Jennifer Price, Ph.D.
Contact Information:
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries Research
1921 Vanbooklen Road
Eastover, SC 29044
Phone: 803-353-8232
Fax: 803-353-8552
Email: pricej@dnr.sc.gov
Current Research Interest
I am currently working on the conservation of South Carolina’s freshwater mollusks and crustaceans. I have been developing the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wcp/ for the mussels, snails, and crayfishes of South Carolina, and am developing several research projects on the basic biology and distribution of these organisms. In collaboration with Clemson University, I am finishing up a study documenting the crayfish community composition of Congaree National Park http://www.nps.gov/cosw/index.htm. Projects I hope to accomplish soon include a study of the relationship between mussels and water quality on Lake Greenwood, mussel conservation genetics, primary burrowing crayfish ecology, and a study of the relationship between stream health and crayfish species composition.
South Carolina has a diverse and intriguing invertebrate species composition. It includes at least 33 freshwater mussel species, 39 crayfish species (some not yet described), and 27 freshwater snail species. These numbers are likely to increase, since many parts of the state are not well-studied, and new species are likely to be added to the state’s species list following additional survey work. For more information on freshwater crayfishes and mollusks, please visit the following websites:
http://crayfish.byu.edu
http://ellipse.inhs.uiuc.edu/fmcs/
Education
Ph. D., Ecology and Evolution, Rutgers University, October 2004. Dissertation title: Intraguild predation and the formation of alternate community states.
B. A., Biology, minor in Environmental Science, University of Virginia, May 1998, graduation with distinction, Honor’s Thesis title: Size-dependent interactions between two terrestrial amphibians, Plethodon cinereus and Plethodon glutinosus.
School for Field Studies, Center for Rainforest Studies, Australia, semester abroad program, Fall 1995. Research project title: Reptilian use of a partially reforested rainforest corridor.
Employment
Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Biologist, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. June 2004-present. Primary Duties: Conducting mussel and crayfish surveys, coordinating research projects with outside agencies, developing conservation strategies
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University. General Biology Laboratory, Genetics Recitation, Genetics Laboratory. 1999-2001, and 2003-2004.
Teacher’s Aide. Summer Enrichment Program. Center for Gifted Education, College of William and Mary. 1998, 1995, 1993.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Price, J. E. and J. A. Secki Shields. 2002. Size-dependent interactions between two terrestrial amphibians, Plethodon cinereus and Plethodon glutinosus. Herpetologica 58(2): 141-155.
Petchy, O. L., T. Casey, L. Jiang, P. T. McPhearson and J. Price. 2002. Species richness, environmental fluctuations, and temporal change in total community biomass. Oikos 99(2): 231-240.
Price, J. E. and P. J. Morin. 2004. Colonization history determines alternate community states in a food web of intraguild predators. Ecology 85(4): 1017-1028.
Publications in Preparation
Price, J. E. and S. M. Welch. Crayfish Communities of Congaree National Park: An experimental comparison of the efficiency of various collecting techniques for crayfishes. In Preparation.
Price, J. E. and P. J. Morin. Variation in initial population density leads to community convergence. In Preparation.
Price, J. E. and P. J. Morin. Patterns of assembly in a community of odonate larvae. In Preparation.
Long, Z., P. J. Morin, J. E. Price, C. F. Steiner, L. Jiang, P. T. McPhearson, J. Adams, and C. Kaunzinger. Working title: A review of community assembly theory and its role in biological invasions. Invited review. In preparation for Biological Invasions.
Posters and Presentations
J. E. Johnson. Size-structured interactions: evidence for competition between two terrestrial salamander species. Student Seminar Series, Rutgers University, October 1998.
Petchey, O., T. Casey, L. Jiang, J. Johnson, Y. Kato, and T. McPhearson. Effects of species diversity and environmental variability on community and ecosystem properties in an aquatic microcosm experiments. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Snowbird, Utah, USA. August 2000.
J. E. Price and P. J. Morin. The order of introduction and community composition in a system of intraguild predators. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Madison Wisconsin, August 2001. Poster.
J. E. Price. Intraguild predation and the formation of alternate stable states. Student Seminar Series, Rutgers University, November 2001.
J. Price, R. Hamilton, and E. Ravit. Invasion success and the impact of microorganisms on a resident community. Northeast Ecology and Evolution Conference, Rutgers University, April 2003. Poster.
J. Price, R. Hamilton, and E. Ravit. Invasion success and the impact of microorganisms on a resident community. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Savannah, GA, August 2003.
Professional Society Memberships
Ecological Society of America (also a member of the aquatic section)
Society for Conservation Biology
Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society
International Association of Astacology (crayfish biology)