MEEC 2018 38th Annual Meeting April 6-8, 2018 Kellogg Biological Station Michigan State University Table of Contents Welcome & Acknowledgements Guide to MEEC 2018 Open Call for Hosting MEEC 2019 Saturday Plenary: Dr. Jay Lennon Sunday Plenary: Dr. Jessica Hellmann Schedule Oral Presentations Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Poster Presentations Professional Development Panels Field Trips Kellogg Biological Station Grounds Map Directions: KBS to Kalamazoo Downtown Kalamazoo Map & Parking Things to Do in Kalamazoo KBS Code of Conduct Welcome to MEEC 2018! On behalf of Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, and the MEEC 2018 organizing committee, welcome to the 2018 Annual Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference! For 38 years, MEEC has provided a great opportunity for students in the Midwestern United States to present their research, network with peers, and grow as scientists. We hope that this year’s conference continues to inspire new ideas and collaborations. This year, we are proud to host 185 attendees from 39 different Midwestern colleges and universities, as well as from research institutes and government agencies. We are honored to present two top scientists in ecology and evolution as plenary speakers this year: Dr. Jessica Hellmann (University of Minnesota) and Dr. Jay Lennon (Indiana University). The program also includes 43 oral presentations, 82 posters, 4 professional development panels geared towards scientists at various stages of their careers, and 3 field trips to showcase research in ecology and evolution at KBS. We have many people and organizations to thank for helping make this conference possible. We would like to give special thanks to the KBS & Conference Center staff for their support during the planning processes. Finally, a huge thanks to all of our faculty advisors, the staff at Kellogg Biological Station, and our volunteers—this would not be possible without you! Thank you for participating in MEEC 2018, and we hope you enjoy the conference and your stay at KBS! Sincerely, Tayler Chicoine, Heather Kittredge, Robert Logan, Ravi Ranjan, Meredith Zettlemoyer MEEC 2018 Organizing Committee Thanks to our MEEC 2018 Volunteers & PanelistsPanelists:::: Jim Allen, Dr. Todd Barkman, Dr. Ryan Bixenmann, Lana Bolin, Josh Bosier, Shelley Corralez, Annette Crum, Danae Cummins, Dr. Steve Denham, Andrew Dennhardt, Andy Fogiel, Ava Garrison, Kate Glanville, Steve Gougherty, Dr. Kay Gross, Sheril Kirschenbaum, Dr. Thomas Koffel, Kenneth Kettler, Caitlin Mack, Dr. Sandy Marquat-Pyatt, Dr. Gary Mittelbach, Daphne Kern, Dr. Bonnie McGill, Susan Magnoli, Stefan Ozminski, John G. Phillips, Sarah Reimer, Jennae Rozeboom, Dr. Shu Kin Zo, Jenny Smith, Sean Sultaire, Christopher Warneke, Andy Widner GGGuideGuide to MEEC 2018 • If you need helphelp: MEEC volunteers will have on a blue MEEC shirt. If you need help or have a question, don’t hesitate to ask one of our volunteers. • Coffee/BreakfastCoffee/Breakfast: Breakfast will be served on both Saturday and Sunday from 7:30-9:00 am outside the KBS Auditorium. Coffee and snacks will be available outside session rooms. • WifiWifi: Free Wifi is available via the “MSUnet Guest 3.0” network (no password). • TTT-T---shirts:shirts: Pre-ordered t-shirts may be picked up during check-in on either Saturday or Sunday. Remaining t-shirts will be sold during at the registration desk outside the KBS Library on Saturday morning for $10 each (cash only, no change available). • Talk upuploads:loads: All talks must be uploaded to the MEEC Google Drive before your session. If you are giving a talk and have not uploaded your presentation, please arrive at the registration desk before 8:15 am so that you can upload your talk before concurrent oral sessions begin. • Poster dropdrop----offoffoffoff: Posters should be brought to registration with you; we will give you your poster number and location. You will be responsible for hanging your poster. Poster numbers in the 100s will be located outside the Auditorium; poster numbers in the 200s will be located in the Terrace Room. Please make sure your name is on the outside of your poster tube, and remember to take your poster with you on Sunday. • Dinner Friday: Dinner Friday night will be a pizza social at McCrary Dining Hall. Cost is $5, paid during online registration. There will be limited tickets available at Friday registration. • Lunch Saturday will be served outside the Auditorium and Terrace Room. • Dinner & Pub Crawl SaturdaySaturday: Dinner on Saturday is on your own. The “Things to Do in Kalamazoo” page lists some of our favorite restaurants in the Kalamazoo area. There will also be a pub crawl on Saturday evening for interested attendees: meet at 8 PM at Bell’s Brewery. We’ll be tweeting as we visit breweries