April 16, 2014
Message
from the
Chair
As I walk through the
halls of our departmental
buildings, I am struck by
two strong and
contrasting sights. There
is a palpable excitement
in the air; spring is a time
of celebrating accomplishments, of upcoming commencement
and conferring of hard-earned degrees. Letters of acceptance
are arriving for students applying for various programs,
scholarships and opportunities. This is also a time of
nervousness and stress. Final exams are just around the
corner. Students are realizing that they have very little time left
to pull up a grade in that killer course. I hear one side of lots of
anxious phone calls home from our wonderful students
huddled in the halls, biting their nails.
Embracing the celebratory aspect of the season, this
newsletter highlights accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and
students, and it features some of the excellent work coming
from our community of scholars. None of this work is easy or
quick, and none is completed without teams of people working
together. The Department of Biological Sciences hopes that
you will enjoy reading this issue of our newsletter, and we
invite you to send feedback and suggestions. Importantly, we
want to hear from you about your own work and
accomplishments so that we can highlight you in a future
addition. We would appreciate updates of a more personal
nature as well, and we always enjoy receiving photos!
Finally, please consider making a donation to the NAU
Foundation in support of the work that we do in the
department. Our donors make possible a broad array of
generous scholarships and support value added activities for
many of our 2200+ majors. Best wishes and happy reading!
Maribeth Watwood, Ph.D.
Contribute your
story or donate to
NAU Department
of Biological
Sciences
We'd love to hear from you!
Maybe you'll show up in our next
newsletter. Email
[email protected] and make sure
to send pictures.
Would you like to help us
continue on our path to success
with a donation? Here's the link:
https://alumni.nau.edu/giving.aspx
Select Engineering, Forestry, &
Natural Sciences, College of and
choose Biology Department or
Biology Scholarship. Thanks so
very much!
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow Theresa McHugh
Theresa McHugh is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.
Her research will investigate the role of water vapor adsorption in dryland soil microbial ecology. While dryland
ecosystems obtain water from sources other than precipitation, very little is known about how liquid water
supplied to dryland soils via water vapor adsorption (also called “non-rainfall” water) helps regulate dryland
communities and their activity. During times when the soil is drier than the overlying air, atmospheric water
vapor can be captured or adsorbed by the soil, subsequently forming liquid water within soil. Although this
phenomenon can occur quite regularly in regions throughout the world, it remains a relatively unexplored area.
Theresa will move to Moab, Utah in January 2015 to begin the research component of the fellowship. Her host
institution is U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, and her sponsoring scientist is
Sasha Reed. The three-year fellowship also includes a teaching component, which will be conducted at Western
Washington University in Bellingham. Theresa is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Ecosystem
Science and Society and will remain in that position through the end of this year.
"While dryland ecosystems obtain water
from sources other than precipitation,
very little is known about how liquid
water supplied to dryland soils via water
vapor adsorption (also called 'nonrainfall' water) helps regulate dryland
communities and their activity."
A Saunter...
Dr. Sylvester Allred, Principal Lecturer Emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona
University, recently had a new book accepted for publication by the University of Arizona Press. The title is A
Saunter through a Ponderosa Pine Forest. The term saunter was used by John Muir in his writings to describe
how one should venture into a forest rather than “just take a hike.” Sauntering permits one the opportunity to
stop along the way to experience the surroundings such as the sights, sounds, textures, and fragrances found in
a ponderosa pine forest rather than hiking from one point to the next in a certain time frame. This book
encourages the reader to saunter through its pages as well as the forest. All details of a ponderosa’s life are
covered. Ecological aspects of many interesting animals, plants, and fungi are presented as they interact within
and depend upon the ponderosa pine forests. The ponderosa pine’s name sake is the word ‘ponderous’ and it
lives up to its name through its ability to withstand lightning strikes, beetle infestations, mistletoe infections, and
fires. “A Saunter” will be in full color and can be easily carried in a backpack along with other important
sauntering gear. Publication date is spring 2015. (photos courtesy Sylvester Allred and Grand Canyon Trust)
Click one of the pictures below to see current research
articles from NAU News
Below: Hanta Virus Surveillance & graduate student
Stephanie Cinkovich with Dr. Nathan Nieto
Nathan Nieto's Lab
Our research focuses on the ecological maintenance and evolution of infectious diseases in wild animals and
how this translates into transmission of disease to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. We use a mixture of
microbiology, molecular biology and population ecology to investigate empirical infectious disease dynamics in
wild animal populations. Currently we are focusing on a number of specific host-pathogen systems in the
Western United States that include a variety of tick-borne disease causing agents (Lyme disease, Tick-borne
relapsing fever, Rocky mountain spotted fever, etc.) and viruses in the group Hantavirus. To this end, we sample
wildlife reservoir hosts (rodents and bats) and ectoparasites (ticks, fleas, mites, lice, etc.) and test for pathogens
using quantitative-PCR and sequencing and in some cases serology. We then analyze the data using
multivariate statistical tests (eco-epidemiology) that inform public health of the distribution and ecological
maintenance of endemic and emergent zoonoses.
