Student Research

Many of our students collaborate with faculty on research projects related to pressing environmental problems.

See our complete list of independent study (ES460) projects , conference presentations , and peer-reviewed publications . Interested in doing your own independent research project? Check out the ES460 guidelines and FAQ !

Some recent student projects include research on mussel beds in Maine, sprawl in Gettysburg Pennsylvania, glaciers in Iceland, landscape fragmentation from roads, and invasive species in a local nature preserve. Scroll down to learn more...

ES students Wendy Dow, Ben Grupe, and Ann Borowik (all '03) worked with Professor John Commito on seafloor ecology in Maine. So far their project has resulted in half a dozen national and international conference presentations, as well as publications in the scientific journals "Landscape Ecology" and "Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology." Wendy recently got her Masters degree working on marine mammals at Duke University. Ben is in graduate school at the University of Oregon, where he is investigating sea urchin ecology. Ann works on endangered marine species for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In May 2006, six Environmental Studies seniors and Professor Randall Wilson presented the results of their senior research project on land use and environmental planning at the 12^th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management held in Vancouver, Canada at the University of British Columbia. The project was entitled, "To Sprawl or Not to Sprawl: The Social and Ecological Impacts of Sub-Division Development in Adams County, PA." See the college press release. Pictured above: Students relax in downtown Vancouver after the conference presentation. From left to right, Samantha Linton, David Conrad, Emily Chessin, Lauren Rapoza, Andy Ziegler, and Stuart Brown.

ES Majors Kristin Igusky ('06) and Tess Barton ('06) sitting on a frost shattered boulder in front of Kaldalonjokull (glacier) in Iceland.

Sarah Lilley and Jen Fiorito use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze patterns of landscape fragmentation in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Below: Jen's map of "conservation potential", an index of patch fragmentation caused by residential development.

Josette Wiggins ('07) and Myrna Perez study the effect of the invasive tree-of-heaven on forest regeneration.

Independent Study Projects (ES460)

Natasha Gownaris (2007-08). Post-Larval Aggregation Behavior as a Determinant of Spatial Pattern in a Maine Seafloor Bivalve.

Kyle Reeves (2007-08). Self-Organized Criticality and Seafloor Spatial Ecology: Does Biogenic Structure Regulate Mussel Bed Structure?

Allison Vissichelli (2007-08). Substrate-Specific Larval Settlement: The Role of Terrestrially-Derived Gravel in Regulating Mussel Bed Spatial Patterns.

Andrew Rohrbaugh (2006-2007). A GIS Analysis of Land Use Change in the Mid-Atlantic States.

Keith Reinemann (2006-07). Greening the Campus: Biodiesel Production From Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO): An Alternative Fuel Source for Use in Vehicles at Gettysburg College.

Tess Barton (2005-2006). Holocene paleoclimate interpreted from peat deposits in northwest Iceland.

Freya Gibbon (2005-06). Painted Turtle Farm: An Initial Assessment of a Student Run Community Garden. 

Kristin Igusky (2005-2006). Characteristics of diamicton from Vestfirdir and the mainland of Iceland: Implications for Provenance.

Jennie Fiorito (2005-2006). Conservation Potential and Land Use Fragmentation in Maryland.

Sarah Lilley (2005-2006). A Comparison of Road Data Sources for Assessing Fragmentation in an Agricultural Landscape.

Jeremiah Johnson (2004-2005). Evaluating the spatial distribution of ice scour lakes in NW Iceland at the Last Glacial Maximum.

Lesley Rapparlie (2003-04).  The Politics of Place and Community-based Collaborative Management on the San Juan National Forest, Colorado.

Ann Borowik (2003). Multi-Scale Spatial Characterization of Mussel Bed Structure in Coastal Maine: A GIS Approach.

Wendy Dow (2003). From Cores to Counties: Hierarchical Analysis of Soft-Bottom Mussel Bed Spatial Structure Across Scales in Maine, USA.

Ben Grupe (2003). Correlations Between the Foundation Species Mytilus edulis and Infauna and Epifauna Across Spatial Scales in a Soft-Bottom System in Maine.

Heather Johnson (2001-02).  The History of Mining and Land Use at Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve: A Comprehensive Study.

Jennifer White (2000-01).  A Comparative Study of Caiman crocodilus and Paleosuchus trigonatus: Notes on habitat  selection, junvenile behavior, and diet along the Rio Tiputini, Ecuador.

Emily Celano (2000). Ecosystem Engineers Alter Benthic Processes: Power Law Transport of Sediment, Larvae, and Postlarvae in a Spatially Complex Soft-Bottom Mussel Bed.

Holly Celico (1998). Analysis of Mussel Larval Recruitment to Plastic Mesh Collectors: Influence of Habitat Type and Site Location.

Craig Johnson (1998). Hydrodynamic Control of Meiofauna Transport Dynamics in Mussel Beds.

Brian Rusignuolo (1998). Structural Complexity in Mussel Beds: The Fractal Geometry of Surface Topography.

