Dawn M. Browning is a doctoral candidate
in Natural Resource Studies, School of Natural Resources. Her work
examines long-term effects of land use on land cover and biogeochemistry,
incorporating data about historical uses in her evaluation of modern
ecosystem patterns and processes. The overarching objective of
her dissertation research is to quantify the rates, spatial patterns,
and plant and ecosystem dynamics of woody encroachment in arid
regions against a backdrop of geomorphic diversity, topographic
complexity, and contrasting historic land uses. More specifically,
she is seeking to evaluate the long-term effects of livestock grazing
on trends in woody biomass and cover (velvet mesquite). Her ability
to conduct this work draws upon historic data drawn from two long-term
plots originally established by Dr. William McGinnies on southern
Arizona's Santa Rita Experiment Range in 1932. Using field maps
recovered from the 1932 survey of all woody plants and cacti on
these plots, she built a spatially explicit database for 1932 and
1948 surveys (the 1948 survey having been conducted by G. Glendening.)
In 2006, she led a field expedition to re-measure part of the original
area, extending the previous work.
During the course of her academic career, Dawn has received
several honors, grants and awards, including numerous travel
grants; a grant from the US Park Service (2002); the US EPA
Star Fellowship (2004-2007); two T&E, Inc. Conservation
Biology grants (2005); a Roy Cowden Memorial Scholarship (2005);
a Professional Opportunity and Development Grant from the UA
Graduate Professional Student Council (2006); and a scholarship
from the School of Natural Resources (2007).
She received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Mississippi
State University in December 1996, and a M.S. in Biological
Sciences from the University Arkansas in December 2000.
Dawn's strongest motivation lies in conducting research across
large spatial and temporal scales through synoptic assessments
of natural resources using integrated GIS, remote sensing, and
modeling approaches. She intends to continue working in the
arid southwestern U.S. to devise working solutions to pressing
issues in the region: shifting patterns in land use and land
cover, climate change implications for water-limite environments,
and increased pressure on natural resources caused by growing
human populations. |
Katharine L. Gerst is a fourth-year
doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology, College of Science, University of Arizona. Her general
research interests are in plant population ecology. More specifically,
she is interested in the reproductive biology and ecophysiology
of desert winter annuals.
Katharine's dissertation research centers on the pollination biology
and mating system diversity within the genus Camissonia (Onagraceae),
looking at the maintenance of selfing and outcrossing reproductive
strategies of the plants within this genus. She is examining inter-
and intra-specific variation in inbreeding depression, reproductive
assurance, and resource allocation, both at field sites throughout
the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts and in controlled greenhouse experiements.
This research will quantify, for the first time, the costs and
benefits associating with selfing and outcrossing in related species
pairs with contrasting breeding systems. The results will have
applications for understanding the effects of disrupted plant-pollinator
synchrony on plant reproduction in the face of greater environmental
variability predicted by climate change. Ultimately, this work
will contribute to the fields of pollination biology, spatial ecology,
plant physiological ecology, and reproductive evolution.
Katharine has received several grants, awards and honors during
her academic career. She was elected to the National Society of
Collegiate Scholars, an honors organization for first- and second-year
college students, in 2000, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa
Society in 2001. Since she entered the Ph.D. program in 2004, she
has received the Lucrretia B. Hamilton Scholarship (2005), the
Rabbi Maurice T. Galpert Memorial Scholarship (2005), the Graduate
Student and Professional Council Travel Award (2006), and the Cactus
and Succulent Society of America Research Grant (2006). She received
an Honorable Mention from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Program in 2006.
Katharine received her B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evoluation,
from UCLA in 2001, graduating magna cum laude. |
