Graduate Programs
Completed Master's Thesis
(Click on available links to view abstracts. More abstracts will be added as these become available).
| Year | Candidate Name, Thesis Title |
| 2013 | Steven Hilburger. Spring Migration Phenology of Four North American Insectivorous Bird Species in Relation to Climatic Variables. |
| 2013 | Katherine Busch. An Investigation into the Impact of the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat Program on Mammalian Species Richness in Urbanized Residential Properties. |
| 2013 | Margaret A. Redman. Keeping Green Schoolyards Green: A Study Of Challenges And Success Strategies For The Long-Term Sustainability Of Schoolyard Habitats. |
| 2012 | Sean R. Tracy. Understanding Conservation: A Study Of Student Attitudes And Understanding Of The Effects Of Human Activities On Global Ecosystems. |
| 2012 | Mark A. Thomas. The Causes and Consequences of Habitat Occupancy During the Non-breeding Season for Black and White Warblers in Jamaica. |
| 2011 | Craig Beatty. Assessing the conservation status of the Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus), in Northern Virginia forests. |
| 2011 | Rita Peralta. Bacterial community composition and diversity, and physicochemical properties of soils in mitigation wetlands created in the Virginia piedmont. |
| 2011 | Robert Andrews. Invasive Chinese Lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata [Dum.-Cours.] G. Don] Alters the Root and Rhizosphere Fungal Communities of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) in Northern Virginia. |
| 2010 | Jonathan W. Witt. Interactions between habitat complexity and temporal variability in predator distributions, size structure, and prey availability: implications for coexistence in intraguild predation system. |
| 2010 | Sara N. Alexander. A subspecific revision of North American saltmarsh mallow, Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (L.) Ledebour. |
| 2010 | Katheryn Patterson. Conservation, Captivity, and Whaling: A Survey of Belize Whale-Watching Tourist Attitudes to Cetacean Conservation Issues. |
| 2010 | Kylie E. Zirbel. Navy sonar, cetaceans and the Supreme Court: Fairfax county public attitudes and potential ramifications. |
| 2010 | Dana Griffith. Waste Reduction As A Method to Meet Conservation Goals; A Comparative Analysis of Plastic Waste Management. |
| 2009 | Karen Akerlof. Models: The Missing Piece in Climate Change Coverage. |
| 2009 | Ryan Peters. Avian tick burdens across an urban to forest land-use gradient. |
| 2009 | Staci A. Lewis. The use of histology, molecular techniques, and ex situ feed experiments to investigate the feeding behavior of the coral reef predator hermodice carunculata, the bearded fireworm. |
| 2009 | Jason R. O'Bryhim. Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior towards Sharks and Shark Conservation. |
| 2009 | Dorothy "Li" Wong. Public Perception of Mammals and Mammal Conservation in Fairfax County. |
| 2009 | Cheryl Leonard. Above- and below-ground vegetative response to prescribed fire rotations in a tidal brackish marsh. |
| 2009 | Wilma Aleman-Gonzales. Coniacian - Santonian sequence stratigraphy of the Kure Beach core, southeastern North Carolina coastal plain, USA. |
| 2008 | Jeremy Alcorn. U.S. Environmental Security: Understading And Enabling it To Matter. |
| 2007 | Sara Clark. Characterization Of Water Quality In The Tidal Occoquan River Using Continuous Monitoring. |
| 2007 | Todd McConchie. A comparison of equipment and methodologies for the analysis of individual bottlennose dolphin fins. |
| 2007 | Megan Draheim. Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Coyote? A Survey of Messaging and Existing Attitudes in the National Capital Region. |
| 2007 | Michael Jarcho. Use of a bi-parentally inherited marker to investigate population structure of Rattus rattus in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. |
| 2007 | Melissa Anne Merrill Floyd. Investigation of Natural Populations of Circumneutral, Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria. |
| 2007 | Kurt Mozer. Characterization of microtopography and its influence on vegetation patterns and soil nutrients in created wetlands. |
