BPP Graduate Student Defenses

Below is a list of recent BPP graduate student defenses.

2024

• The Impact of Surface Ocean Mixing on Phytoplankton Communities and Associated Carbon Pools, Brian VerWey

2023

• The Fungal Microbiome Associated with Grapevine Trunk Disease in Oregon Vineyards, Jessie Zimmerman

• Toward a flexible and accurate approach to null network sampling, Zachary A. Bright

• The Ecology and Epidemiology of Xanthomonas hortorum pv. carotae in Central Oregon Carrot Seed Production Systems, Katelyn D. Baldino

• Community Ecology and Population Genomics of Rhizopogon in the Madrean Sky Island Archipelago, Carolina Pina Paez

• Inferring Patterns and Processes of Emergence in Clonal Phytophthora Epidemics using Population Genomic Approaches, Nicholas Cauldron

• Diseases of Rhododendron and Boxwood: Survey and Virulence of Phytophthora Root Rot and Management of Boxwood Blight with Systemic Fungicides, Gabriel Sacher

2022

• Silviculture Impacts and Population Genomics of Coniferiporia sulphurascens, the Causal Agent of Laminated Root Rot, Shawn McMurtrey

• Epidemic Dynamics of Sudden Oak Death in the Forests of Oregon, Adam Carson

• Spatiotemporal Assessment of Crop Histories in the Pacific Northwest, Ishika Kumbhakar

• New Tools for Managing Erysiphe necator: Rapid Sampling Approaches and an Exploration of Grower Opinions and Perspectives towards Collective Action and Information Transfer, Sarah Lowder

• Permineralized Mesozoic Moss Gametophytes and their Implications for Bryophyte Evolution, Alexander Bippus

• Plant-Pollinator Interactions in a Changing World: Cryptic Specialization, Pollinator Movement, and Landscape Genetics of Pollinator-Dependent Plants, Dustin Gannon

• Host and Pathogen Genetics in the Sharp Eyespot Disease of Wheat, Jiang Liu

2021

• Fungal Secondary Metabolism of Basidiobolus meristosporus: a Novel Natural Product Reservoir, Ian Trautman

• Is Resistance Futile: Examining Fitness Costs Associated with QoI Resistance in E. necator, Chelsea Newbold

• Science Takes Flight: Detection of Black Leg on Turnip Gray Mold on Hemp, Taylor Bates

• Scratching the Surface of the Potato Geocaulosphere: Characterizing the Microbiome of Seed Tuber Tare Soil and its Impact on the Rhizosphere Microbiome, Kayla Delventhal

• Insights into the pathology and epidemiology of Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of sudden oak death, Hazel Daniels

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2020

• Community Ecology of Foliar Fungi and Oomycetes of Pseudotsuga menziesii on the Pacific Northwest Coast, Lilah Gonen
• Differential Effects of First Year Wheat Genotype on the Suppression of Take-All Disease and the Establishment of Suppressive Microbial Agents in the Rhizosphere, Evan Perkins
• Diversity and Impact of Soft Rot Pathogens of Potato in the Columbia Basin, Jessie Brazil
• A Putative PAMP-Induced Peptide Family Member is Associated with Symptom Severity to the Necrotic Strain NTN of Potato Virus Y in Potato, Max Combest

• Role of GacSA Two-component System and Bacterial Surface Attachment in Pseudomonas syringae Virulence, Megan O'Malley

• Landscape Genomics and Climatic Responses of Willamette Valley Alders, George Kral

 

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2019

• Identification of Viruses Associated with Raspberry Leaf Curl Disease, Melinda Guzman Martinez

• Decadal Changes in Lichen and Vegetation Communities in Relation to Metal Deposition and Climate in Northern Alaska, Elisa Di Meglio

• Escape in Time: Phenology Mitigates Impacts of the Introduced Cinnabar Moth, Tyria jacobaeae, on Native Herb Senecio triangularis in Western Oregon, Katarina Lunde

• The Influence of Nitrogen Fertility on Hop Quality, Pest Management, and the Stability of Biological Control, Anne Iskra

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2018

• "Environmental Factors Affecting Phytophthora Root Rot of Rhododendron" ~ Angie Mestas
• "Secondary Metabolism in Tolypocladium : Characterization, Ecology, Evolution and Regulation" ~ Rheannon Rua Blount
• "Investigating Protein-lipid-membrane Interactions in Plant Cells using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation" ~ Kai Tao
• "Contrasting Epiphytic and Ground Layer Macrolichen Communities along the Coast-to-inland Climatic Gradient in Oregon" ~ Abby Glauser
• "Hybridization between Castilleja levisecta and C. hispida : Implications for Pacific Northwest Prairie Management" ~ Isaac Jerome Sandlin III
• "Grape Powdery Mildew Management: The Interaction Between Inflorescence Stage and Fungicide Chemistry" ~ Brent Warneke

