Congaree National Park is one of the largest old-growth forests in North America. It is always a great day to head down to the park for field work (especially because staring through a microscope at Daphnia makes you immune to mosquitoes). Our populations there have different levels of connectedness, linked by periodic flooding that varies spatially across the park.
Many of our source populations for work on consumer-resource interactions are in the vicinity of KBS, a fantastic year-round field station. Students may go there in the spring to collect samples, and we still sometimes do field experiments there.
Several of our populations are located in Northern Wisconsin, in Ashland & Bayfield counties near Chequamegon Forest. There we have access to a primitive campground and can freely conduct field experiments. Not only do you get to learn the correct pronunciation of "Chequamegon," but it can be really nice to get away from Columbia's summer heat.
Our interests in biogeography and adaptation to metal pollutants is leading us to expand our field sites. We currently have a set of Daphnia from the Sudbury & Dorset regions of Ontario, and are looking to develop field sites in western Montana, Wyoming (Lake Yellowstone is the type location for D. pulicaria, one of our star species), Colorado and Maine. For other projects, we are looking at the southern Smokies and Carolina Bay lakes.
Interested in joining us as an undergrad, grad or post-doc?
Some of our amazing ponds and lakes in South Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Photos of our favorite Daphnia.
Information on clones used by the Daphnia Genomics Consortium
Protocols for Daphnia maintenance and molecular wizardry.