CHRISTOPHER J. PARADISE

Associate Professor of Biology

Specialty Areas: Community Ecology, Aquatic Entomology, Invertebrate Zoology, & Environmental Science

Telephone: (704)894-2890

Office: 272 Watson Life Sciences

Email: chparadise@davidson.edu

Education

· B.S., SUNY Albany, 1986

· M.A., Binghamton University, 1989, Advisor: Dr. Nancy E. Stamp

· Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 1997, Advisor: Dr. William A. Dunson

Research Interests: Treehole Ecological Systems

The role of abiotic factors in the organization of communities is one of the most fundamental questions in ecology. Heterogeneity of abiotic factors has been hypothesized to alter the outcome of biotic interactions and influence top-down and bottom-up factors. Additionally, the relative importance of top-down vs. bottom-up factors is a prominent debate in contemporary ecology. I am interested in how biotic interactions are mediated by abiotic factors, and how changing interactions may affect community structure. I am especially interested in the role resource availability plays in dynamic interspecific interactions. I use a variety of approaches to investigate these concepts, from whole community field monitoring to manipulative field and laboratory experiments on single species and subsets of communities.

One bottom-up factor that may be critical to forest aquatic systems is energy input in the form of leaf litter. Treehole habitats, the system I have been studying, are easily manipulated forest aquatic systems that occur as small, discrete habitats and thus make excellent model communities to study effects of resources and abiotic factors. Leaf litter forms the basis of a processing chain wherein resources change condition over time and consumers specialize on resources in different condition. Consumers may therefore play a role in determining resource abundance, thus having an important community-wide influence. One outcome of processing chains is a commensalism, where "upstream" consumers break down the resource, thereby providing resources in another form to "downstream" consumers. The interaction involves organisms in the middle of the food web that are affected by bottom-up forces, but in a way that is modulated by lower-level consumers.

The study of these and other detritus-based communities is relevant to questions of general ecological importance, as well as to questions regarding responses to changing environments. In the future I plan to continue investigating the effects of resources and abiotic factors on biotic interactions and community structure, using a variety of detritus-based communities. I am specifically interested in examining the prevalence of processing chain commensalisms in these communities, and the relationships of processing chain commensalisms to resource levels and abiotic factors, as well as the possibility that upstream consumers can affect the whole community as keystone species.

Research Interests: Greenways and Stream Ecological Systems

In collaboration with students I have been monitoring local streams that run through greenways, which are protected green spaces that are used for recreation and conservation. They are set up as long, thin conservation areas that often run along streams. My students and I are interested in the impact of greenways on aquatic and terrestrial insects living in and downstream from the greenway. We sampled a local greenway in 2006, when it was first set aside, and we will sample again in the spring of 2009.

Research Interests: Decomposition and Succession: A Forensic Entomology Study

In the spring of 2009 I will be working with another professor, Dr. Helen Cho, and several students to investigate the decompositional sequence of carcasses. My team and I will be in charge of collecting, identifying, and determining the succession of the insects that use dead animals as resources.