Graduate Student In Biological Sciences Awarded Fellowship From Smithsonian

Photo Submitted

Laura Walker on a canopy tower in Costa Rica.

Laura Walker, a graduate student working towards a doctoral degree in the department of biological sciences, has been awarded a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute short-term fellowship. It will allow her to spend this coming summer carrying out a research project, titled "Soil-inhabiting myxomycetes and their shifts in community structure across ecological gradients," in Panama.

The myxomycetes are a group of fungus-like organisms common to abundant in most terrestrial ecosystems. However, relatively little is known about their exact ecological role in these ecosystems, and this is especially true for the soils associated with tropical forests. Moreover, almost nothing is known about the factors that influence their distribution and abundance in different ecological situations. For example, how do the assemblages of species present change when a tropical forest is subjected to some type of disturbance such as logging?

The primary research station for Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is located on Barro Colorado Island, which is where Laura will spend most of her time in Panama.

Barro Colorado Island, the largest forested island on the Panama Canal waterway, is part of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument. The research station itself is internationally recognized as a major center for studies of lowland tropical moist forests. Laura will be collaborating with Allen Herre and Benjamin Turner, staff scientists for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Last summer, she learned about the opportunity to apply for the fellowship as a result of participating in a tropical biology course taught by the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica. She was able to take the course through support provided by the University of Arkansas. At the end of the course, student participants were invited to visit Barro Colorado Island and thus be in a position to learn about the research opportunities available there.

The department of biological sciences is part of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.