Faculty Profile
William Resetarits
Professor of Biology
Phone Number:
Email: wresetar@olemiss.edu
http://www.olemiss.edu/resetaritslab/
Key Words: aquatic ecology, community ecology, species interactions
Research Description: My primary research interest lies in uncovering the processes affecting the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. While my main focus is on understanding processes at the community level, I work at levels from the population to the metacommunity, and on a range of issues from the role of behavior in patterns of species distribution and diversity, to evolutionary aspects of community assembly, to understanding the dynamics of linked communities in complex landscapes (metacommunities). My belief is that the dynamics of communities cannot be disassociated from the underlying evolutionary and population processes, or from processes operating at larger scales, nor can the study of communities proceed without recognition of the role of changing land use, invasive species, and global climate change. I identify and briefly detail the three most active components of my research on my website.
Honors Theses:
McDaniel, Brandon (2019) Predator Diet Affects Perceived Oviposition Site Quality for Mosquitoes (full text)
Available Research Projects:
Dynamics of Linked Communities in Complex Landscapes
Project Description: The student will mostly work on projects related to the Ideal Free Distribution and spatial contagion. The Ideal Free Distribution is a historical model used by ecologists to understand how populations distribute themselves among available habitat patches based on patch quality, or how good a patch seems. Spatial contagion is a phenomenon in which the perception of a patch can affect how the the quality of neighboring patches are perceived. The student will be helping set up, monitor, and maintain projects that test the Ideal Free Distribution, spatial contagion, and how the two interact. The student may also have the opportunity to be involved in other projects in the lab studying community ecology and/or dragonfly oviposition.
Desired Student Qualifications: Experiments use large (1000+ L) cattle tanks, so physical strength is a must. Work will be conducted outdoors during the summer so applicants must able to work in the heat (many days will be over 90° F).
Project Timeline:
Duties of Student Researcher: set up and take down of experiments, daily monitoring and sampling of experiments, and lab organization.
Last Updated on 2019-04-11 08:06:12