The Marsico Lab
Arkansas State University
/people
Current Post-doctoral Research Associate
Santosh K. Rana, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Dr. Santosh Rana joined the Marsico Lab in March 2024, and he is leading the funded projects associated with determining risk associated with the introduction and spread of the Federal Noxious Weed, Saccharum spontaneum (wild sugarcane). He is a dedicated plant evolutionary biologist specializing in plant taxonomy, population genomics, and climate adaptation. His current research includes resolving taxonomic ambiguity within Glandularia and integrating genomics, distribution modeling, and floristic inventories to understand population dynamics and evolutionary history associated with species invasions and for conservation. Outside the lab, Santosh loves playing soccer, cooking, hiking, and trekking.
Current Graduate Students
Ben E. Benton - M.S. in Biology expected December 2024
Thesis project: Patterns and process of plant and soil microbe biodiversity in Arkansas River Valley remnant prairies
Ben is co-advised with Dr. Scott A. Mangan (https://manganlab.weebly.com/scott-mangan.html), and he is interested in patterns and process regulating biodiversity with an eye toward conserving rare species and habitats. Ben joined the lab in August 2021 after graduating from Hendrix College. He currently is the Botanist at the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission.
Soraya L. Byrdsong - Ph.D. in Environmental Science expected December 2028
Dissertation project: Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) policy and education
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Soraya came to A-State after completing her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Coastal Ecology at the College of Coastal Georgia. Soraya's interests in environmental science include education and policy to prevent or eradicate nonnative species.
India Hughes - M.S. in Biology expected December 2024
Thesis project: Untangling the complex genomics of Saccharum species and hybrids, important in agricultural production and as federal noxious weeds.
India joined the lab in June 2022 after graduating from the University of South Alabama in December 2021. She is working on a species with the most complex genome ever sequenced, and she is interested in pursuing a career in bioinformatics of species with complex and polyploid genomes.
Brendan J. Kosnik - M.S. in Biology expected December 2024
Thesis project: Species distribution modeling of rare Carex sedges in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and Crowley's Ridge ecoregions.
Brendan joined the lab in April 2021 as a technician assisting on projects on Mississippi River islands. He started graduate school in August 2021 to pursue his interest in rare sedge biology and conservation. Brendan holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University. He now works as the Monitoring and Stewardship Technician at The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas.
Joshua C. Poland - Ph.D. in Environmental Science expected May 2028
Dissertation project: Untangling sources of nonnative cane grass introductions from global shipping and microbial ecology influences on invasive species community assembly
Josh completed his M.S. degree in December 2023 from Eastern Illinois University under the direction of Dr. Scott Meiners. He holds an undergraduate degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from Arkansas Tech University (Marsico's alma mater as well!). Josh's research interests include interactions between plant communities and their associated soil microbes during ecological restoration and species invasions. This work in plant community ecology has enabled him to study both native and nonnative species, in temperate prairie and tropical ecosystems.
Diana L. Soteropoulos - Ph.D. in Environmental Science expected December 2025
Dissertation project: Floristics in Arkansas: surveying and quantifying management impact of rare ecosystems, launching floristic quality assessment, and predicting rare plant distribution
As as SUPERB Scholarship Program Biodiversity Scholar, Diana is interested in describing patterns of plant species richness and underlying reasons for community composition in the extremely rare saline barrens of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain in Arkansas. She now is a botanist at NatureServe.
Previous Graduate Students
Hazel K. Berríos - M.S. in Biology, May 2019
Thesis title: Species richness patterns and plant size of vascular epiphytes along an elevation gradient in the tropical montane forest of Volcán Maderas, Nicaragua
Hazel is living in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she works at the Fairbanks Soil & Water Conservation District.
Dr. David Burge - M.S. in Environmental Science, August 2014
Thesis title: Relations of water quality, land-use buffers, and diatom communities of connected depressions within the Cache River Watershed, Arkansas, USA
David completed his thesis on a highly collaborative project that has included an Ecotoxicologist, an Environmental Chemist, a USGS Aquatic Biologist, and the diatom folks at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. He used GIS tools to investigate water-quality predictors based on land-use buffers and diatom community metrics to relate the impacts of water quality on community structure in a particular habitat of bottomland hardwood swamps in eastern Arkansas. Through his research, David discovered a new diatom species, previously unknown to science, which he described along with collaborator Mark Edlund of the Science Museum of Minnesota. David has now completed his Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota. Currently he is working as a phytoplankton scientist at the University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute.
Dr. Anastasia M. W. Cooper - M.A. in Biology, May 2014 (completed under the supervision of Dr. Tanja McKay)
Research emphasis: Host plant defense signaling in response to a coevolved herbivore combats introduced herbivore attack
Anastasia produced one lead-author publication and a co-authored publication focused on understanding the invasive insect pest Cactoblastis cactorum in comparison to a similar native stem borer Melitara prodenialis. Together we discovered that host plants defend vigorously against the native herbivore, but lack defense responses against the newly associated species. We also discovered that these defense limitations can be overcome somewhat when defending plants grow in the presence of non-defending hosts. Anastasia completed a Ph.D. in Entomology with Dr. Kun Yan Zhu at Kansas State University where she is currently a researcher.