| 2006 | Heikel Kenneded. Dynamic links between socio-sconomic and institutional factors on forest cover changes across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). |
| 2006 | Steven Paull. Basal area increment and gap dynamics following severe Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) defoliation on Mason Neck, Virginia. |
| 2006 | Ana R. Greene. Behavioral dominance relationships of American Black Ducks (Anas rubripes) and Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) wintering on the Virginia Piedmont. |
| 2006 | Christopher Stone. Geology of a Bayhead Delta within a Potomac River Tidal-Freshwater Estuary: Pohick Bay, Virginia. |
| 2005 | Amy C. Kover. Toxic Release Inventory Data on the Internet: An Evaluation of Level of Pollution, Source Credibility, and Self-reporting of Pro-environmental Attitudes. |
| 2005 | Allison Pipan. Identifying non-point pollution sources within an agricultural watershed using the Agricultural Non-Point Source Model. |
| 2005 | Daniel Kelly. Habitat selection and seasonal movements of Asian elephants in Myanmar (Burma). |
| 2005 | Jennifer Cordrey. A Stressor Identification to aid in the completion of a Total Maximum Daily Load of the impaired mileage of Smith Creek in Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties, Virginia. |
| 2005 | Kristi J.K. Robinson. Scat identification and dietary trends of coyote (Canis latrans), grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and red fox (Vulpes vulpes), in a mid-Atlantic ecosystem. |
| 2004 | Carolyn Langdon. Managing Akebia Quinata: An Assessment of Control Methods. |
| 2004 | Helene Jorgensen. The Economics of Wolf Management: The Fortymile Wolf Control Program, Alaska, 1997-2001. |
| 2004 | J. Paige Rothenberger. A comparison of bacterial communities associated with white plague-infected Montastraea annularis corals at Sprat Hole, St. Croix, USVI. |
| 2004 | Jeanet Ewing. A Quantitative Study of Phytoplankton in the Tidal Freshwater Potomac River Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. |
| 2004 | Jeanne Claussen. Temporal and spatial variations in bacterial community composition in the mesohaline Potomac River. |
| 2004 | Laura McGee. Effects of land use patterns upon benthic macroinvertebrate community structure in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, MD, USA. |
| 2004 | Lisa Williams A floristic survey of the eastern Goose Creek watershed, Loudoun County, Virginia. |
| 2004 | Shannan Wheat. Seasonal Patterns, Nutrient Concentrations, and Chlorophyll in a Shallow Mid-Atlantic Pond. |
| 2003 | Kristy Garnet. A comparison of methane emission among four aquatic macrophytes: fluxes and physiological control. |
| 2003 | Ryan Hansen. Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Two Agriculturally Impacted Streams in Northern Virginia and an Evaluation of Fencing as a Best Management Practice. |
| 2003 | Tanya Amrhein. The communication of sexual identity in the two-note wail call in common loons (Gavia immer) and its possible use as a management tool. |
| 2002 | Kevin M. Koy: Remote sensing analysis of Myanmar's dry dipterocarp forests. |
| 2002 | Steve Fairchild. Social Structural Factors Influencing CITES (The Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species) Ratification. |
| 2001 | Amy Irby: Microbial Diversity in Solar Salterns: Characterizations of Whole Halophilic Communities by Their Carbon Utilization Patterns and Examination of Halophilic Bacteria that Grow on Elevated Magnesium Concentrations. |
| 2001 | Catherine M. Prichett: The Influence of Environmental Knowledge and Experiences on Environmental Values and Behaviors of High School Students. |
| 2001 | Claudia Locklin: Diagnosis of the Impacts of Three Human Settlements on the Buffer Zone of the Madidi National Park in Bolivia. |
| 2001 | Gary R. Long: Determination of environmental stressors influencing benthic invertebrate community structure: A multivariate statistical approach. |
| 2001 | George C. Getsinger: Comparative Analysis of Vibrio spp. Found in Association with Black Band Disease. |
