Dr. J Vaun McArthurDr. J Vaun McArthurPh.D.
Kansas State University—1984
Associate Research Ecologist
Research interests: Aquatic
microbial ecology; aquatic ecology; interactions between terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems; stream community metabolism; ecological genetics of microbes; and
macroinvertebrate ecology. Current research includes a study of the
macroinvertebrate recovery in a thermally impacted creek, including
ecosystem-level processes such as nutrient cycling and organic matter dynamics.
A second major focus is on the relationships between microbial
genetic diversity and the 
functional
response of bacteria in variable and perturbed environments, gene transfer in
the environment and the effect of such transfers on functional properties of
ecosystems. Microbial ecology studies also include determination of the
bacterial biodiversity of environmental samples and the development of genetic
probes to detect indicator organisms such as the bacteria involved in the
degradation of TCE. We also are characterizing the bacterial assemblages
associated with macrophytes growing in constructed wetlands to determine their
ability to facilitate clean up of contaminated water and are continuing studies
of the effects of coal reject pile run off on microbial communities.
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