Sewall Conservation Ecology Lab

Kim Reuter has won an external grant from the Explorers Club in support of her research.  Her grant proposal, “Analyzing the Effects of Deforestation on Food Sources and Population Densities of Two Endangered Lemur Species” was selected in intense international competition for the Exploration Fund grant program, which provides grants in support of exploration and field research for those who are just beginning their research careers.  The grant will support her dissertation field research in northern Madagascar this summer.  Congratulations to Kim!

Andrea Gudiel has presented at the Temple Undergraduate Research Forum and Creative Works Symposium (TURF-CreWS), which took place on the Temple University campus on April 18, 2013.  The focus of the symposium was “to inspire undergraduate students to engage, analyze, critique, and advise the world around them–beginning with their own social, ideological, or cultural communities–so that they may contribute ideas that make for a better society and world.”  Andrea presented on her research, for which she conducted field work in northern Madagascar last summer, with a poster presentation entitled “Deforestation and the Spread of Invasive Species.”

Shannon McGinnis has won the Global Temple Undergraduate Poster Prize, awarded to the top student poster presentation at the Global Temple conference.  This conference, an interdisciplinary symposium held on November 14th, 2012, highlights international research conducted at Temple University.  Shannon’s winning presentation was entitled “The threat of fatality from fungal diseases in wildlife: factors that affect disease dynamics and host survival.”  Congratulations to Shannon!

Andrea Gudiel has presented her research at a National Science Foundation-funded conference, the 15th Annual Research Symposium and Mentoring Conference of the Philadelphia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation on March 16, 2013.  This event brought together nearly 200 participants from throughout the mid-Atlantic region for mentoring, workshops, discussions, and presentations of the latest student research.  Andrea presented her Madagascar research, which was funded through a Temple Alliance for Minority Participation International Research Scholarship that she won prior to last summer.  Her presentation was on “The effects of local human use on non-native plant populations in northern Madagascar.”  All the presentations were judged and Andrea won First Prize for student research in the environmental sciences.  Congratulations to Andrea!!

Kim Reuter, Andrea Gudiel, and Shannon McGinnis have presented at the Global Temple Conference.  This interdisciplinary symposium, held on November 14th, highlights international research conducted by graduate and undergraduate students,  faculty, and staff at Temple University.  The Sewall Lab was represented by Kim, Andrea, and Shannon, who presented their international research through well-received poster presentations.  Projects were:

“Habitat degradation and frugivore-fruit tree mutualisms in Madagascar” by Kim Reuter

“The effects of local forest use on non-native plant populations in northern Madagascar” by Andrea Gudiel

“The threat of fatality from fungal diseases in wildlife: factors that affect disease dynamics and host survival” by Shannon McGinnis

Congratulations to Kim, Andrea, and Shannon!

On Friday, September 21st, Andrea Gudiel presented her research at Temple University’s Undergraduate Research Symposium.  She  presented a poster presentation on the effects of forest degradation on non-native populations of plants in Madagascar.  This research, which resulted from her summer field work in Madagascar, examined the relationship between the extent of human habitat disturbance and densities of non-native plant species in Ankarana, Madagascar.  Congrats to Andrea!

Kim Reuter has presented her field research at the Temple University Graduate Fellows Research Symposium.  On September 15, 2012, Kim presented her work on the effects of habitat degradation on mutualistic interactions in Ankarana, Madagascar to the interdisciplinary community of graduate fellows at Temple University.  Congrats to Kim on a job well done!