Affiliated Rutgers Faculty

Dr. Henry John-Alder, Rutgers University, School of Env & Biol Sciences, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, New Brunswick

Dr. John-Alder is studying the causes and consequences of individual variation in physiological traits in natural populations of animals. His current research examines the roles of sex and stress steroids as regulators of seasonal and socially-induced variation in exercise endurance in male lizards. He also uses DNA fingerprinting to investigate reproductive correlates of exercise endurance in the wild.

Dr. Mark Morgan, Department of Biology, Camden

Dr. Morgan studies the role of abiotic factors, such as acidity and nutrients, in structuring aquatic plant and animal communities. His primary study area is the New Jersey Pinelands where he is examining the biogeochemistry of sulfur in Pinelands wetlands.

Dr. Kwangwon Lee, Department of Biology, Camden

Dr Lee’s  research specialty is eukaryotic circadian system at the genetic and molecular level. His research interests also include the roll of fire in Neurospora ecology.

Dr. Tamar Barkay, Rutgers University, School of Env & Biol Sciences, Deptartment of Biochemistry and Microbiology, New Brunswick

Research in Dr Barkay's laboratory is focused on the microbial ecology of the interactions of microbes with toxic metals. Several projects are focused on the role of microbes in the formation and accumulation of methylmercury in aquatic environments.

Dr. Max Häggblom, Rutgers University, School of Env & Biol Sciences, Deptartment of Biochemistry and Microbiology, New Brunswick

Research Dr. Häggblom's laboratory focuses on the biodegradation of environmental pollutants.

Dr. Lee Kerkhof, Rutgers University, School of Env & Biol Sciences, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, New Brunswick

Dr. Kerkhof's expertise is using molecular approaches to study microbial ecology.

Dr. Ming Xu, Rutgers University, School of Env & Biol Sciences, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, and Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, New Brunswick

Dr. Xu is working closely with Ken Clark and has set up a series of automatic soil respirometers at the field station t measure carbon flux from the forest floor. He has also installed a number of stem respirometers on the pitch pine and oak trees. His interest is in modeling carbon dynamics in forests.

Dr. Rachael Winfree Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Dr. Winfree research interests include (1) how pollinators and the pollination services they provide are affected by global change, (2) the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services, and (3) pollinator conservation and restoration.

Dr. Dan Cariveau Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Dr. Cariveau is investigating the role of pollinator diversity in regulating the delivery of pollination services to cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) bogs in New Jersey. Dan is also involved in a collaborative project to investigate how the intestinal microbiota of bumble bees change across disturbance gradients. Dr. Cariveau is a post-doc in the Winfree lab.

Dr. Karina Schäfer Rutgers University, Newark.

Dr. Heidi Renninger Rutgers University, Newark.

As an ecological physiologist, Dr Renninger is interested in how plants function within ecosystems and the environmental and climatic feedbacks within these systems. She is currently examining the water use of Pine Barrens forests as well as the effect of prescribed fire on the water flow and photosynthetic functioning of trees. Dr. Renninger is a post-doc in the Schäfer lab and has worked with the USFS group.

Affiliated Researchers

Dr. Amy Tuininga, Fordham University

Dr. Tuininga, a former graduate student of John Dighton (see Past Pinelands Folks), is currently an associate professor in the Department of Biology, Fordham University and operates out of their Louis Calder Center field station.

Dr. Ken Clark, USDA Forest Service

Dr. Clark has set up a series of eddy flux towers at the field station and in the surrounding forests to monitor microclimatological data together with measures of forest biomass as a means of improving the forest fire predictions models of the pine barrens ecosystem.

Dr. Nick Skowronski (USDA Forest Service)

Dr Skowronski’s current research focuses on the quantification and analysis of the structural characteristics of forest canopies and how this relates to carbon and water cycles. His work is split between developing methods for using LiDAR and other remotes sensing techniques for wildfire mitigation and studying how forest functionality changes after disturbance.

Dr. John Hom (USDA Forest Service)

Dr. Samantha Chapman (Villinova University)

In cooperation with the USDA Forest Service Dr Chapman is examining how insect defoliation int4eracts with fire to regulate nitrogen cycling in the Silas Little Experimental forest

Dr. Matt Ayres (Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH) 

Dr. Brent Helliker(University of Pennsylvania)

Dr. Helliker examines natural processes and develops methods to measure them. By examining the natural abundance of stable isotopes abiotic processes (e.g. precipitation and biomass burning) and biotic processes (e.g. photosynthesis and respiration) in the forest can be more clearly understood.

Dr. Dustin Bronson (University of Pennsylvania)

Dr. Howard Ginsberg USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, University of Rhode Island

Dr. Russell Burke Department of Biology, Hofstra University

Eric L. Rulison Research Associate Department of Plant Sciences, University of Rhode Island

In the Pinelands these researchers are studying the ecology of ticks and their small vertebrate hosts, as part of a project on the ecological reasons for the geographical distribution of Lyme disease. Dr's. Ginsberg & Burke are among the PI's of the NSF Award (Emerging Infectious Disease Award EF-0914476) Lyme Gradient Project

Visiting Scientists

Dr. Yuqing Geng (School of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, PR China.)
Dr. Geng pursued her interest in soil enzymes by examining soil enzymatic activity as influenced by forest thinning and soil disruption at the field stations Parker Preserve research plots.

Dr. Liliane Ruess (University of Aachen):

Dr. Ruess visited the station in the summer of 1999. She worked with John Dighton and Max Haggblom on trophic interactions of fungi and fungiverous nematodes and the potential use of phospholipid fatty acid analysis in tracing fungal selectivity by nematodes.

Dr. Tatyana Tugay (Institute for Microbiology, national Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine, Kiev):

Dr. Tugay worked for three months on a collaborative NSF funded project with John Dighton. We have been investigating the influence of ionizing radiation on the germination of fungal spores and growth responses of emerging hyphae. Numerous interesting effects of long-term exposure to ionizing radiation are emerging in these soil fungi isolated from around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Rutgers component of the work also included Patrick McDermott of Rutgers REHS Department.