Personnel | biogeographylab

Scott H. Markwith, Ph.D.

Professor

Ph.D. University of Georgia

M.S. University of Georgia

B.A. University of Mary Washington

Research Interests

Ecological Biogeography
Environmental Restoration
Sustainability and Conservation
Human-Wildlife Interactions
Vegetation Dynamics and Disturbance
Terrestrial, Wetland, and Nearshore Environments
Population, Community, Ecosystem, and Landscape Level Analyses
Statistical, Spatial, and Ecosystem Modeling

In my lab we study the processes, natural and anthropogenic, that interact and shape the spatial patterns we see in wild populations, communities, and ecosystems and how those patterns can feedback to influence management of human systems. My interests span gradients from terrestrial to aquatic systems, with research experience in freshwater and estuarine wetland ecosystems, such as the Everglades, Kissimmee River, Indian River Lagoon, and Lake Worth Lagoon, the Pantanal of Brazil, in rivers of the southeastern Piedmont, upland forest of the Appalachian and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, and alpine zones in the Himalaya of Nepal.

Current Graduate Students

Rabindra Parajuli

Ph.D. student, Fall 2019 - Present
M.S. Tribhuvan University

B.S. Tribhuvan University

Rabindra is originally from the Nepal Himalayas. For his MS thesis, he assessed the nurse effect of Himalayan native Berberis shrubs on plant diversity, including medicinal herbs and high conservation value species, in the stressful environments of the Himalayas. His Ph.D. research is focused on forest ecosystems to investigate the benefits of dead wood for biodiversity conservation and as carbon stocks, influence on mega wildfires, and its management for wildfire risk and carbon emission reduction.

Amber Graham-Moore

M.S. student, Spring 2020 - Present
B.S. Florida Atlantic University

Amber is currently involved with the ecological monitoring of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project as an environmental scientist for FAU Center for Environmental Studies in contract with the South Florida Water Management District. She is the lead scientist on the River Channel Littoral Vegetation survey. For her thesis research she plans to focus on hydrological impacts on the vegetation communities of the Kissimmee River Valley.

Heather Smith

Ph.D. student, Fall 2021 - Present

M.S. Florida Atlantic University

B.S. Millsaps College

Heather is developing an ecosystem model of Lake Okeechobee to measure the impacts of habitat restoration and climate change. She is interested in restoration ecology and human-environment interactions, and has conducted research on pesticide impacts on loggerhead sea turtles, wading bird prey availability, and mapped restoration projects and examined predator-prey interactions in the lower Mississippi River.

Kelly Spindler

M.S. student, Spring 2023 - Present
B.S. University of Florida

Kelly is interested in the interactions of changes in electrical power production and warm water discharges on manatee habitat and movement along with the coupled impacts of climate change on habitat suitability and use.