Current Graduate Students

• Mehmet Ozalp  is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forest Resources.  He is studying nutrient relations in a freshwater tidal swamp sysytem in the Waccamaw National Wildlfe Refuge near Georgetown, SC.  He is examining differences in blackwater and brownwater  swamp forests.  Specific areas of interest include water quality, sedimentation dynamics, aboveground productivity of the forest communities, decomposition processes, and nutrient cycling within the system.  He expecs to graduate in 2002.
• Marceau Ratard is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forest Resources.  He is examining environmental factors leading to establishment of baldcypress in tidal freshwater swamp systems of the Waccamaw National Wildife Refuge.  This includes examination of tree cores from 280 baldcypress trees.  Once the cores have been cross-dated, the ring data can be compared to hydrological and climatic data sets to look for relationships in growth patterns.  Seed dynamics are also being studied to determine how baldcypress get established in tidal systems.
• Scott Zengel is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forest Resources.  He is examining the impact of feral hog populations on forest communities of the Congaree Swamp National Monument and formulating a plan for their control.  Craig Allen of the Department of Aquaculture, Wildlife, and Fisheries is co-chair.

• Erik Shilling  is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forestry, Auburn University (Dr. Graeme Lockaby, committee chair).  His dissertation research is on the biogeochemical comparisons of two contrasting riverine forests in Georgia.  He is scheduled to graduate Spring 2002.
• Daniel Johns is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Forestry, Auburn University (Dr. Graeme Lockaby, committee chair). His research will focus on the impact of sedimentation on nitrogen cycling and net primary productivity.  Particulary, he plans to examine ephemeral drains as a conduit of sediment into the riparian zones of perennial streams.  The study location is Fort Benning, Georgia.
• Jamie Duberstein is a M.S. student at the University of Florida (Dr. Wiley Kitchens, committee chair).  His research will focus on the response of swamp forests on the lower Savannah River to salinity intrusion.
• Crystal Hammond is a M.S. student in Biological Sciences at Clemson (Dr. Larry Dyck, committee chair).  Her research project deals with shoreline restoration on Lake Hartwell.