Participating Faculty
Dr. Stephen Brewer
Dr. Brewer's research currently focuses on restoration ecology, historical ecology, fire ecology, endangered plants, and the impacts of invasive plant species on plant communities. By integrating the study of landscape history, historical disturbance regimes, and current responses of plants to variation in fire regimes, Dr. Brewer's research aims to elucidate how natural fire regimes can be restored to ecosystems that have experienced prolonged fire suppression and exclusion. Dr. Brewer teaches graduate courses in conservation and restoration ecology, invasive species ecology, and multivariate analyses of ecological communities.
Dr. Jason Hoeksema
Dr. Hoeksema's research focuses on understanding the ecological roles of diverse communities of ectomycorrhizal fungus symbionts on the roots of tree species in managed and un-managed forest ecosystems. How these fungi and their functions and interactions with trees respond to forest management practices and forest restoration techniques is a key research question. Dr. Hoeksema teaches graduate courses in mycology and advanced statistical techniques.
Dr. Colin Jackson
Dr. Jackson's research focuses on various aspects of soil and aquatic microbial ecology. Areas of research include using molecular (16S7 rRNA-based) techniques to describe the diversity and structure of microbial communities, and how these communities respond to environmental changes, and the use of microbial extracellular enzymes as indicators of ecosystem processes. How forest management practices affect the activity and composition of soil microbial communities would provide useful information on linkages between aboveground and belowground systems. Dr. Jackson teaches graduate courses in microbial ecology, microbial diversity, and applied microbiology.
Dr. Brice Noonan
The focus of Dr. Noonan's research is understanding the diversity and distributions of tropical and terrestrial animals. In the past his research has focused on reptiles and amphibians of the Guiana Shield, South America, although he has now expanded to include Madagascar and arthropods (primarily ants), as well as some studies in temperate ecosystems. In the USDA graduate training program, Dr. Noonan is advising students on projects investigating aspects of how reptile or amphibian populations respond to forest management and disturbances in the southern USA.
Please find additional information about each participating faculty member at the website of the University of Mississippi Department of Biology.