| 2001 | Jeffrey A. Cornell: Carbon Cycle Succession in Created Salt Marshes. |
| 2001 | Jennifer Morse: Sediment Accumulation and Nutrient Availability in Two Tidal Freshwater Marshes Along the Mattaponi River, Virginia. |
| 2001 | Meredith Bondurant: The USDA Forest Service and the Northwest Forest Plan: The Beginning of a New Paradigm or the Continuation of an Old One? |
| 2000 | Allison Moss: Noninvasive fecal and urinary Steroid Hormone Monitoring in the Slender-Tailed Meerkat (Suricata suricatta). |
| 2000 | Ann Brazinski. A Measurement of Fish Recovery in a Reach of Quantico Creek that Runs Through a Recently Reclaimed Abandoned Pyrite Mine Site in Prince William Forest Park (Triangle, Virginia). |
| 2000 | Charles E. Chrosniak III. Effects of geologic structures on a large subsurface hydrocarbon release in Northern Virginia. |
| 2000 | Cheryl Vann. The Response of Woody Plant-Soil Systems to Elevated CO2 and Flooding: Carbon Allocation to Production and Methanogenesis. |
| 2000 | Cheryl Vann: Effects of Elevated CO2 and Flooding on Wetland Net Primary Production and CH4 Emissions. |
| 2000 | Craig Metrick: Toward an Implementation Framework for Regional SD and Conservation Strategies: The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. |
| 2000 | Dianna Hogan: A Comparison of Phosphorus Retention and Transformation in Constructed and Natural Freshwater Wetlands. |
| 2000 | George Getsinger: Comparative Analysis of Vibrios Associated with Black-Band Disease. |
| 2000 | John E. Dodge. A Floristic Survey of the Potomac River Watershed in Westmoreland County, Virginia, from Bridges Creek to Currioman Bay. |
| 2000 | Keith R. Peterson, Jr.: Computer Model for the Standardization of the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. |
| 2000 | LeAnne Astin: Bioassesment of BMP Effectiveness in an Agriculturally Impacted Watershed in Clarke Co., VA. |
| 2000 | Leila Hamdan: Dissolved Labile Organic Carbon and Bacterial Abundance in the Potomac River. |
| 2000 | Sandy Spencer. Population Abundance and Habitat Requirements of the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) at Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve: An Urban Conservation Challenge. |
| 2000 | Shan Sun. Radiation Hybrid Mapping of Domestic Cat Microsatellites and Comparison to the Feline Linkage Map. |
| 2000 | Yug, Ping: A Cost-Effective Analysis of China’s Environmental Policies in Industrial Wastewater Control. |
| 1999 | Cheryl L Hochman: Collaboration for Conservation: Characteristics of Effective Non-Governmental Organizations and Alliances. |
| 1999 | Craig Metrick: Towards An Implementation Framework for Regional Sustainable Development and Conservation Strategies: The Mesoamerica Biological Corridor (MBC). |
| 1999 | Joanna Arcisewski: Biological Assessment of Bull Run and its Tributaries. |
| 1999 | Keith R. Peterson, Jr.: Computer Model for the Standardization of the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. |
| 1999 | Leila J. Hamdan: Dissolved Labile Organic Matter, and Bacterial Abundance in the Potomac River. |
| 1999 | Mary Rita Prah: Effects of Two Models of Instruction of the Knowledge, Beliefs, Attitudes & Behaviors of Fifth-Grade Students. |
| 1999 | Sandy C. Spencer: Population Abundance and Habitat Requirements of the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) At Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Virginia. |
| 1999 | Stuart A. Wells: Monitoring Captive Cheetah Behavior to Determine Changes Associated with Estrus. |
| 1998 | Amy Maher: The Effect of Land Use on Stream Quality in Prince William County, Virginia. |
| 1998 | Archer T. Gilliam: Compliance with International Environmental Agreements: The Unframework Convention on Climate Change. |
| 1998 | Cheryl Vann: Potential Oxygen Limitation of Wetland Plant Responses to Elevated CO2. |
| 1998 | John E. Dodge: A Floristic Survey of the Potomac Watershed in Westmoreland County, Virginia from Popes Creek to Currioman Bay. |
| 1998 | Sandra J. Page: Seasonal and Geographic Variations in Fish Populations of the Anacostia River. |
