Katie Schneider

Ph.D. Completed Spring 2009

Email:

Research

I am studying how the availability of nutrients and energy influences the biodiversity of cave ecosystems. Specifically, I am interested in how the quantity and quality of allochthonous inputs into caves support the obligate cave species that depend on these resources. Through a multi-year ecosystem-level manipulation experiment, I am examining how the types of food resources and their temporal usability influence community composition and successional dynamics of cave species. In an effort to understand the macroecology of cave species, I am also building a database of the distribution of species across many caves in a small area to ask questions about the biotic, abiotic, and statistical factors that influence the apparent distribution of species across caves in West Virginia. Lastly, I am interested in adaptation to the subterranean environment, specifically examining the role of nutrient limitation in caves. Here, I am using biochemical tools to investigate the stoichiometry of cave arthropods and their resources (that is, their chemical composition, namely C: N: P), and how this may be related to cave adaptation.

Publications *

• Hambäck, P.A., J. Gilbert, K. Schneider, H.M. Martinson, G. Kolb, and W.F. Fagan. 2009. Effects of body size, trophic mode and larval habitat on dipteran stoichiometry: A regional comparison. Oikos 118: 615-623. PDF / abstract
• Martinson, H.M.*, K. Schneider*, J. Gilbert, J.E. Hines, P.A. Hambäck, and W.F. Fagan. 2008. Detritivory: stoichiometry of a neglected trophic level. Ecological Research 23 (3): 487-491. (*co-first authors) abstract
• Nelson, K. C., G. Marbach-Ad, K. Schneider, P. Shields, K.V. Thompson, and W.F. Fagan. 2008. MathBench Biology Modules: Web-based math for all biology undergraduates. Journal of College Science Teaching (JCST). In press.
• Fagan, W.F., F. Lutscher, and K. Schneider. 2007. Population and community consequences of spatial subsidies derived from central place foraging. American Naturalist 170(6): 902-915. PDF / abstract
• Culver, D.C., T. Pipan, and K. Schneider. 2007. Vicariance, dispersal, and scale in the aquatic subterranean fauna of karst regions. Freshwater Biology (Online Early Articles).
• Schneider, K. and D.C. Culver. 2004. Estimating subterranean species richness using intensive sampling and rarefaction curves in a high density cave region in WV. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 66 (2): 39-45.
• Gulley, J. G. Veni and K. Schneider. 2005. Mapping Survey of Brooksville Ridge Cave, Hernando County, FL. Technical report. Submitted to World Woods Corporation, Homosassa Springs, FL.
• Schneider, K. 2003. The Biogeography of the Subterranean Invertebrate Fauna of West Virginia [Thesis]. American University: Washington (DC). 82pp. Available from: UMI Microforms, Ann Arbor, MI; 1413637

Funding Sources and Workshop Invitations:

• 2008 Hockmeyer Fellowship, University of Maryland College of Life Sciences ($29,012)
• 2008 Goldhaber Travel Award [to present at ESA meeting (Milwaukee, WI)]
• 2008, 2006 Caesar F. Zymanek Memorial Scholarship, FBI National Academy Associates New York State/Eastern Canada Chapter ($500)
• 2007 National Speleological Society Research Advisory Committee, Research Grant ($500)
• 2007 European Commission, Marie Curie Grant [registration, living and travel expenses while attending the Time in Karst Symposium (Postojna, Slovenia)]
• 2007 University of Maryland, Travel Grant [to present at the ESA meeting (San Jose, CA)]
• 2006, 2007 West Virginia Association of Cave Studies Research Grant (waived fieldstation fees)
• 2006, 2007 Invitation to participate in the "Spatial Stoichiometry" Workshop [travel, lodging, expenses (NCEAS, Santa Barbara, California)]
• 2006 Invitation to participate in the "Future Directions in Karst" Workshop [travel and lodging (San Antonio, Texas)]
• 2006 University of Maryland, Travel Grant [to present at the International Symposium of Biospeleology (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)]
• 2006 Cave Research Foundation, Ph.D. Fellowship ($2, 491)
• 2005 Invitation to participate in the Karst ILTER Workshop [travel, lodging, and expenses (Ljubljana, Slovenia)]
• 2004 Cave Conservancy Foundation, Ph.D. Fellowship ($15,000)