Erika Mudrak

Plant Community Ecology and Population Biology, Mathematical Biology
NSF Graduate Research Fellow, 2006-2009

Department of Botany
University of Wisconsin, Madison
(608) 265-2191
mudrak at wisc.edu

Education
Research Interests
Current Research
Research Experience
Publications
Teaching
CV

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Education

• Ph.D. Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison in progress
• M.S. Biometry, University of Wisconsin, Madison in progress
• B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Rochester 2003
• B.S. Mathematics, University of Rochester 2003

Research Interests

Plant Community and Population Ecology, Mathematical applications in Ecology and Evolution.  I am interested in investigating spatial patterns in vegetation and tracking change in landscape ecology across spatial and temporal scales.

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Current Research

Like many other biotic communities worldwide, upland forest plant communities in Wisconsin have experienced species loss, homogenization, and invasion by weedy exotics over the last 50 years (Rooney et. al. 2004, Wiegmann and Waller 2006, Rogers et. al. in review). A set of extensive statewide ecological surveys of Wisconsin, conducted by John Curtis and colleagues from 1942 to 1956, provides an exceptional baseline for assessing these changes (summarized in Curtis 1959). Resurveying these sites 50 years later allows us to assess patterns of invasion, local extinction and changes in community composition with high statistical power.

Analyses of these historical changes reveal stark differences in performance among understory species. In upland forests of northern Wisconsin, there has been a pervasive and generally uniform increase in grasses, sedges and other species that are pollinated and dispersed abiotically. Rarer native forbs that are animal pollinated and dispersed are decreasing, though these changes seem to be more heterogeneous and stochastic (Wiegmann and Waller 2006, Rooney et. al. 2004). In southern Wisconsin, rates of understory plant species loss are almost twice that of northern Wisconsin. Exotic species have doubled while native species decreased by 15%. Thin leaved, shade-tolerant herbs increased while narrow-leaved and sun-loving taxa declined. ( Rogers et. al. in review).

I propose to explore the relationship of the conspicuous regional trends observed in Wisconsin (Rooney et. al. 2004, Wiegmann and Waller 2006, and Rogers et. al. in review) to the spatial distribution and association of individual species at local scales, as well as their dependency on the local environment defined by biotic and abiotic factors.

I will use several types of datasets at a variety of scales and resolution, but all span a similar time period (48-56 years). At a very local scale (meters), I will look for changes in the small-scale patterns and species associations of understory herbs at Spring Grove Woods in southern Wisconsin. On a slightly larger scale (hectares) I will consider the changes in ground layer distribution in a single forest at Observatory Woods in southern Wisconsin, and how these distributions are related to the microenvironment. Both Spring Grove Woods and Observatory Woods are representative of typical changes that occurred throughout southern Wisconsin (D. Rogers unpublished data). I will compare the changes in these two forests to those changes found in the southern Wisconsin meta-community ( Rogers et. al. in review).

Using the same data set collected by my colleagues in the Waller lab (published in Rooney et. al. 2004, Wiegmann and Waller 2006), I will consider changes in species frequency and range, species associations, and look at patterns across dozens of sites across a larger region in northern Wisconsin. And finally, at the lowest resolution, I reduce this dataset to a species lists for each site to assess how nested subset theory might be applied to better understand and conserve plant diversity in forest fragments in northern Wisconsin.

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Research Experience

University of Virginia, Biology Department, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Laboratory and Research Technician:  Worked with Dr. Deborah Roach to maintain field and greenhouse experiments involving over 25,000 aging plants, coordinating field data collection, processing samples in the laboratory and managing large data sets using Excel.  Compiled four years of project data into GIS. Supervised undergraduates.    June 2004-June 2005

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland.
Forestry Studies Intern: Designed and managed project under mentor Dr. Geoffrey Parker. Studied effect of sunlight on leaf qualities and the possibility of individual leaves as light environment indicators. Assisted with lab projects and general lab maintenance.  Fall 2003

Cedar Creek Natural History Area, Bethel, Minnesota.
LTER Project Intern: Assisted with biomass data collection and processing for projects of Dr. David Tilman. Organized data access methods, archival data and metadata, updated research and education web pages.  Assisted with large experiment initial setup, cared for small farm animals.  Summer 2003

Blandy Experimental Farm, Boyce, Virginia.
NSF REU Recipient: Designed, proposed, and implemented original research protocols under mentor Michael J. Wise from Duke University on evolution of tolerance in Solanum carolinense. Summarized findings in a written report and verbal presentation.  Participated in weekly seminars and discussion groups. Summer 2002       

Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, Gothic, Colorado.
NSF REU Recipient: Designed, proposed, implemented research protocols under mentor Neo Martinez, Ph.D. on variance of food web composition over space. Wrote a research paper and orally presented findings.  Participated in weekly seminars and discussion groups. Summer 2001

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Publications and Reports

Johnson, S. E., E. L. Mudrak, E. A. Beever, S. Sanders and D. M. Waller. 2008. Comparing power among three sampling methods for monitoring forest vegetation. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 38: 143-156.

S. E. Johnson, E. L. Mudrak, and D. M. Waller. 2006. A comparison of sampling methodologies for long-term forest vegetation monitoring in the Great Lakes Network National Parks. National Park Service, Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network, Ashland, WI. Technical Report: GLKN/2006/03. 140 pp.

Presentations

Manuscripts in Prep.

Mudrak,E. L., S. E. Johnson and D. M. Waller. Forty-seven year changes in vegetation at the Apostle Island: Effects of deer on forest understory, submitted.

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Teaching

I have been a teaching assistant for an introductory botany course for botany majors (UW-Madison Botany 130) as well as a third semester calculus course (University of Rochester Math 143).

CV

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