REU Site: Applied Terrestrial Ecology of a Biodiversity Hotspot

This REU Site award to Auburn University, located in Auburn, AL, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2026- 2028. The program will focus on the Southeastern US, including the North American Coastal Plain Biodiversity Hotspot, a unique region in need of ecologically trained scientists. Research projects may be conducted on campus or at nearby off-campus research and natural areas.

The project goal is to provide educational, research, and professional development activities to undergraduate students through an engaging hands-on experience working in applied terrestrial ecology and conservation. Through this experience, students will develop independence, skills, and knowledge, increasing their opportunities to pursue a career in science, especially in the Southeastern US.

Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Assessment of this program will be done through an online tool. Students should apply to the REU site using NSF ETAP (Education and Training Application: https://etap.nsf.gov).

The focus of the REU is in applied terrestrial ecology and conservation within a U.S. biodiversity hotspot. This interdisciplinary program will include mentors from the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment and the Department of Biology. Together, students will be trained in a unified course experience, including a systems approach to ecology, hypothesis development, experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, research ethics, and responsible conduct of research.

Students will receive professional development opportunities, site visits to research stations, and exposure to various ecosystems while engaging in research projects studying, for example, herpetological diversity, community ecology in natural and human-disturbed areas, genomic insights into population connectivity and extinction risk, irregular architecture in honey bee nests, characterizing ecosystem structure using remotely sensed data, nocturnal call monitoring of frogs, mechanisms of forest flammability, local facilitation of invasive ant species, and disease ecology of wildlife. The results of this REU site will increase our understanding of the North American Coastal Plain Biodiversity Hotspot while promoting workforce development in the southeastern U.S.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.