Position immediately available for research assistanceship, full and part-time.

1)Indirect defense of plants by insects

Project Details: Examining efficiency of indirect defense mechanisms in plants.
System Details: Cultivated cotton, herbivores (aphids, caterpillars, etc) and ants.
Duties: Data collection (counts of herbivores, ants on plants, nectar measurement), plant husbandry (preparing and planting seeds, maintaining greenhouse populations), insect husbandry (rearing aphid colonies, ant colony collection from the field/maintenance)

2)Genotypic differences in indirect defenses between native and invasive plants

Project Details: Quantifying evolved differences in herbivore defense in native and invasive genotypes leading to invasive success.
System Detail: Chinese Tallow Tree Triadica sebifera, multitude of generalist and specialist herbivores, native and invasive ants.
Duties: Extensive field work (planting, digging, building fences), data collection (counts of herbivores, ants on plants, nectar measurement), plant husbandry (preparing and planting seeds, maintaining greenhouse populations), insect husbandry (rearing aphid colonies, ant colony collection from the field/maintenance), surveys of natural populations of Tallow tree for herbivores/ants in native (China) and invasive (US) ranges. This project has the opportunity for travel to China and the development of a side research project related to primary focus of species interactions influencing invasive potential of species.

For additional information please contact:

Juli Carrillo
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Rice University - MS 170
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892
Phone: 713-348-2570 (office) 832-524-1268 (cell)
Fax: 713-348-5232
E-mail: juli@rice.edu