Project Description: This project will provide “real world” experience to young scientists by working side-by-side with National Park Service (NPS) staff, with the indirect benefit to the NPS of collecting information assessing dietary overlap of large grazing animals in Yellowstone National Park. The recipient will recruit and hire up to two undergraduate students in a summer research program at Brown University. Principal Investigator (PI) Tyler Kartzinel will mentor the students over the course of the program. Program participants will complete 4-6 weeks of field study in Yellowstone National Park where they will work alongside NPS biologists and field staff. One student will work with the park botanist to collect and prepare herbaria specimens and secure plant tissue samples for DNA analysis. The other student will work with the park bison biologist to collect fecal samples from migrating large herbivores and complete plant inventory surveys in existing long-term monitoring sites. Students will evaluate collected samples during the remainder of the work-study program in the PI’s laboratory at Brown University. Their work directly supports building a plant DNA reference library to evaluate large herbivore diets.
Lead Principal Investigator: Tyler Kartzinel, Brown University
Partner Institution: Brown University
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Chris Geremia
Project Type: Research
Project Discipline: Natural Resources
Project Sub-Discipline: Biological (Ecology, Fish, Wildlife, Vegetation, T&E)
Start Year: 2022
End Year: 2023
Initial Funding Amount: $11,280.00
Federal Grant Number: P22AC00332
Location: Yellowstone NP
National Park or Protected Area: Yellowstone (NPS)
State(s): Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
Student and Other Involvement:
- Undergraduate Students: 2
Products Associated with this Project:
- No products found.