RESEARCH GROUPS
Our research focuses on discovering and documenting the diversity of life and understanding ongoing changes in Earth’s ecosystems, the integrated functional units that support natural processes and provide benefits to society.
From coastal waterways in Florida, to deserts in Africa, to the peatlands of Alberta, and our own mid-Atlantic Region, our work takes place all over the world and is the foundation for the success of our Center. We are committed to working with and learning from the communities who use and manage the lands we study and those that surround us on our Villanova campus.
The Almeida Lab
The global wildlife trade is an expansive and growing industry that touches nearly every branch of the tree of life. Wildlife trade is a known threat to global biodiversity, threatening species directly through overexploitation and indirectly by facilitating the spread of invasive species and zoonotic pathogens. At the same time, wildlife trade can also be an essential source of human livelihood and food security, underly important cultural and community traditions, and foster connections between people and nature. Our research group seeks to understand the biological and socioeconomic conditions that can result in wildlife trade becoming unsustainable. To achieve this, we use field-based and quantitative methods, such as surveying exotic pet markets in Pennsylvania, leveraging “big” wildlife trade data, and developing bioeconomic models of wildlife harvest.
The Bauer Lab
My research interests lie in the broad field of biodiversity studies. Much of the research program is field- and museum-based and investigates the diversity, distribution, evolutionary relationships and fossil history of reptiles and amphibians with special emphasis on the lizards of Africa, Australia, tropical Asia and the South Pacific. This entails the discovery and description of new species (both living and extinct), the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships, the study of character evolution and the interpretation of historical biogeographic patterns. My laboratory research uses data from CT-scanning and other modern imaging techniques as well as DNA sequence data. I am also active in the field of biodiversity informatics which asks macroecological questions on a global scale. Through my position as Gerald M. Lemole, MD Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology, I also conduct research at the interface of Biology and the Humanities, focusing on the history and development of systematics and museology.
The Chapman Lab
Our group studies how global change influences coastal wetlands and the coastal protection, climate mitigation, and biodiversity they provide for humans. In the Wet Feet Project we are using field-based experiments to simulate future warmer temperatures in mangroves and salt marshes. We use field sampling, remote sensing, and modeling tools to better understand the mechanisms driving wetland change so that we can better inform wetland conservation and management.
The Curry Lab
Our group studies evolutionary, behavioral, and conservation ecology of terrestrial birds—including especially hybridizing chickadees. We have studied the causes and consequences of interbreeding between Carolina Chickadees and Black-capped Chickadees in southeastern Pennsylvania since 1998. This study has focused on rapid northward movement of the hybrid zone. Our work with Cornell University collaborators has identified a strong signal linking the hybrid-zone movement with climate warming. A major current area of focus combines cognitive and social ecology: we are investigating whether hybrid chickadees exhibit impaired spatial memory and problem-solving skills in the field. We occasionally undertake additional projects to address ecological, evolutionary and conservation questions about other bird populations including studying ecological relationships between two parapatrically distributed species of tody (kingfisher relatives) endemic to the island of Hispaniola. We have also investigated the ecology and behavior of the world’s only known herbivorous spider, Bagheera kiplingi, an extraordinary Central American jumping spider.
The Hong Lab
We study the effects of geologic hazards—storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis—and other processes on coastlines. Specific research objectives are
- Identifying coastal areas vulnerable to coastal geohazards
- Developing proxies for sea-level reconstructions
- Assessing coastal geohazard risk.
You can find us in the field and in the laboratory using a variety of tools to develop a record of relative sea-level change through time.
The Jackman Lab
Research in my lab has focused on two areas in evolutionary genetics: 1. Reconstructing the history of populations representing different stages of speciation and 2. Using DNA sequence data in combination with other data to provide a robust historical framework for examining evolutionary processes. Student projects in my lab have tried to apply innovative tests of phylogenetic patterns to molecular data in order to make reliable inferences of history. Our research group studies the evolutionary histories of lizards—from closely related populations to large phylogenies of all lizards. Current research in my lab focuses on finding and applying rapidly evolving nuclear exons for phylogenetic and phylogeographic analysis.
The Kremer Lab
Peleg Kremer, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment and the director of the Environmental Studies program at Villanova University. Research in Dr. Kremer's lab focuses on spatial patterns in social-ecological systems and urban sustainability. Using interdisciplinary approaches to spatial analysis, GIS and remote sensing, Dr. Kremer's lab investigates the relationships between urban environmental and ecological processes and the built environment.
The Langley Lab
The Global Change Ecology Lab investigates how ecosystems respond to ongoing human caused changes to the climate and chemistry of the biosphere, and how those changes may feed back to us. We have an emphasis on coastal wetlands where the effects of global change are strong and the consequences for society are especially acute. In this brackish marsh at the Smithsonian Global Change Research Wetland in Maryland, we conduct experiments that measure the effects of rising atmospheric CO2, rising sea level and increased nutrient pollution. We also work on mangrove response to warming in Florida with the Chapman Lab. From these experiments, we hope to learn the limits of what the plants, which sustain these ecosystems, can handle.
The Santoro Lab
The geospatial ecology group studies spatial patterns and trends in forested ecosystems, especially in the face of a changing climate. We combine geospatial technology, drones, statistics and ecological field work map and model these processes. Our group aims to understand how changes in forests over space and time might impact biodiversity loss, ecological processes, and ecosystem services so that we can better inform forest conservation, restoration and management going forward.
The Weston Lab
Research in our group is focused on understanding the fate of coastal ecosystems in a changing world. We seek to understand how plant growth, microbial organic matter decomposition and sediment deposition all interact to influence coastal tidal marsh resilience to sea-level rise and other global change factors. In particular, we have been interested in how the introduction of salt-water into tidal freshwater marshes alters these ecosystems. We further seek to understand the cycling of carbon and nitrogen between coastal marshes, the tidal water flooding them, and the atmosphere to better understand the response of these ecosystems to climate change and the contribution of these systems to atmospheric greenhouse gases. In addition, we pursue a better understanding of how land-use change in the watersheds that drain to the coast impacts the availability of nutrients and sediments in coastal wetlands, which further influences the susceptibility of these systems to current and future climate change.
The Wieder Lab
Our group’s current research focuses on the ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry of bogs and fens in Alberta, Canada. These peatlands have evolved under undisturbed and pristine conditions, but with recent anthropogenically driven advances, these peatlands are being affected. With climate change, fires are burning in this area more frequently and with higher intensities than they have in the past. The permafrost is marching north, thawing at its southern limits, and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen (among other elements) is shifting. Gaseous and particulate emissions from oil sands development is increasing nutrient and pollutant deposition in north of Fort McMurray, and the peatlands have moved from pristine to impacted on a number of levels. By monitoring bogs and fens for long-term ecosystem changes, experimentally manipulating deposition regimes, and examining how bogs recover after wildfire, we are deepening our understanding of how boreal peatlands are responding to anthropogenic disturbances.
The Ziegler Lab
The Coastal Ecology and Conservation Lab examines the linkages between coastal habitats and fish and invertebrate communities. We pair field-based surveys and laboratory experiments with molecular techniques and trophic biomarkers and molecular techniques to test questions related to habitat use and food web dynamics within salt marshes, oyster reefs and seagrass beds. We are especially interested in how spatial variation, environmental processes, and human activities alter these relationships. Overall, our goal is to conduct ecological research that can be applied to enhance the conservation, restoration, and management of estuarine and coastal ecosystems.