Students and faculty present at Association of Southeastern Biologists

Linda Niedziela, associate professor of biology, and David Vandermast, assistant professor of biology and environmental studies, joined with Elon students Sarah Galliher, Jana Schibler, Kathryn Stackhouse and Monica Poteat to present research at the 71st annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Asheville, N.C.

Vandermast presented a paper titled “Twenty-four years (1985-2009) of demographic changes in the high-elevation beech forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

Galliher, a senior biology major from Bristol, Tenn., presented a talk with Vandermast titled “Effects of beech mortality due to beech bark disease on spring ephemerals in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

Schibler, a senior biology major from Cincinnati, presented a poster with Niedziela titled “Cardiovascular and developmental toxicity of PDBE 47 in Danio rerio, Zebrafish.”

Stackhouse, a senior biology major from Thurmont, Md., presented a poster with Niedziela titled “Developmental toxicity of TCDD in Zebrafish.”

Poteat, a senior biology major from Kannapolis, N.C., presented with Vandermast a talk titled “Inhibition of germination and growth as an explanation for the scarcity of red spruce (Picea rubens) and Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) in the beech gaps of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”