FACULTY SEED GRANTS

Overharvesting of native forests supports local, short-term economic activity at the cost of environmental harm with global and long-term consequences.

Ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates, including salamanders, have been predicted to respond to changed temperature and precipitation patterns by slowing their growth.

Rising global demand for aquatic foods and dwindling wild fish stocks have made aquaculture the fastest-growing food production sector, necessitating research for sustainable management.

Advancing the understanding of the influences of hydrologic conditions on soil microbiome dynamics at a nationwide scale.

The distribution of suitable habitat for many plant species is predicted to change due to climate change, yet the ability of plants to reach newly available habitat is largely unknown because seed dispersal is rarely incorporated into these models.

Building capacity and momentum for transdisciplinary research and graduate training in environmental restoration at Virginia Tech. | Joint funding with ISCE

Advancing wastewater surveillance and epidemiology research in a rural region of southwest Virginia.

Acoustic Invasions: Exploring the effects of invasive species on the soundscape of a changing world.

Determine how the timing, frequency, amount, and type of water use data available to households impacts their water conservation. | Joint funding with ISCE

Using stable isotope analyses to understand the relationship between urbanization and wildlife consumption in the Amazon. | Joint funding with ISCE

Epigenetic mechanisms underlying neurobehavioral phenotypes in urban and rural song sparrows.

Reassessing drought indicators used to issue automated relief payments in the US Crop Insurance Program. | Joint funding with ISCE

Integrated agro-economic modeling to assess farmer uptake of precision water and nutrient management in a changing climate. | Joint funding with ISCE

Coupling Social Science and Watershed Modeling to Improve Ecological Health of Streams in Agricultural Landscapes. | Joint funding with ISCE

Assessing the Potential of Bat Guano Accumulations as Ecosystem Archives in VA

Predictability of Virginia’s Coastal Aquifer Response to Sea-level Rise and Water Consumption for Hazard Assessment

Do altered soil moisture patterns restructure soil microbial communities and their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions?

Using a global weed to disentangle environment and host effects on plant-microbe interactions across nested spatial scales

Developing a predictive model for in-stream embeddedness to link physical processes with biotic responses

Taking the pulse of global shark populations

Salty carbon: Testing the consequences of freshwater salinization on stream food web dynamics and ecosystem metabolism

Toxic cyanobacteria and other bacteria in air above freshwater harmful algal blooms