Summer 2017, UF IFAS Ordway Swisher Biological Station
In collaboration with Benjamin Baiser, James Skelton, Michelle Jusino, Jiri Hulcr, Pamela Solits
The goal of this project was to understand how metrics of fire impact food web diversity. We selected 12 burn modules at OSBS that represented a gradient of fire histories ranging from "well burned sandhill" to "unburned oak hammock." We established vegetation plots following NEON guidelines across this gradient. I led field sampling efforts to collect and preserve grasshoppers at each plot. After taxonomic identification, I dissected and extracted plant DNA from the guts of a subset of grasshoppers. Using a Next Generation Sequencing metabarcoding approach we were able to build "realized" food webs for three species of grasshopper across a gradient of fire histories.
In collaboration with Benjamin Baiser, James Skelton, Michelle Jusino, Jiri Hulcr, Pamela Solits
The goal of this project was to understand how metrics of fire impact food web diversity. We selected 12 burn modules at OSBS that represented a gradient of fire histories ranging from "well burned sandhill" to "unburned oak hammock." We established vegetation plots following NEON guidelines across this gradient. I led field sampling efforts to collect and preserve grasshoppers at each plot. After taxonomic identification, I dissected and extracted plant DNA from the guts of a subset of grasshoppers. Using a Next Generation Sequencing metabarcoding approach we were able to build "realized" food webs for three species of grasshopper across a gradient of fire histories.