Aaron Pierce, Ph.D.
Aaron.Pierce@nicholls.edu
August 2005
Sedimentation, Hydrology, and Bottomland Hardwood Forest Succession in Altered and Unaltered Tributaries of the Hatchie River, Tennessee
Assistant Professor at Nicholls State University
Biography
I am originally from Oneonta, a small town in upstate New York. I received my Bachelor degree in Biology from Hartwick College, where I developed my interest in avian ecology and conservation. Following graduation, I worked as the Biology Intern in the Department of Biology at Hartwick College for one year before starting my graduate work at Purdue University. At Purdue University, I worked on a project examining the avian community of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica and completed my M.S. in Ecology in 2001. My M.S. thesis investigated forest succession and the decline of Flowering Dogwood at the Ross Biological Reserve. In 2001, I started my Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee with Dr. Sammy King. I completed my Ph.D. in August of 2005 and worked as Sammy’s Research Associate at LSU for one year before taking my current position at Nicholls State University.
My Ph.D. research investigated the influence of channelization on abiotic processes (sedimentation and hydrological) that are important in structuring and directing the succession of bottomland hardwood (BLH) forests in western Tennessee. To accomplish this, I examined the spatial and temporal patterns of floodplain sedimentation and surface and sub-surface hydrological processes among altered and unaltered fluvial systems. I also determined how these processes influence germination of BLH tree species through greenhouse experiments and I used multivariate statistical techniques to determine the importance of these and other environmental factors in structuring the BLH communities at my various field sites. Understanding the influence of these processes on bottomland hardwood forests is critical for the restoration of these altered systems. My research interests continue to be very broad but I am most interested in wetland ecology and relationships between wetland habitats and avian species that utilize those systems.