Research & Resources

Our center supports the research efforts of faculty and students.

A photo of coral fungi taken underwater.

Resources for Students

Looking for an internship, jobs, or research opportunity in field biology, environmental and conservation sciences, wildlife management, fisheries, zoos, aquariums or national forests and national parks?

Internship & Employment Openings

The Natural Resources Job Board

The Conservation Job Board

Association of Zoos & Aquariums

U.S. Forest Service (Mississippi openings)

Animal Behavior Society

Ecological Physiology

Society for Ecological Restoration

Ecological Society of America

Diversity Joint Venture for Careers in Conservation

Undergraduate Student Research Opportunities

Work alongside Department of Biology researchers! Students can gain valuable research and training experience while assisting researchers in their labs and in the field.

Learn More

Featured Researcher of the Month

Dr. Zanethia C. Barnett stands outside on a sunny day.

Dr. Zanethia C. Barnett

Dr. Barnett’s research focuses on aquatic ecology, with emphasis on factors influencing community assemblages, ecological interactions, water quality, and trophic states. Her primary research goals are directed towards quantifying the effects of disturbance on aquatic systems and deciphering mechanisms contributing to the structure of aquatic communities and genetic populations. Her key interests include: 1) assessing anthropogenic changes to aquatic community structure, 2) assessing aquatic food web responses to climate and land-use changes, 3) modeling potential impacts of habitat and water quality and quantity alterations on aquatic communities, and 4) assessing the impacts of invasive species on aquatic communities. Barnett has a special interest in the ecology and trophic dynamics of crayfishes, including assemblage and population genetic changes due to changing environmental conditions, as well as, their overall effects to aquatic ecosystems.

Member & Affiliate Publications

Nguyen, T.M., Pombubpa, N., Huntemann, M., Clum, A., Foster, B., Foster, B., Roux, S., Palaniappan, K., Varghese, N., Mukherjee, S., Reddy, T.B.K., Daum, C., Copeland, A., Chen, I-M A., Ivanova, N.N., Kyrpides, N.C., Harmon-Smith, M., Eloe-Fadrosh, E.A., Pietrasiak, N., Stajich, J.E., & E.F.Y. Hom. (In Press).

Whole community shotgun metagenomes of two biological soil crust types from the Mojave Desert. Microbiology Resource Announcements


Chen, I.-M. A., Ivanova, N. N., Kyrpides, N. C., Harmon-Smith, M., Eloe-Fadrosh, E. A., Pietrasiak, N., Stajich, J. E., & Hom, E. F. Y. (2024).

Metatranscriptomes of two biological soil crust types from the Mojave desert in response to wetting. Microbiology resource announcements, e0108023.


Zhao, M., Kurtis, S.M., Humbel, E.A, Griffith, E.V., Liu, T., Braun, E., Buchholz, R. & R.T. Kimball. (2024).

Did wattles and other bare parts evolve exclusively via sexual selection in Galliformes (chickens and allies)? Royal Society Open Science


Calatrava, V., Hom, E.F.Y., Guan, Q. Llamas, A., Fernandez, E. and A. Galvan. (2024). 

Genetic Evidence for Algal Auxin Production in Chlamydomonas and Its Role in an Inter-Kingdom Mutualism with a Plant Growth-Promoting Bacterium. iScience, 27: 108762


Platt, B. F., & J. J. Smith. (2023).

Late Miocene paleoecology and paleoclimate in the central High Plains of North America reconstructed from paleopedological, ichnological, and stable isotope analyses of the Ogallala Formation in western Kansas, USA. Evolving Earth 1: 100019.

Scott, R. C., Jr., and W. J. Resetarits, Jr. (2022).

Spatially explicit habitat selection: Testing contagion and the ideal free distribution with Culex mosquitoes. The American Naturalist.


Bohenek, J. R., M. R. Pintar, T. M. Breech & W. J. Resetarits, Jr. (2022).

A wolf in sheep’s clothing: predatory fish have convergent consumptive effects, but divergent predation-risk effects. Ecosphere 13(5):e4073


Resetarits, W.J., Jr., K.M. Potts, and R.C. Scott. (2022).

Island biogeography at the meso-scale: distance from forest edge affects patch size preferences in ovipositing treefrogs. Ecology.


Resetarits, W.J., Jr. T.M. Breech, J.R. Bohenek, and M.R. Pintar. (2022).

Cue reduction or general cue masking do not underlie generalized chemical camouflage in pirate perch. Ecology. 103(4):e3625

Scott, R.C. Jr., M.R. Pintar, and W.J. Resetarits Jr. (2021).

Patch size drives colonization by aquatic insects, with minor priority effects of a cohabitant. Ecology and Evolution.


Buchholz, R., Stamn, J. & S.A. Neha. (2021).

Can camera traps be used to measure climate change induced alterations of the activity patterns of elusive terrestrial vertebrates? Climate Change Ecology 2, 100020.


Hom, E.F.Y. & A.S. Penn (2021).

Symbiosis and the Anthropocene. Symbiosis 84:239-270


Pintar, M.R., J.R. Bohenek, and W.J. Resetarits, Jr. (2021).

Geographic variation in Culex oviposition habitat selection responses to a predator, Notonecta irrorata . Ecological Entomology, 46(5):1148-1156


Resetarits, W. J. Jr., M. R. Pintar, & J. R. Bohenek (2021).

Predator specific responses and emergent multi-predator effects on oviposition site choice in gray treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis. Proceedings of the Royal Society: B.