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2017

• "Drivers of Soil Fungal Communities Across Three Tropical Rainforests in Panama" ~ Tyler Schappe
• "Phytophthora ramorum within an Oregon tanoak forest : Quantifying inoculum within canopy throughfall vs. soil splash" ~ Silvia Benemann
• "Conservation of Rorippa columbiae : An Evaluation of Reintroduction Potential through the Study of Germination Ecology, Propagation Methods, and Habitat Requirements" ~ Laura Kentnesse
• "Candidate Genes Associated with Blister Rust Resistance in Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) Revealed through de novo Transcriptome Assembly and Differential Gene Expression Analysis" ~ Zolton Bair
• "Realized and potential climate responses of lichen and bryophyte communities in a national forest inventory" ~ Robert Smith
• "Unearthing the Cretaceous Diversification of Cornales" ~ Brian Atkinson
• "Non-target Effects of Biological Control: Ecological Risk of Tyria jacobaeae (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) to Senecio triangularis (Asteraceae) in Western Oregon" ~ Madison Rodman

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2016 

• "The Primary Disease Gradient of Wheat Stripe Rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) Across Spatial Scales" ~ Daniel Farber
• "Development and Application of Tools for Genetic Analysis of Clonal Populations" ~ Zhian Kamvar
• "Investigations of Black Leg and Light Leaf Spot on Brassicaceae Hosts in Oregon" ~ Briana Claassen
• "Identification of Endogenous and Exogenous Pararetroviruses in Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) and Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)" ~ Alfredo Diaz Lara
• "Genomic Investigations of Diversity within the Milkweed Genus Asclepias, at Multiple Scales" ~ Kevin Weitemier
• "Genome organization in the ectomycorrhizal truffle Rhizopogon vesiculosus" ~ Dabao Lu
• "Characterization of the transition to the programic phase in Zea mays pollen" ~ Caity Smyth
• "The role of plant-soil feedback in the invasion of Brachypodium sylvaticum in Douglas-fir forests" ~ Andrew Esterson
• "Understanding Host-Pathogen Interactions in the Sphaerulina musiva-Populus Pathosystem" ~ Kelsey Dunnell 
• “Overwintering of Erysiphe necator and inoculum monitoring for decision aids” ~ Lindsey Thiessen
• "Alternative seed treatments for management of seedborne disease: case study, black leg on crucifer crops" ~ Morgan Schneider
• "Biological Soil Crusts of the Great Basin: Distribution, Recovery from Disturbance, and Restoration" ~ Lea Condon 
• "Distribution of Phytophthora rubi and Pratylenchus penetrans in Pacific Northwest red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) fields" ~ Duncan Kroese

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2015 

• "Mulching for Managing Mummy Berry of Blueberry" ~ Jade Florence
• “When humans fail to tell the story, let the lichens and plants tell it for us: Dating pre-historic cairns in southeast Alaska” ~ Nijmah Ali 
• “Lichen Functional Trait Variation Along an East-West Climatic Gradient in Oregon and Among Habitats in Katmai National Park, Alaska” ~ Kaleigh Spickerman 
• “The role of intraspecific functional trait variation in the differential decline of meadow species following conifer encroachment” ~ Jessica Celis 

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2014 

• "Mitigating harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms: the Role of Plant Humics" ~ Sus Theis
• "Seasonality as a driving factor of decomposition pathways in both meadows and forests: an exploration across a gradient of climate in Oregon" ~ Sam Colby
• "Yosemite region nitrogen deposition and lichen community composition change" ~ Martin Hutten
•  “Phytosanitation of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) logs to mitigate the risk of artificially disseminating Phytophthora ramorum within the global trade of timber”  ~ Joey Hulbert
• "Interactions Between Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Molybdenum in Forest Soils and Cyanobacterial Lichens in the Oregon Coast Range" ~ Jade A. Marks
• "Systematic, genomic, and transcriptomic analysis of mycoparasitic Tolypocladium species and their Elaphomyces hosts" ~ Alisha Owensby Quandt
• “Identification and Distribution of the Mating-Type Locus and Development of Cleistothecia of Podosphaera macularis” ~ Sierra Wolfenbarger

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2013 

• "Lichen communities and caribou habitat in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, USA" ~ Peter Nelson
• "Reconnecting children to nature through environmental education: An internship at Avery House Nature Center" ~ Jena Fay
• "An Experimental Reintroduction of Pleuropogon oregonus, a Rare Wetland Grass Native to Oregon" ~ Matt Groberg
• "Histological comparisons of needle tissues of four species of white pine infected with Cronartium ribicola" ~ Kat Sweeney
• "Presence and pathogenicity of Fusarium and Verticillium species in commercial red radish (Raphanus sativus) seed production in the Willamette Valley of Oregon" ~ Rachel Bomberger
• "Experimental reintroduction of Artemisia campestris var. wormskioldii, a rare species of dynamic cobble bar environments on the Columbia River" ~ Alexis Brickner
• "A Survey of Vascular Plants and Recreational Uses at Valley Camp, North Bend, WA" ~ Tamra Prior
• "Fungal endophyte diversity in foliage of native and cultivated Rhododendron species" ~ Hank Raizen