Lewis Lab at USF

08/03/2021

Climate change is causing many species to shift where they live, as the conditions they are adapted to move to new geographical locations. In the coastal wetlands of Florida, for instance, warming temperatures and higher sea levels are allowing mangrove forests to move into areas that were once too cold or too high. Yet when mangrove forests move, they displace habitats like saltmarshes that have existed in those locations for thousands of years. In this study, we examine possible consequences of this plant replacement phenomenon for carbon and nitrogen cycling in the surface layer of the soil. We compare soils between saltmarshes and the neighboring mangrove forests that are encroaching upon them, and we find that surface-soil carbon and nitrogen cycling run faster as a consequence of mangroves replacing saltmarshes.

10/05/2019

Congrats to Jessica for being selected for a great opportunity to develop collaborations with like-minded researchers interested in the interface between social and biophysical sciences. Jessica was selected to attend the 7th annual graduate student workshop hosted by the Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis, MD this past August. The workshop's main goal was to enhance graduate student training in synthesis and team science skills, especially as they relate to conducting interdisciplinary socio-environmental research.

Congrats to Jessica for being selected for a great opportunity to develop collaborations with like-minded researchers interested in the interface between social and biophysical sciences. Jessica wa…

08/14/2019

Great job Bert!!! Visit the lab website to read our post about Bert's fascinating study of microbial mats that grow across salt flats along subtropical coastlines.

Big congratulations are in order for Bert Anderson. Bert graduated this summer with his M.S. in Biology. Bert’s master’s thesis is entitled “The Distribution and Biogeochemistry o…

07/04/2019

Tide going out at Merrymount Beach, Quincy, Mass. Happy Independence Day from the Lewis lab.

03/29/2019

https://lewislab.org/2019/02/11/viviana-branching-out/

Congratulations are in order for lab alumnus Viviana Penuela, who just got accepted into the master’s degree program in public and non-profit administration at the University of Central Flori…

11/12/2018

Thanks to Southeastern Ecology and Evolution Conference for giving graduate students a chance to present the next gen of cutting edge science. Lab member Bert Anderson represents at SEEC 2018 in Miami

“Ecosystems lab member Bert Anderson presents his PhD work, on the biogeochemical imprint of microbial mats on salt-pan sediments, at the 2018 Southeastern Ecology & Evolution Conference in Miami. Great work Bert and many other students. ”

11/04/2018

Jessica Balerna reps well at the USF Anthropocene Symposium. Nice work!! With Becky Zarger

“Human-environment feedbacks in the . PhD student Jessica Balerna studies how outcomes of aquifer hydrology management alter surface-water ecology in ways that feed back on management regimes. Great natural-social sci collaboration with and ”

11/03/2018

It's great when ideas from your own corner of science (ecosystem ecology for us) find purchase in—and grow from—other domains of inquiry. It was incredible to be a part of "TeamGreen" doing a week-long blitz of integrated mathematical oncology modeling at the Evolutionary Therapy workshop at Moffitt Cancer Center. TeamGreen blended clinical data and modeling (ODEs and ABMs) to confront adaptive resistance in metastatic thyroid cancer with adaptive combinations of TKI and immune therapy approaches. And led by Drs. Joel Brown, Christine Chung, and Christina Richards, TeamGreen won!!

08/16/2018

A new academic year here USF Integrative Biology and the USF Water Research Study! We're excited that our recently graduated honors student Annie Majette is now our trusty technician, and to welcome our new PhD student Cassie Campbell. Here's a nice marsh sea-level rise paper of Cassie's. https://rdcu.be/4DdU

05/10/2018

Biogeochemistry of co-metabolizing microbial assemblages in extreme environments ... Bert presents at the 2018 USF Graduate Student Research Symposium. (https://tinyurl.com/yaca34uu)

05/06/2018

Congratulations Sandy!! Sandy Voors just graduated with her M.S. (And successfully managed the chaos of two co-advisors, Christina Richards and David Lewis). We're proud of you Sandy. (Picture shamelessly stolen from Dr. Richards).

04/20/2018

Congrats to Annie! Lab member Annie Majette presented her research at the USF Undergraduate Research Symposium. Annie took advantage of permanent thermal gradients, generated by industrial discharge of cooling water to nearshore waters, to study responses of coastal soil carbon and nutrient pools to temperature and other factors. Great poster Annie!

More info at the lab website: https://lewislab.org/