The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP) provides NSF graduate fellows with internship opportunities for professional development and network expansion at federal facilities. This is a great way to add an applied research component to a dissertation/thesis, see options for research careers outside of academia, and make connections with the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has two opportunities listed for potential interns, both of which concern the impact of invasive animals on Hawaiian forest communities. Project 1 looks at the impacts of these animals on plant communities, while Project 2 studies invasive rat foraging behavior to help predict impacts on bird communities. You must be a current NSF fellow to apply.
Project 1: Invasive animal species threaten intact Hawaiian forest communities by disrupting plant-pollinator mutualisms and incurring high levels of flower and seed predation. Removing such invaders requires large management funds, although the efficacy for restoring ecological functions to forests is yet unclear. Our objective is to advance understanding of how invasive animal removals affect plant community dynamics. USGS scientists are implementing a large-scale, replicated, experimental removal of invasive yellowjacket wasps, Argentine ants, and rats from mesic forest communities in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The successful intern will use this opportunity to lead studies on the response of the plant community to these removals. The successful candidate will work with mentors to design and implement monitoring and/or experiments that test plant community response to invasive animal removals. Possibilities include: (1) investigating the effects of yellowjacket removal on flower abundance and fruit set in target species; (2) conducting seed predation experiments to investigate the effects of rats on seed availability; (3) testing the effects of argentine ants on seed dispersal and seedling emergence; (4) conducting seed addition and weed removal experiments to ask how ecologically important plant-pollinator mutualisms and seed predation are for plant communities relative to other ecological factors. Project 2: Rats have profound ecological impacts on islands due to depredation on native birds and other vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Black rats (Rattus rattus) occur in relatively high densities in mesic, montane forests of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where vegetation has been recovering following the removal of introduced browsing ungulates over 25 years ago. Our hypothesis is that removing rats and other invasive predators from these habitats will spur additional recovery of bird, arthropod, and plant communities. The overall objective is to understand how black rat foraging behavior and habitat use affect bird communities and otherwise impede ecosystem recovery in forests of varying vegetation structure and species composition. If you are interested please go to http://bit.ly/1MMEFPO to read project descriptions and apply. If you have any questions about the projects please contact Stephanie Yelenik (Project 1, syele...@usgs.gov) or Paul Banko (Project 2, pba...@usgs.gov).
