Biology
Dr. Ferguson’s research involves collaborations with federal (Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife) and state agencies (CA Department of Fish and Game) in investigating the pollination systems of native rare and endangered flowering plants in southern Oregon and northern California. Successful protection of rare or endangered plants requires understanding the pollination requirements of these plants. Her past work identified the unique insect pollinator of the rare clustered lady slipper orchid, Cypripedium fasciculatum and documented the role of pollinators in the breeding system of the endangered Yreka phlox, Phlox hirsuta. Her current research efforts include monitoring and identifying the insect visitors and pollinators of the endangered Cook’s lomatium, Lomatium cookii.
David Oline
Dr. Oline is currently involved in several projects which used molecular genetic methods to address biogeography and population genetics in conifers. He is using chloroplast, nuclear, and mitochondrial markers to investigate the taxonomy of the California red fir-noble fir species complex. Recent molecular evidence suggest that the shasta red fir is a hybrid of California red fir and noble fir, not a distinct subspecies. He is also using DNA sequencing of high resolution chloroplast markers to infer specific founding relationships between island populations of whitebark pine as a result of extinction-colonization dynamics. He is also very interested in micobial biodiversity and biogeography in natural envioronments. The application of molecular techniques to investigate microbial communities in complex natural environments like soils have allowed us to ask basic biogeogrphic and ecological questions of microbial communities that we haven't been able to ask before. He is currently investigating the microbial communities of unvegetated ultrahomogenous dry lakebeds as simple model systems for microbial biogeography.
Chris Oswald
Dr. Oswald is currently studying the possible impact on wild mammals of a toxic metal, one that occurs naturally in high concentrations. Serpentine geologic formations, such as those found in southern Oregon and northern California, contain high levels of nickel, a potentially toxic metal. In spite of toxic effects, several species of small mammals live in serpentine areas. Dr. Oswald is currently investigating whether these mammals ingest nickel, suffer from negative effects of the toxin, or avoid the negative consequences of nickel exposure.
Kathleen Page
Dr. Page's research is focused on Environmental Microbiology. She is isolating and characterizing novel bacterial species from diverse environmental sites such as Crater Lake and an abandoned copper mine. She is also interested in assessing microbial pollution problems that occur in regional waterways.
My primary research focus is on the structure and dynamics of aquatic food webs, with emphasis on the effects of human impacts and introduced species. Much of my work is involved with conservation of aquatic organisms and the environments that sustain them. Studies I am currently involved in include (1) a long-term study of the ecology and conservation of endemic aquatic invertebrates inhabiting thermal springs within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife, with special emphasis on the creeping water bugs (family Naucoridae); (2) a study of the effects of landscape heterogeneity and wetland succession on spatial distribution, seasonal movements and long-term viability of an Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) population within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; and (3) distribution of non-native crayfish their impacts on stream food webs and the native biota.
John Roden
Dr. Roden's fundamental interests are in plant physiological ecology with special reference to trees and forest ecosystems. The theme that binds his interests together is an interest in how the microenvironment of a plant influences its form and function. In particular, he has been interested in how plants acclimate and adapt to environmental heterogeneity with an emphasis on how those physiological and morphological characteristics affect survival and growth.
John Sollinger
Dr. Sollinger is investigating the developmental roles of leaf and flowering genes that regulate the body plan and organogenesis in the common garden pea. He is interested in relating gene function to possible evolutionary paths taken for making the angiosperm flower.
Karen Stone
Dr. Stone's primary research interests lie in molecular evolution and molecular ecology. Currently, she is investigating ancestral population sizes and colonization patterns of American martens (Martes americana), a medium-sized carnivore, using genetic signatures from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences and nuclear microsatellites. Her research gives insight into western forested refugia that existed during the past glacial cycle. She is also collaborating with Dr. Darlene Southworth to study the dispersal of spores of mycorrhizal fungi by small mammals.
Charles Welden
Dr. Welden is currently invesigating the phylogenetic relationships among various species and subspcies of red firs on the West Coast. California Red Fir (Abies magnifica) grows throughout the Sierra Nevada. A closely related red fir, Noble Fir (Abies procera), grows in the Cascades and Coast ranges of Washington and Oregon. In the Klamath Mountains and Cascades of southern Oregon and northern California grow trees of intermediate morphology. Some of these are recognized as a subspecies of California Red Fir, called Abies magnifica var. shastensis. Many botanists have suggested that these intermediates are hybrids between California Red Fir and Noble Fir. Dr. Welden and his students are using DNA sequencing to investigate the phylogeny of the red fir complex up and down the West Coast. They hope to use genetic markers from the nuclear, chloroplast, and mitochondrial genomes. These separate genomes are inherited biparentally, paternally, and maternally, respectively, and so potentially allow one to determine which species contributed as pollen donor, egg donor, or both.
Emeritus Faculty
Darlene Southworth
Dr. Southworth and collaborators have a 5-year Biocomplexity grant to study mycorrhizae with Quercus garryana (Oregon White Oak or Garry oak) at Whetstone Savanna Preserve in southwestern Oregon. Their group created a database of ectomycorrhizal morphotyes and RFLP patterns of the DNA of mycorrhizae and sporocarps. Continuing research projects include SEM-EDX of mycorrhizal tips, tests of transfer of minerals between oak seedlings and between oaks and grasses, and comparison of mycorrhizae on serpentine.
Steve Cross
Dr. Cross' interests are centered on the ecology, behavior and conservation of bats. In particular, he is working on techniques for inventory and monitoring of bat populations, especially forest dwelling species. In addition, he often works with private industry or individuals and government agencies to assess the status of bat populations relative to specific areas or habitats. Students are welcome to participate in such projects.