In 2010, Prof. Greg Shriver (U. Delaware) and Dr. Vince D’Amico (US Forest Service, NRS-08) began a long term study of forest fragments across an urban-rural gradient (Forest Fragments in Managed Ecosystems, FRAME). This network of forest plots has been the site of many studies by Shriver, D’Amico, and other lead scientists (below).

Prof. Tara Trammell is a faculty member in the Department of Plant & Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware. She is the John Bartram Assistant Professor of Urban Forestry. Prof. Trammell and her students are studying how biophysical and sociological factors affect urban ecosystem structure and function, and investigating how urban forests respond to threats such as pollution and invasive species. Additionally, she is studying ecosystem function in residential lawns, where the majority of urban residents interact with their environment.

Dr. Vince D’Amico is a research scientist in the USDA Forest Service. He is stationed in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. He is Biophysical Science Lead for Unit NRS-08, “Urban Forests, Environmental Quality and Human Health”. Dr. D’Amico is currently working with collaborators to: 1) quantify the effect of exotic plant invasion in forested riparian corridors in urban and suburban landscapes, 2) explore the effects of plant invasion of riparian corridors on foraging by native birds, 3)  learn how the herbivorous insects that underlie food webs are impacted by invasive replacement of native plants in urban and suburban landscapes.

Prof. Greg Shriver is engaged in many collaborative projects related to restoration, avian ecology, monitoring, and conservation.  He is presently working with collaborators to; 1) develop a salt marsh integrity monitoring protocol for USFWS, 2) address the long-term (30 + yrs) effects of forest fragmentation on a neo-tropical migratory bird reproductive success and mating systems, 3) investigate the effects of tidal marsh management practices on breeding birds. Before coming to the University of Delaware, Prof. Shriver was a regional scientist for the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Program developing long-term ecological monitoring programs for National Parks in the Northeast.

Prof. Jeff Buler, Prof. Jake Bowman, Prof. Debbie Delaney