Dylan P. DeRouen - M.A. in Biology, May 2020
Major project: Assessing vascular plant species richness in Big Lake and Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuges
Minor project: Lesson plan and presentation on wetland plants and adaptations to wetland conditions for university undergraduate curriculum.
As a SUPERB Scholarship Program Biodiversity Scholar, Dylan conducted necessary baseline vascular plant inventories in two regional wetland National Wildlife Refuges in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (i.e., Delta) region of Arkansas. A native of southern Louisiana, Dylan brought a Cajun spice to the lab. He has returned to Louisiana to work as Senior Staff Natural Resources Scientist for Geosyntec Consultants.
Dr. Meghan Foard - M.S. in Environmental Science, August 2014
Thesis title: Causes and consequences of Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense Lour.) invasion in hydrologically-altered forested wetlands
Meghan completed her thesis focused on the role of hydrologic alteration and Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) invasion on bottomland hardwood forest tree growth and community composition. She designed and implemented field and greenhouse experiments to investigate mechanisms by which L. sinense became a dominant understory shrub. She has also used observations and dendrochronology as tools to investigate the impacts of channelization and L. sinense invasion. During the pursuit of her master's degree, Meghan was awarded an NSF GK12 fellowship, which gave her the opportunity to work in a rural middle school to help improve science education. She also established the Art in Science Club, linking art and science in outreach for school-age children. Meghan finished her Ph.D. at the University of Idaho.
Kari M. Harris - M.A. in Biology, August 2014
Major Project: Digitizing specimens in a small herbarium: A viable workflow for collections working with limited resources
Minor Project: STAR Herbarium Policy
Kari is an honor's undergraduate of the lab who returned to work on her Master of Arts degree. During her graduate degree, Kari became a national leader in student involvement in preserving and curating natural history collections. She presented at several regional, national, and international meetings and topic-specific workshops. She was a founding member of the Arkansas State University Natural History Collections Curation Club (NHC3) and served one year as the organization's president. She provided guidance to starting similar groups at other campuses. is a founding member of the Emerging Professionals Group, a standing committee in the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections. For her main project in the lab, Kari imaged and databased all 16,791 accessioned Arkansas flowering plant specimens in the Arkansas State University Herbarium (STAR). Kari is now Director of Student Research at Arkansas State University.
John M. Kilmer - M.S. in Biology, August 2016
Thesis title: Characterization of chemical profiles produced by Opuntia humifusa in response to herbivory and exogenous methyl jasmonate in comparison to hairy root cultures
John studied the compounds that are produced from defending plants. His work established the baseline for the chemical nature of the observable induced mucilage production from host plants defending against cactus-boring moths. John is now a lecturer of biology and environmental health at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri.
Grace L. McCartha - M.S. in Biology, December 2022
Thesis title: Plant community patterns and a flora of six Lower Mississippi River islands
Grace joined the Marsico lab after graduating from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and completing an internship with Americorps and Conservation Legacy at Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, New Mexico. After completing her thesis work, Grace returned to New Mexico as a Research Scientist at Natural Heritage New Mexico.
Jennifer N. Reed - M.A. in Biology, December 2022
Major project: A vascular flora of Poinsett County, Arkansas
Minor project: Exposing collection bias in plant surveys in eastern Arkansas utilizing Poinsett County species richness changes over time
Jennifer graduated with her B.S. in Biology Emphasis in Botany in December 2015, and she worked on her master's degree to pursue her interests in biodiversity and conservation. Jennifer teaches high school biology at East Poinsett County High School.
Dr. Ashley N. Schulz - Ph.D. in Environmental Science, May 2020
Dissertation title: Nonnative insect invasions in natural ecosystems: impacts, policy, and evaluation of drivers using underutilized biocontrol datasets
After a postdoctoral research position at Colorado State University under the direction of Dr. Ruth Hufbauer, Ashley is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forestry at Mississippi State University. She has been working on a collaborative project forecasting high-impact insect invasions by integrating probability models with i-Tree from urban to continental scales.
Caity M. Sims - M.S. in Biology, May 2023
Thesis title: Field observations and an herbarium study to understand plant reproductive phenology in areas surrounding the Mississippi River
Caity joined the Marsico lab after completing her undergraduate degree in Wildlife/Conservation Biology with a Geoscience minor from Southeast Missouri State University. A native of the St. Louis region, Caity grew up on the Mississippi River and completed an internship with the Missouri Botanical Garden at the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center. She returned to her old stomping grounds, and she now works as the Restoration Coordinator for Project Clear at the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center.