Starting Date: Preferably end of May 2017
Pollinator service is globally associated with increased crop yield. Furthermore, flowering field crops (i.e., oilseeds, legumes) contribute to the maintenance of ecosystem services, providing nectar and pollen resources for pollinators. The student opportunity is to participate with a team to investigate the role of pollinators in yield of a new crop, Brassica carinata and how that crop can impact bee health. This team, in addition to myself, includes insect ecologists (Jon Lundgren), plant landscape ecologists (Henning Nottebrock), economists (James Stone, Heidi Sieverding) and extension personnel (Amanda Bachmann). More specifically, we will quantify plant-pollinator interaction at different scales to understand the contribution of carinata to sustaining native pollinators, honey bees and honey yield. Finally, we will determine parameters to estimate the economic impact of carinata in terms of yield, honey production, and sustainability of native pollinators.
Location: Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota. Brookings is a small, but vibrant community with easy access to culture and the outdoors. More information about the Department of Biology and Microbiology at SDSU can be found at:
http://www.sdstate.edu/biology-and-microbiology
Requirements: The ideal student should embrace field-based research as well as have some background or interest in large data and or landscape approaches. Most importantly, you should be passionate about biology and the questions being pursed at the CBFenster lab. Specifically for this project, one should have an interest in sustainable agriculture and the consequences of various land-use polices for ecosystem services. Generally, students who work with me either have or develop a broad understanding of statistics. Foreign students need to meet English language requirements.
I encourage you to contact me, if interested at: charles.fenster@sdstate.edu
More information can be found at the CBFenster lab website:=20
https://charlesbfenster.wordpress.com/
and here you can also find links to all of the collaborators.
Please include in your email: =95=09brief description of your research interests
=95=09concrete evidence of interest in this project
=95=09experience related to this project =95=09CV
Funding options are available for both US and International students.