Current and former research students in Janet Morrison's plant ecology lab at The College of New Jersey

Summer 2005

Fall 2004 – Spring 2005

• With Erin Scaglione and Deborah Ubele. Patterns of disease in a natural population of broomsedge. (Poster presentation at the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society Regional Meeting [abstract] and 2005 TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

Spring 2004 - Spring 2005

• With Kerry Mauck, Kelly-Marie McCartney, and Brian Dunn. The role of competition and natural enemies in establishment of native and non-native forest plants. (Posters at the 2005 TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement and also for Kerry: poster presentation at the 2005 Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference [abstract]; Kelly-Marie [abstract] and Brian [abstract]: posters at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology).
• With Sean Halloran. The interaction between smut fungus, a beetle vector, and the host plant Andropogon virginicus. (Poster at 2005 Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference [abstract] and 2005 TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

 Fall 2003

• With Sara Smith.  Photosynthesis and disease in natural and experimental populations of Andropogon virginicus. (poster presentation at the 2^nd Annual Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference, University of Connecticut, and TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement, Spring 2004).

Spring 2003

·         With Andi Bruno and Brooke Newman. A comparison of the effects of water stress on drought tolerance and photosynthesis rates across populations of Andropogon virginicus L. (broomsedge) (Poster  presentation at TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

Fall 2001 - Spring 2003

·         With Heather McMahon (for Biology Department Honors). Ecology of two co-occurring non-native invasive forest plants. (Poster  presentations at Posters Under the Dome, State Capitol, March 20, 2003;  Beta Beta Beta District Convention, March 22, 2003;  Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference, Rutgers University April 11-13 2003; TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement 2002 and 2003, and the 7th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, November 2003; published paper in TCNJ Journal of Student Scholarship).

Fall 2002 - Spring 2003

·         With Theo Sabelnik. Environmental and genetic effects in a broomsedge – smut fungus plant-pathogen system. (Poster  presentations at Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference, Rutgers University April 11-13 2003 ; TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement 2002 and 2003).

Fall 2001 – Spring 2002

·         With Erin Costanzo. Variation in photosynthetic rate between two populations of Andropogon virginicus. (Poster  presentation at TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

·         With Mariam Chowdry. Photosynthetic ability of Andropogon virginicus. (Poster  presentation at TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

Spring 2001

·         With Ted Peters. Artificial selection in experimental populations of Brassica rapa, differing in disease resistance. (Poster presented at Tri-Beta District Convention,  held at TCNJ, March 31, 2001, with Tasmia Shariff; awarded third prize).

Fall 2000-Spring 2001

·         With Brian Policastro. Fungal infection of the native grass Andropogon virginicus: parasites and mutualists. (Poster presented at Tri-Beta District Convention, held at TCNJ March 31, 2001,  awarded first prize).

·         With John Maijstrik. Forest flora and ecology of the Sourland Mountain Preserve. (Poster presented at Tri-Beta District Convention, held at TCNJ March 31, 2001).

Fall 2000

·         With Ryan Dale. Supervised writing of paper and poster presentation based on an off-campus summer internship in plant ecology.

Spring-Fall 2000

·         With Tasmia Shariff. Cost of defense in Brassica rapa. (Poster presented at TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

·         With Tony Mazzarella. Ecological patterns of disease in the native grass Andropogon virginicus. (Poster presented at TCNJ Celebration of Student Achievement).

·         With Kham Vongpaseuth. Plant community response to decline of the invasive non-indigenous wetland plant, purple loosestrife (coordinated with the Beneficial Insect Lab; poster presented at Tri-Beta District Convention, held at TCNJ, March 31, 2001)

Fall 1999- Spring 2000

·         With Kelly Reynolds. Ecology of the invasive non-indigenous woodland plant, garlic mustard.

Fall 1999

·         With Mary Kramer. Ecological genetics of plant-pathogen interactions. (tutorial readings).

Fall 1998 - Spring 1999

·         With Leone Brown. Deer herbivory of the invasive non-indigenous woodland plant, garlic mustard, in three New York forests (coordinated with The New York Botanical Garden). (Manuscript accepted with minor revision at peer-reviewed journal  Bartonia ; poster presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Delaware Valley Society for Conservation Biology on March 27, 1999 at Rowan University and the national Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology at the University of Maryland in June 1999. I also presented it as a talk at the national Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in August 1999 in Spokane, WA).

·         With Tara Holland. The effect of competition on disease resistance in Brassica rapa. (Poster presented at the Tri-Beta District Convention, held at Rider University, April 24, 1999, awarded  Honorable Mention).

·         With Nicole Camera. Norway maple invasion of forest fragments (coordinated with Hutcheson Memorial Forest of Rutgers University). (Presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Delaware Valley Society for Conservation Biology on March 27, 1999 at Rowan University, and at the Tri-Beta District Convention, held at  Rider University, April 24, 1999).

The ecology of non-indigenous invasive plants

• Seedlings of invasive Norway maple (Acer platanoides) and native trees: vulnerability and canopy influence. (field work at Hutcheson Memorial Forest). Completed, with Nicole Camera (class of 1999).

  Presentations at meetings:

  • Society for Conservation Biology, Delaware Valley Chapter – Fourth Annual Meeting, March 27, 1999, Rowan University.
  • New Jersey Academy of Sciences, April 1999, Rider University.

• Herbivore exclosure effects on the forest herb layer and an invasive plant, Alliaria petiolata. (Field work at The New York Botanical Garden)  Completed, with Lee Brown (class of 1999).

  Presentations at meetings:

  • Society for Conservation Biology, Delaware Valley Chapter – Fourth Annual Meeting, March 27, 1999, Rowan University.
  • Society for Conservation Biology National Annual Meeting – University of Maryland, June 17-21.
  • Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Spokane, WA. August 8-12, 1999. Abstract.

  Submitted paper:

  • Morrison, J.A. and L. Brown. (submitted) Forest invasion by Alliaria petiolata: the changeable role of herbivory by deer. In review at Conservation Biology. 

• Forest edge/interior differences in Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard), and competition with the co-occurring invasive plant Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle).  Fall 1999 - Spring 2000, with Kelly Reynolds (class of 2000)
• Influence of purple loosestrife removal on native plant vegetation. Spring-Fall 2000, with Kham Vongpaseuth (class of 2001)

Plant-pathogen interactions

• Plant competition in Brassica rapa and resistance to the fungal pathogen Albugo candida.  Completed, with Tara Holland (class of 1999). See abstract.

  Presentation at meetings:

  • New Jersey Academy of Sciences, April 1999, Rider University.