Cottonwood Researcher
Helen Bothwell, PhD candidate
Helen Bothwell is a PhD candidate at NAU Department of Biological Sciences, and associated with the Center
for Environmental Genetics & Genomics. Helen’s research integrates diverse fields (molecular ecology,
landscape genetics, phylogeography, and climate modeling). Her research provides a model for focusing
conservation efforts such that management time and resources can be spent wisely as climate-related expenses
begin to rise. She has been an Associate Curator of the Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity
and the president of the Biology Graduate Student Association. Helen has been the recipient of an NSF GK-12
STEM Fellowship and an NAU Regents' Graduate Research Grant. Helen is a Research Associate at NAU
evaluating potential climate change impacts on narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia), a key foundation
species of riparian communities throughout the West. She has taught various labs and served as co-instructor
for an upper level Climate Change Mitigation class. Her research has been published in Functional Ecology,
Conservation Genetics, and OIKOS. She was co-author in a book chapter published in Challenges and
opportunities for the world's forests in the 21st century. She has disseminated her research locally at the
Cottonwood Ecology Conference, nationally at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, and
internationally at the NCEAS International Landscape Genetics Symposium.
Colorado Plateau Analytical
Laboratory
The Colorado Plateau Analytical Laboratory (CPAL) is part of
NAU’s Center for Ecosystem Science and Society. As a core
service center, the role of CPAL is to provide analytical
research support for NAU faculty, staff, and students, as well
as collaborate with researchers from other institutions. CPAL
is comprised of two main branches: the Environmental
Analysis Lab (EAL) and the Colorado Plateau Stable Isotope
Lab (CPSIL).
The EAL focuses on general environmental chemistry. We analyze major ions, metals, and nutrients in soil, water,
plant, and animal tissue. We house instruments for spectrophotometry, ion chromatography, flame and graphite furnace
atomic absorption, and gas chromatography. We also have preparation instruments for soil extractions, furnace ashing,
microwave digestion, and pH measurement. Common analyses include: NO3, NH4, PO4, Cl, SO4, Mg, Ca, Na, K, As,
and Fe in water, digested soils or organic material, or soil extracts.
CPSIL focuses on the analysis of the stable isotopes of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. We house four
isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMS) as well as three cavity ring down spectrometers (CRDS). We can analyze
water isotopes, dissolved inorganic N in water, dissolved inorganic and organic C in water, C and O in carbonate rock,
tooth, and bone samples, and H, C, N, and S in solid samples. We house a variety of peripheral instruments to convert
aqueous and solid samples to gas form for analysis. We also provide a variety of preparation services, such as drying,
grinding, weighing, washing, and extracting samples.
The goal of CPAL is to support research by analyzing samples that faculty, staff, and students have collected. Analytical
equipment can be very expensive to purchase, maintain, and operate. We analyze samples and provide the data so
that the researchers can focus on hypothesis testing and experimental design. We also provide training and equipment
for researchers to do some of their own sample preparation or analyses. Classes are also welcome to schedule time
with us for lab tours, demonstrations, and analyses.
Bruce Hungate is the Director of CPAL. Assistant Directors are Jamie Brown (water isotopes, extractions, S and C + N),
Melanie Caron (H, sample preparation, sample inventory and management), and Ben Moan (EAL operations, aqueous
samples, carbonates, database management and invoicing). Visit the website. For analyses, training, or tours, contact
us at [email protected] or call 928-523-7264.
Welcome Liza
Holeski
Dr. Holeski comes to us from
University of Wisconsin,
Madison, where she was
research faculty. Her main
research areas are plant
evolutionary genetics and
ecology. She is currently teaching Population and Quantitative
Genetics and Genetics and Evolution. She will also be teaching
Evolutionary Biology. She has a BA in Biology and a BA in Philosophy
from St. Olaf College (Minnesota), and a PhD in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas. She's BACK
We welcome back Lara
Dickson as our Biology
181 Laboratory Manager!
She has hit the ground
running!
Traustadottir Lab
The current research in the Traustadottir Lab is still focused
on oxidative stress and aging but we are now moving into cell
signaling and investigating the mechanisms of the agerelated changes. Specifically, the work centers on Nrf2
signaling and activation and includes measures of gene
expression, protein content, and enzyme activity. Nrf2 is a
transcription factor that is often referred to as the “master
regulator” of antioxidant defenses and cellular stress
resistance. A study underway is funded by NAU T/RIF Pilot
Grant Program and is a collaboration with Dr. Nieto in our
department and Dr. Gage in the Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry. This study has two aims; the first aim is to establish the time course of the different measures to
optimize the sampling time points in subsequent studies. The second aim is to test the hypothesis that Nrf2 signaling is
impaired with aging by comparing exercise-induced Nrf2 activation and signaling in young and older men and women. The future goal is to test a combination of exercise and phytonutrients to enhance Nrf2 signaling in older adults and to
investigate whether improvement in Nrf2 signaling translates to greater resistance to oxidative stress.
Dr. David Able--Expanding the Curriculum
I teach Medical Sciences courses. All my courses are meant to provide you with an experience that is similar to
coursework in Medical School, or other rigorous graduate program such as Dental, Physician Assistant, or
Physical Therapy Schools. In Biology 416, Gross Human Anatomy, students gain a deep understanding of the
structure and function of the human body by dissecting a human cadaver, in the same way that first-year
medical students do. This experience is only available in a very few undergraduate schools. The value in
simulating the medical school experience is that you get to: 1) see what a medical school class is like, 2) hone
your study skills in preparation for admission to competitive graduate programs, 3) have an experience that will
stay with you forever.
"All my courses are meant to provide you
with an experience that is similar to
coursework in Medical School, or other
rigorous graduate program such as
Dental, Physician Assistant, or Physical
Therapy Schools."