| 1998 | Sheila Ann Young: Sustainable Development Activities of USAID/Indonesia: Measuring Change in the Energy Sector. |
| 1997 | Alex W. Karlsen: Trends in Benthic Faunal Response to Environmental Change in the Lower Portions of the Patuxent and Potomac Rivers. |
| 1997 | Banu Setlur: Effectiveness of the World Wide Web (WWW) for Dissemination of Environmental Knowledge. |
| 1997 | Kristin Fitzgerald: Microbial Community Dynamics During the Bench-Scale Bioremediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soil. |
| 1997 | Lisa M. Weimer: South Florida Ecosystems: A Vegetational History. |
| 1997 | Mark Stephen Kelly: Colors of Perception: The Socialization of Children into Natural Environments and Children’s Perceptions. |
| 1997 | Marzena Galdzicka: Identification of Pseudomonad spp. |
| 1997 | Paul DiBenedetto: Movement of Subsurface Hydrocarbon Vapors at the Margin of a Mixed Fuel Contamination Plume . |
| 1997 | Robert W. Reitsma: The Importance of Cacao Plantations in Maintaining Avian Diversity in Southeastern Costa Rica. |
| 1996 | Laura Rhame Tranquill: Cytokine Levels in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Correlation with Disease Activity as Assessed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging. |
| 1996 | Suzanne Marie Ambs: Determining Paternities in Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) Using Molecular Genetic Techniques. |
| 1995 | Andrea Robin Winnert: Quantification of Endocrine Disrupting Contaminants in the Food and Drinking Water of the Average Pregnant Woman and the Concentration of These Chemicals That May Reach the Developing Embryo/Fetus. |
| 1995 | Gregory R. Sykes: A Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Chaboissaea. |
| 1995 | Jiangfeng Chen: Dynamics of Phytoplankton In Tidal Freshwater Potomac River Based On HPLC-aided Quantitative Analysis of Algal Pigments. |
| 1995 | Karen Ann Bauer: An Experimental Study of Cognitive and Affective Changes in School Children Who Participated in Environmental Field Studies: An Evaluation of the PARTNERS Project. |
| 1995 | Michael David Southall: Analysis of Age Related Changes in Serotonergic and Dopaminergic Systems in Aplysia californica. |
| 1995 | Pamela M. Cole: Research and Analysis of Potential in Situ Algae Control Tecniques for Application in Lake Brarcroft, Virginia. |
| 1995 | Paul Balserak: Analysis of the Efficiency of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Land Disposal Restrictions Program. |
| 1995 | Randall P. Moore: Stopover Ecology of Neotropical Migrant Songbirds on Parramore Island, Virginia. |
| 1994 | Chun Hong: Changes in Serotonin and Dopamine Across the Life Span of Aplysia California. |
| 1994 | Deborah Lain Loffler: An Evolutionary Study of the Orbital Tissues of Horned Lizards and Their Nearest Iguanid Relatives (Reptilia, Squamata, Iguanidae) |
| 1994 | Jan B. Reitman: An Evaluation of Public Policy Issues Associated with the Establishment of a Defense Reserve of Ozone Depleting Substances. |
| 1994 | Joan Mary Zimmerman: Specific and Nonspecific DNA-binding Proteins Extracted from Etiolated and Green Maise Tissue. |
| 1994 | Joseph Michael Pendleton: Factors Controlling Local Temperature Variation in an Urban Heat Island. |
| 1994 | Laura Lynn Pyle: Effects of Disturbance on Herbaceous Exotic Plant Species in the Floodplain of the Potomac River, USA. |
| 1994 | Lisa Julie Counts: A Study of the Rut in Captivity: Harem Turnover, Subordinate Matings and Time Budgets of Male Pare David’s Deer (Elaphurus Dividianus). |
| 1994 | Paula A. Zabkar: Vegatative Trends, Landscape Quality and Educational Value of a small, Created Suburban Wetland Used for Stormwater Management. |
| 1994 | Thomas E. Kaufman: HIV Proviral DNA Titer in Infacts and Young Children: Quantitative Determination by PCR and Relation to Disease Progression. |
| 1993 | Byron P. Yarrington: Identification and Biogeography of the Subspecies of the Tessellated Darter (Eastern Johnny Darter) Etheostoma Olmstedi In Northern Virginia Streams. |
| 1993 | Kathryn Marie Preston: Plant Community Mapping of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. |
