Location: Texas State University, San Marcos, with 35,000 students, is in
Central Texas on the Balcones Escarpment, the (stable) fault zone of the
uplifted Texas Hill Country. Our campus includes the second largest system
of freshwater springs in the state and is located between Austin and San
Antonio, with good interstate access north and south, and east and west for
sampling the long environmental gradients across Texas.
Description: The Huston lab group works on a range of issues related to the
ecological and evolutionary regulation of biodiversity over multiple spatial
scales, using field sampling, modeling and experimental approaches to
address questions at the individual, population, community, and ecosystem
level. Currently, we are involved in a long-term project of comparative
sampling across the long E-W precipitation gradient in Texas, from 55” per
year on the east side to about 7” per year on the west side (Chihuahuan
Desert). While my main focus is on plants, we currently have an insect
project examining spatial and temporal variation in insect assemblage
biomass, diversity, and size distributions with monthly samples from a site
near Big Bend National Park, and a site on the university ranch outside of
San Marcos. Plant projects range from geographical variation in chemistry
within particular species, to variation in leaf traits across climatic
gradients, to patterns of plant size and diversity in relation to topography
and climate. I am open to working with other taxonomic groups and
encourage my students to explore theoretical and modeling approaches to
their research.
Department of Biology: Our department has a strong group of ecologists and
evolutionary biologists with expertise relevant to the issues my students
work on, including evolutionary genetics, plant ecophysiology, epidemiology,
wildlife biology, entomology, conservation biology, hydrology, nutrient
cycling, and aquatic biology, with graduate students working in all of these
areas. Resources include well-equipped genetics labs, a new research
greenhouse, an aquatics lab with ponds and raceways, the spring-fed San
Marcos River and its source Spring Lake, a 4000 acre ranch near campus, and
a 9,000 acre mountain range near Big Bend National Park.
Financial Support for Graduate Students: Most graduate students are
supported by working as teaching assistants (TAs), typically supervising 3
class labs per semester, each of which meets once per week. The Graduate
College offers competitive supplementary merit fellowships to outstanding
candidates. Other competitive grants and fellowships, both local and
national, potentially provide additional support.
Application Process: Applications must be submitted to the Texas State
University Graduate College. You can find information on the application
process and the many grants and scholarships available at
http://www.bio.txstate.edu/Graduate-Programs.html. The deadline for
applications for Fall 2014 is January 15, 2014 (however, late applications
may be considered).
Please send me ([email protected]) a copy of your GRE scores and
transcript, as well as a letter explaining your interests and why you want
to join my lab, so I can submit an application for you for one of our merit
scholarships.
