research Technician
Emily Remmel, Doctoral Student
Updated
6 November, 2009
LAKE TEXOMA OFFICE
MAILING ADDRESS:
1074 OU Road HC 71, Box 205
Kingston, OK 73439-9738
Phone: (405) 325-7431 OR
(580) 564-2478
Fax: (580) 564-2479