NC State Department of Applied Ecology

Where in the world are we this summer? 🌎✈️

Dr. Khara Grieger traveled to Madrid to attend a NSF-funded workshop that brings together US and EU researchers on nanomaterials and nano-plastics to discuss their applications and implications. There, she met her mentee, Imane Khatib, from the University of Rennes in France. Their project is related to nanothermites and environmental contamination from military and war zones.

Dr. Skylar Hopkins, recent graduate Dr. Alex Nelson (left), and PhD student Cory McKinstry (right) attended the 2026 Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease conference in Blacksburg, Virginia to present their research on snake parasites and disease. The conference always includes an afternoon of hiking, and the team couldn't resist checking a friendly rat snake they met on the hike for signs of fungal infection.

Department Head Dr. David Andow visited Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Majestic mountains, adorable bison (viewed from a safe distance), and charismatic flowers like smurf flower (Hydrophyllum capitatum) were highlights of his trip!

Meet Matteo Petit Bon, a plant and ecosystem ecologist and the newest Applied Ecology faculty member. His research takes him to remote corners of the Northern Hemisphere, where conditions are harsh. Amongst polar bears and glacial ice is a diverse plant community, adapted to survive in the tundra.

His lab, the Traits and Ecological Dynamics (aka Tundra Ecosystem Dynamics, aka TED) lab, studies how plants assemble into complex communities and how these communities shape the ecosystems they inhabit.

"Many people imagine the tundra as empty or biologically simple. Compared to many other ecosystems, it is simpler, but it is also highly diverse," explains Petit Bon. "Just in Svalbard, for example, there are more than 300 bryophyte species and more than 500 lichen species. Tundra ecosystems also store enormous amounts of carbon in frozen soils, making them globally important for climate regulation. Because these ecosystems are tightly linked to the global climate system, what happens in the Arctic can influence ecosystems and societies far beyond the polar regions."

🏔🌱 Read more about Matteo's arctic excursions: https://cals.ncsu.edu/applied-ecology/news/qa-with-an-arctic-ecologist/

Gone fishin’! 🎣

For six weeks, students pursuing a degree in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology are engaging in a variety of fish and wildlife management techniques across North Carolina. Fondly known as ‘Summer Camp’, students are learning plant and animal identification, bird mist netting, camera-trapping, radio telemetry and more.

Applied Ecology Assistant Professor Nadya Mamoozadeh led a mark-recapture experiment for largemouth bass in a pond located at the Butner Beef Cattle Field Lab. Not only is this a great experience for students, but the data collected generates a census size estimate for the bass population in the pond.

“We do this every year so that we can monitor the size of the population over time,” says Mamoozadeh. “This is important for us to manage a healthy and balanced population of both bass and bluegill in the pond.”

“Most protected area managers have never conducted formal or informal infectious disease risk assessments due to lack of expertise, time and resources. This new toolkit responds directly to their needs, allowing a rapid assessment of priority diseases in under 20 minutes”, said Dr. Skylar Hopkins, one of the editors of the publication and Chair of the IUCN WCPA Protected Areas and One Health Task Force. “It offers a robust yet flexible framework, enabling managers to tailor infectious disease risk-reduction strategies to their specific ecological, social and cultural contexts”.

Protected and conserved areas can act as buffers against infectious diseases but even well-managed sites carry risks.

A new IUCN toolkit helps managers assess and reduce disease risks while addressing the interconnections between human, plant, animal and ecosystem .

🔗Learn more https://bit.ly/4vd3l0v

Wildlife Conservation Society Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation WCPA

Queen Biology and Quality with Dr. David Tarpy (382) In this episode, Jeff Ott and Becky Masterman launch a new series focused on honey bee queens with leading researcher Dr. David Tarpy. From the start, the conversat…

Graduate student Nick Loschin attended the 17th International Society for Biosafety Research (ISBR) Symposium in Ghent, Belgium! 🌍🧬

There, he presented his recently published paper, Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Oversight of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States (Loschin et al., 2025)—a piece that calls for strengthening elements of oversight, even in a room where many advocate reducing it.

Read about his experience on the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center blog: https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/2025/12/blog-genes-to-governance-isbr-symposium-ghent