David Richardson

4128 Plant Science Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
drichar4 @ umd.edu

About Me Research Education Awards Publications Presentations Teaching Experience Classes Professional Affiliations

About Me

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I am currently a PhD candidate in the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science (MEES) Department at the University of Maryland, College Park.  I have been studying stream ecosystems for four years. I am co-advised by both Dr. Margaret Palmer at the University of Maryland and by Dr. Lou Kaplan at the Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, PA.







Research

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Seston is suspended particulate load in streams and consists of different types of small particles (<1mm) including bacterial and algal cells, leaf and wood pieces, fecal pellets, insect parts and soil particles. I am interested in how small suspended particles (seston) move downstream and how they interact physically and biologically with the stream ecosystem. I would like to understand the transport and retention of seston as well as the contributions of seston to microbial respiration within the stream. These are environmental scanning electron microphotographs of seston. The picture on the left is a diatom. More common particles are shown on the right: amorphous sediment particles with organic matter adsorbed.






Education

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2002 - present.
Ph.D. Candidate in Marine, Estuarine, Environmental Sciences, Specialization in Ecology.
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Research advisors: Dr. Margaret Palmer, Dr. Louis Kaplan

2004.
Fundamentals of Ecosystem Ecology Short Course.
Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York.

1998 - 2002.
B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.
Cornell University, College of Engineering, Ithaca, NY.







Awards

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2006.
University of Maryland College of Chemical and Life Science Bioscience Research & Technology Review Day- Best Poster in Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences

2005.
North American Benthological Society President’s Award Fall

2002-2005.
Ecological Circuitry Collaboratory (ECC) – National Science Foundation sponsored program to "close the circuit" between empiricists and modelers by training a group of young scientists to recognize themselves as both.





Publications

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Swan, CM, B Healey and DC Richardson. The role of native riparian tree species in decomposition of invasive Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) leaf litter in an urban stream. Ecoscience, accepted.

Craig, LS, MA Palmer, DC Richardson et al. Stream Restoration Strategies for Reducing River Nitrogen Loads. In prep.






Presentations

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Richardson, DC; Kaplan, LA and Newbold, J.D. 2006. Baseflow dynamics and sources of seston in a stream ecosystem: recurring nighttime peaks. Ecological Society of America Conference Poster, Memphis, TN.

Richardson, DC; Kaplan, LA; Palmer, MA. 2004. Point source contributions of suspended organic matter to an agricultural watershed with intact riparian forests. Marine Estuarine and Environmental Sciences Colloquium Poster Presentation, Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, MD.

Ewing, H; Suarez, E; St. John, M; Richardson, D; Peierls, B; Frost, C; Euskirchen, E; Brookshire, J; Lindberg, S; Weathers, K. 2004. Mercury deposition and emission to and from heterogeneous landscapes: Exploring simple models. Ecological Society of America Conference Poster, Portland, Oregon.

Ewing, H; Weathers, K; Brookshire, J; Euskirchen, E; Frost, C; Peierls, B; Richardson, D; St. John, M; Suarez, E; Groffman, P. 2004. Learning to model and learning to collaborate: An experiment in graduate education. Ecological Society of America Conference Poster, Portland, Oregon.

Swan, CM; Richardson, DC; Palmer, MA. 2004. A simulation study of detritivore foraging on speciose leaf litter: implications for the diversity-function relationship in stream ecosystems. Ecological Society of America Conference Oral Presentation, Portland, Oregon.







Teaching Experience

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Spring 2006.
Teaching Assistant - Biological Sciences 103 - The World of Biology

August 2005.
Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences 698S - Ecological and Geomorphic Principles of Stream Restoration (Guest Lecturer)

Spring 2002.
Teaching Assistant - Operations Research and Industrial Engineering 310-Industrial Systems Analysis (Cornell University)











Classes

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Computer Science and Programming, Simulation, Optimization, Biometry, Community Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Microbial Ecology, Theoretical Ecology, Hydrology and Groundwater










Professional Affiliations

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Ecological Society of America
North American Benthological Society