FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 20, 2018
For More Information:
Glenville State College
Public Relations Department
(304) 462-4115
Glenville, WV - A Glenville State College graduate and current GSC professor recently coauthored an article on soil disturbances caused by pocket gophers at different elevations and the impact they have on the ecosystem. Sam Canfield, a May 2017 graduate, completed the research at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory along with several other students. Canfield also received help completing the analysis from Dr. Jeremy Keene, an Assistant Professor of Biology at GSC.
The research Canfield conducted took place during his time as a student at GSC. He and the other researchers found that pocket gopher soil disturbances peaks at mid-elevations and that they are associated with air temperature, forb cover, and plant diversity. The research observed that burrowing mammals can be "ecosystem engineers" by increasing soil aeration and erosion and altering the structure of plant communities. Studies that investigate burrowing mammal disturbances to soil can help predict changes in ecosystem engineering under future climates.
Canfield is currently studying at West Liberty University for a master's degree in biology with a concentration in conservation biology. For his thesis, he is studying Podostemum ceratophyllum, an aquatic plant in West Virginia rivers, to determine what habitat conditions are needed for the plants survival. He begins his second year this fall semester and hopes to graduate in the spring of 2019.
During his time at GSC, Canfield served as president of the Alpha Iota chapter of the science and math honorary society Chi Beta Phi. He also received the Student Leadership Award, an honor presented to an outstanding member of the graduating class, in May 2017. He previously completed a ten-week research opportunity at the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC East) to study how leech predation on native and invasive snails are affected by water temperature.
For more information about this research, call (304) 462-6313.
