Gary N. Ervin
Plant Ecology Lab ~ Aquatic Botany, Invasive Species, Wetland Ecology
Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University
Book Release
April 2023
Current students working in my lab
Andrew Sample
Master's student
Andy joined the lab in Spring 2020. He is working on research that looks at the roles of wetland plants in water quality improvement. Andy also has an interest in how invasive wetland plants affect (and are affected by) nutrient dynamics in freshwater wetlands.
Andy has received a student grant from the Society of Wetland Scientists for a portion of his research and took second place in the student presentation compatition at the South Carolina Chapter of the Aquatic Plant Management Society in 2021.
Andy came to MSU from Forth Worth, TX, where he spent several years working for a private wetland consulting firm. He earned his B.S. degree in Environmental, Soil, and Water Sciences from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) in Spring of 2015.
Samuel Schmid
Ph.D. student
Sam came to Mississippi State in Fall of 2021 from Minnesota. Sam is investigating control of the invasive aquatic plant alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) via integration of chemical and biological methods. Sam has an interest in many aspects of alligator weed ecology, including: herbivore-host dynamics, interspecific competition, and life history variation between native and invasive genotypes.
During his Master's degree work at Minnesota State University, Mankato, Sam studied the biotic and abiotic factors that predict the distribution and composition of aquatic macrophyte communities in Sibley Co., MN.
Jacob Hockensmith
Master's student
Jacob started work in the lab in Fall 2021. He has an interest in wetlands and invasive species. Jacob has been working on invasive plant eradication since First Grade, when he began annual garlic mustard removal work at a local park.
Jacob graduated Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry in 2021. While at Slippery Rock, he helped conduct research comparing herbicide responses of diploid and triploid flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus), under the guidance of Dr. Cory Shoemaker, an Ervin lab alum.