| 1993 | Michael Nickelsburg: The Effect of the Wetlands at Huntley Meadows Park, Fairfax County, Virginia, on the Water Quality of Dogue Creek. |
| 1993 | Tara D. Fuad: Phosphorous Retention on th Landscape: the role of temporarily and seasonally flooded wetland soils. |
| 1993 | Therese M. O’Rourke: A Socio-Economic and Environmental Analysis of Non-Timber Forest Products in Southwestern Virginia. |
| 1993 | Theresea Elizabeth Connor: Field and Laboratory Studies of the Population Dynamics, Survival and Reproduction by Bosmina Longirostris. |
| 1992 | Angela Gay Thorp: The Role of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in Structuring Macroinvertebrate Communities. |
| 1992 | Charles Chrosniak: Geologic and Hydrologic Control on the Migration of a Large Subsurface Hydrocarbon Spill in Northern Virginia. |
| 1992 | Donna Marie Fox: Deletion Analysis of a Maize Polyubiquitin Gene (UBI-1) Promoter by Electroporation. |
| 1992 | Ingeborg Jansen Thompson: Investigation of Alternative DNA Structures. |
| 1992 | Jessica Michelle Kidwell: A Regional Assessment of Environmental Contamination: An Analysis of the National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program Data. |
| 1992 | Jillian D. Keihn: Analysis of Capillary Fringe Dynamics in Sandy, Nonswelling Wetland Soils. |
| 1992 | Suzanne Paige Lohr: Seasonal Effects on the Diet of Different Age Classes of the Brown Bullhead, Ictalurus nebulosus, in Gunston Cove, Virginia. |
| 1991 | Ruth Amneris Siaca-Colon: Growth Patterns of Giant Tortoises on Pinzon and Espanola Islands. |
| 1991 | Thomas H. Hollowell: Site Profile Development in the Freshwater Tidal Portion of the Potomac River for Inclusion in the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve System in Virginia. |
| 1990 | Arndt Friedrich Laemmerzahl: Variation in the Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata. |
| 1990 | Carol Lynn Kelloff: A Systematic Study of the Eastern North American Lady Fern, Athyrium felix-femina (L.) Roth. |
| 1990 | Clinton Scott McLendon: Growth Dynamics and Mineral Accumulation in Seedlings of Peltandra Virginica (L.) Kunth in a Constructed and a Natural Tidal Freshwater Marsh. |
| 1990 | Colleen Welsh Charles: Productivity and Vegetarian Dynamics of a Small Urban Created Wetland |
| 1990 | John David Kinsman: Lichens as Biomonitors of Sulphur, Nitrogen, and Metals as Whitetop Mountain in Southwest Virginia. |
| 1990 | William Oehrlein: Sediment Phosphorus Available to Phytoplankton as a Function of pH in Pohick Bay, Virginia. |
| 1989 | Joan Heath Estes:A Comparison of Shell Lengths, Colors, and Patterns Over time in Two Virginia Populations of the Conquina Clam, Donax Variabilis. |
| 1989 | Kathy S. Monk: The Influence of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation on Zooplankton Abundance and Diversity in the Tidal Freshwater Potomac River. |
| 1988 | Anita Louise Pease: Ventilatory, Cardiovascular and Acid-based Adjustments of the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, to Chronic Hypoxia. |
| 1988 | Kim D.B. Largen: The Role of Alkaloids in Plant Defense Against Herbivores: An Investigation of Lymantria Dispar-Host Tree Interactions. |
| 1988 | William J. Karppi, Jr.: The Identification of Thymosin Alpha-One Receptors on MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cells. |
| 1987 | Allan Hide: In Situ Enclosure Study of the Impact of Zooplankton Grazing on Phytoplankton Biomass and Species Composition in a Hyper-Euthophic Cove and River Environment. |
| 1987 | Severin Thomas Golojuch: Lichen Chemical Ecology: An Analysis of Two Alpine Populations of Centraria Lichens. |
| 1986 | None. |
| 1985 | Dianne N. Janczewski: Evaluation of the Genetic Distance of Orang utans (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus and P. p. abelii) and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes and P. paniscus) and its Implication on Conservation of the Orang utan. |
| 1985 | Thomas A. Davis: Perturbations in the Chemotactic, Phagocytic, and Microbicidal Activities of Polymorphonuclear Cells Following Radiation, Pseudonas Aeruginosa Infection, and Combined Injury. |