Conference Presentations

Alexandra Bigler, Margaret Dobbs, Brian James, Emily Montgomery, Matthew Shank and Randall Wilson, 2008, "Don't Sprawl on Us": Assessing the Costs of Sprawl and Its Alternatives in southern Pennsylvania. Association of American Geographers Annual Meetings, Boston, MA.

Stuart Brown, Emily Chessin, David Conrad, Samantha Linton, Lauren Rapoza, Andrew Ziegler, and Randall Wilson, 2006, Rethinking Urban Sprawl in Rural Pennsylvania: Mitigating Ecological Impacts through Spatial Analysis. 12th Annual International Symposium on Society and Resource Management, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Awarded runner-up for best research poster presentation.

Igusky, K.A., and Principato, S.M., 2006, Characteristics of Diamicton from Vestfirdir and the mainland of Iceland: Implications for Provenance, GSA Abstracts with Programs, vol. 38.

Barton, T.C.,  and Principato, S.M., 2006, Sedimentology and Humification Analyses of Peat Deposits from Northwest Iceland, GSA Abstracts with Programs, vol. 38.

Principato, S.M., and Barton, T.C., 2006, Holocene Climate Variability Interpreted from Peat Deposits on Northwest Iceland, GSA Abstracts with programs.

John Commito, Ann Commito, Rutherford Platt, Benjamin Grupe, and Wendy Dow. 2006. Species relationships across spatial scales in spatially complex soft-bottom mussel beds, an intertidal resource contested by draggers and diggers. European Marine Biology Symposium, Cork, Ireland.

John Commito, Wendy Dow, Benjamin Grupe, and Rutherford Platt. 2006. Multi-level modeling of nested benthic samples: species relationships in mussel beds, a contested natural resource in Maine. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada.

Principato, S.M and Johnson, J. S., 2005, Geomorphic Evidence for Independent Icecaps on Northwest Iceland, GSA Abstracts with Programs, vol. 37.

Benjamin Grupe and John Commito. 2003. Ecosystem engineer effects across spatial scales on infauna and epifauna in an exploited soft-bottom system: preliminary results from Maine mussel beds. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut.

Wendy Dow and John Commito. 2003. From cores to counties: hierarchical analysis of soft-bottom mussel bed spatial structure across scales in Maine, USA. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut.

Emily Celano, Holly Celico, Craig Johnson, and John Commito. 2002. Ecosystem engineers alter benthic processes: power law transport of sediment, larvae, and postlarvae in a spatially complex mussel bed. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida State University, Orlando, Florida.

Koren Holland, Mark Beckler, Carla Colicigno, James Gallagher, and John Commito. 2000. Sequencing beyond the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene in Gemma gemma. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Emily Celano and John Commito. 2000. Postlarval macrofauna dispersal in a two-habitat mosaic of bare sediment and mussels. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina.

Christopher Wahlers, Koren Holland, and John Commito. 1999. Genetic structure of Gemma gemma across spatial scales revealed by mtDNA sequencing. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Taryn Losch, Koren Holland, and John Commito. 1998. Is Gemma gemma mtDNA inheritance strictly maternal? Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

Amy Dickerson, Koren Holland, and John Commito. 1998. Genetic structure across spatial scales in the brooding bivalve Gemma gemma. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

Brian Rusignuolo and John Commito. 1998. Structural complexity in mussel beds: is three-dimensional topography fractal? Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

Craig Johnson and John Commito. 1998. Meiofauna dispersal rates in bedload over a patchy mosaic of bare sediment and mussels. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

Holly Celico and John Commito. 1998. Differential Mytilus edulis recruitment to artificial substrate in patches of bare sediment and mussels. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

John Badger, Koren Holland, and John Commito. 1997. Use of mitochondrial DNA sequencing to determine genetic structure across spatial scales in the brooding bivalve Gemma gemma. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of Maine, Portland, Maine.

Yvonne Werzinsky and John Commito. 1997. Passive bedload transport of harpacticoid copepods in a Maine coastal embayment. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of Maine, Portland, Maine.

James Manning and John Commito. 1995. Postlarval dispersal dynamics in a soft-bottom habitat. Benthic Ecology Meetings, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.

Jill Abrahamson, Derek Risso, and John Commito. 1995. Benthic dispersal in a low-energy, soft-bottom environment. Benthic Ecology Meetings, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Platt, R.V. and L.M. Rapoza.  2008.  An evaluation of an object-oriented paradigm for land use/land cover classification. Professional Geographer. 60(1): 87-100.

Commito, J. A., Dow, W. E., and Grupe, B. M. 2006. Hierarchical spatial structure in soft-bottom mussel beds. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 330: 27-37. 

Crawford, T. W., Commito, J. A., and Borowik, A. B. 2006. Fractal characterization of Mytilus edulis L. spatial structure in intertidal landscapes using GIS methods. Landscape Ecology 21: 1033-1044.

Commito, J. A., E. A. Celano, H. J. Celico, S. Como, and C. P. Johnson. 2005. Mussels matter: postlarval dispersal dynamics altered by a spatially complex ecosystem engineer. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 316: 133-147.

Commito, J. A., and B. R. Rusignuolo. 2000. Structural complexity in mussel beds: the fractal geometry of surface topography. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 255: 133-152.