Resetarits, W. J. Jr., M. R. Pintar, & J. R. Bohenek (2021).

Complex multi-predator effects on demographic habitat selection and community assembly in colonizing insects. Ecological Monographs, 91(4):e01474


Goulet, T. & Goulet, D. (2021).

Climate change leads to a reduction in symbiotic derived cnidarian biodiversity on coral reefs. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.


Resetarits, W. J. Jr. (2021).

Between a rock and a hard place: ovipositing treefrogs navigate complex tradeoffs in the landscape of patch quality. Ecosphere, 12(5):e03524


Barnett, Z.C & Adams, S. (2021).

Review of dam effects on native and invasive crayfishes illustrate complex choices for conservation planning. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.


McNamara, S. C., Pintar, M.R. & Resetarits, W. J., Jr. (2021).

Temperature but not nutrient addition affects abundance and assemblage structure of colonizing aquatic insects. Ecology, 102, e03209


Kaup, M., Trull, S. and Hom, E.F.Y. (2021).

On the move: Sloths and their symbionts as model mobile ecosystems. Biological Reviews. 96(6): 2638-2660 

Holland, M.M. & Winkler, M. (2020).

Floristic changes in the understory vegetation of mixed temperate New England freshwater island forests over a period of 33 years. Plants (Basel) 9: 1600


Goulet, T.L., Erill, I., Ascunce, M. S., Finley, S.J., & Javan, G. T. (2020).

Conceptualization of the holobiont paradigm as it pertains to corals. Frontiers in Physiology


Pintar, M.R., & Resetarits, W. J., Jr. (2020).

Aquatic beetles influence colonization of disparate taxa in small lentic systems. Ecology and Evolution, 10: 12170-12182


Gaylord, M.K., Blades, E.L. & Parsons, G.R. (2020).

A hydrodynamics assessment of the hammerhead shark cephalofoil. Scientific Reports 10, 14495.


McCauley, M., Jackson, C. R., & Goulet, T. L. (2020).

Microbiomes of Caribbean octocorals vary over time but are resistant to environmental change. Frontiers in Microbiology. 11: 1272


Pintar, M.R. and W.J. Resetarits, Jr. (2020).

Aquatic beetles (Coleoptera) of the University of Mississippi Field Station, Lafayette County, Mississippi, USA. The Coleopterists Bulletin 74 (2).


Monette, V.D., Kelly, M.J. & Buchholz, R. (2020).

Human disturbance and the activity patterns and temporal overlap of tapirs and jaguars in reserves of NW Belize. Biotropica 52: 1262– 1274.


Fuller L., Stell E., Leary C. and Parsons, G. (2020).

Circulating adrenocorticotropic hormone levels, lactate levels, hematocrit and osmolality in relation to capture stress in Atlantic sharpnose sharks, Rhizoprionodon terraenovae . Comparative Biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & Integrative Physiology. 243:110655. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110655.


Pintar, M.R. & W.J. Resetarits Jr. (2020).

A comparison of aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera (Hemiptera) inhabiting natural habitats and experimental mesocosms at the University of Mississippi Field Station. Aquatic Insects 41 (1): 76–84.


Stell, E., Hoover, J.J., Fuller, L. and Parsons, G.R. (2020).

Analyzing leap characteristics and water escape velocities of silver carp using in situ video analysis. North Am J Fish Manage, 40: 163-174. doi:10.1002/nafm.10388

Garrick, R.C., Dickinson III, T., Reppel, D.K., & Yi, R.N. (2019).

Two divergent genetic lineages within the Horned Passalus beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus (Coleoptera: Passalidae), an emerging model for insect behavior, physiology and microbiome research. Insects, 10 (6): 159.


Resetarits, Jr, W.J., M.R. Pintar, J.R. Bohenek, & T.M. Breech. (2019).

Patch size as a niche dimension: aquatic insects behaviorally partition enemy-free space across gradients of patch size. The American Naturalist, 194 (6): 776–793. 


Zachos LG, Platt BF. (2019).

Actuopaleoichnology of a modern Bay of Fundy macro-tidal flat: analogy with a Mississippian tidal flat deposit (Hartselle Sandstone) from Alabama. PeerJ 7:e6975 DOI 10.7717/peerj.6975


Clear, M.R. & Hom, E. F. Y. (2019).

The evolution of symbiotic plant-microbe signaling. Annual Plant Reviews Online 2:1-52. Annual Plant Reviews Online 2:1-52. DOI 10.1002/9781119312994.apr0684


Heppard, J.M. & Buchholz, R. (2019).

Impact of human disturbance on the thermoregulatory behavior of the endangered ringed sawback turtle (Graptemys oculifera). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 10.1002/aqc.3106


Buchholz, R., Banusiewicz, J.D., Burgess, S., Crocker-Buta, S., Eveland, L., & Fuller, L. (2019).

Behavioural research priorities for the study of animal response to climate change. Animal Behaviour, 150: 127-137.


Fuller, L.N. & G.R. Parsons. (2019).

A note on associations observed between sharks and teleosts. Southeastern Naturalist, 18(3): 489-498.

Visual Resources

Glenn Parsons Testimony

Dr. Glenn Parsons, founder of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservational Research, testifies before Congress on the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act.

Watch

Expert Lectures

Experts from the Animal Behavior Conservation Committee lead instructional lectures on conservation behavior.

Watch

Biodiversity Photo Library

View our collection of photos taken in the field.

See More