in downtown Kalamazoo. (Note: transportation will not be provided.) • Lunch Sunday will be bagged lunches, bought during online registration. There are a few restaurants within a 20-minute drive of KBS. • Plenary Speaker Meet & Greet: There will be a meet & greet with both plenary speakers on Saturday evening from 4:15-5:30pm. Light refreshments will be served. • Book & Prize RaffleRaffle: During the Meet & Greet there will be a raffle with book prizes. Each attendee will receive 2 raffle tickets at registration. • BoBoBookBo ok SaleSale: There will be a book sale during the poster session on Saturday. Hardcovers are $5 each; paperbacks are $2 each. Cash only (and no/limited change available). Saturday Plenary Speaker Dr. Jay Lennon Indiana University Dr. Lennon received his PhD from Dartmouth College and did his postdoctoral work at Brown University. He then went on to join the faculty at W. K. Kellogg Biological Station and the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University in 2006. Following his time at Kellogg Biological Station, Dr. Lennon was a Visiting Professor at Montana State University in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology while working as a Whitman Center Associate with the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. In 2012, he joined the Department of Biology at Indiana University, where he is core faculty in the Evolution, Ecology & Behavior Section and affiliated with the Microbiology Section. Dr. Lennon’s work focuses broadly on the ecology and evolution of microbial communities, in particular on the factors that generate and maintain microbial diversity, which then influences ecosystem functioning and stability. His lab uses molecular biology, simulation modeling, laboratory experiments, field surveys, and whole ecosystem manipulations to examine patterns of microbial diversity. Current work focuses on microbial seed banks, or dormancy periods, that serve as a reservoir of biodiversity; the eco-evolutionary dynamics between microbial populations and ecosystem processes, particularly the feedbacks of starvation, stoichiometry, and seed banks; microbial community responses along environmental gradients of resources, moisture, and connectivity; the importance of constraints in microbial community structure; ecosystem processes at scales ranging from individuals to ecosystem fluxes; and how microbial traits evolve, shift along environmental gradients, structure communities, and influence ecosystem processes. Dr. Lennon has published extensively in journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature Ecology & Evolution, ISME: Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology, and Frontiers in Microbiology, and has done editorial service with Environmental Microbiology, Frontiers in Terrestrial Microbiology, and Frontiers in Systems Microbiology. Dr. Lennon also served on the Biogeochemistry Environmental Research Initiative at Michigan State University, and now is a Science Advisor to the Shedd Aquarium’s Aquarium Microbiome Project in Chicago, IL. Sunday Plenary Speaker Dr. Jessica Hellmann University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment Dr. Hellmann earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University, and worked as a postdoc at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Biodiversity Research. She then joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 2003, where she served as research director of the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index. She continues to collaborate with and mentor researchers assessing the vulnerability of nations across the globe to climate change. She also led the climate change adaptation program at Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative, directed GLOBES, an interdisciplinary graduate program in environment and society, and initiated Notre Dame’s undergraduate minor in sustainability. Following her time at Notre Dame, Dr. Hellmann arrived at the University of Minnesota in 2015, where currently she is the Russell M. & Elizabeth M. Bennett Chair in Excellence in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior as well as the Director of the Institute on the Environment. Dr. Hellmann’s work focuses on global change ecology and climate adaptation, focusing in particular on reducing climate change impacts through novel conservation management techniques. These include assisted migration of certain animal and plant species, the role of climate in hybrid zone movement, species’ capacity for adaptation to climate change, and using green and cool roofs to mitigate urban heat island effects in the Chicago area. In addition to regularly contributing to leading scientific journals ( Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Frontiers in Ecology and