Two from Biological Sciences Receive Grant

Katherine "Katie" Winsett, a graduate student in the department of biological sciences who has just completed the requirements for her doctoral degree, and her major professor, Steve Stephenson, a research professor in the department, have received a grant of $4,185 from the Big Thicket Association for a research project entitled "Ecological studies of myxomycetes in the Big Thicket National Preserve (Texas): targeting specific questions about the role of these organisms within the overall community."

The funding from the Big Thicket Association will be used to support studies directed towards investigating:

• The diversity and abundance of the myxomycetes associated with bryophytes (a project to be carried out in collaboration with another TWiG [or working group] in the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory being carried out in the Big Thicket Preserve),
• The assemblages of myxomycetes found on submerged substrates in the different types of freshwater environments found within the preserve, and
• The genetic variation that exists for various morphospecies of myxomycetes found in different microhabitats.

The latter will use the data from DNA sequence analysis to assess genetic variation, which was the subject of Winsett's dissertation research.