Katie Schneider

2010 Update:

Post-doctoral Associate with Stephen Baines
Department of Ecology and Evolution
Stony Brook University

Research

Dr. Schneider has researched how the availability of nutrients and energy influences the biodiversity of cave ecosystems. Her Ph.D. research focused on how the quantity and quality of allochthonous inputs into caves support the obligate cave species that depend on these resources. Through a multi-year ecosystem-level manipulation experiment, she examined how the types of food resources and their temporal usability influence community composition and successional dynamics of cave species. In an effort to understand the macroecology of cave species, she built a database of the distribution of species across many caves in a small area to ask questions about the biotic, abiotic, and statistical factors that influence the apparent distribution of species across caves in West Virginia. Lastly, her interest in adaptation to the subterranean environment led her to specifically examine the role of nutrient limitation in caves. Here, she used biochemical tools to investigate the stoichiometry of cave arthropods and their resources (that is, their chemical composition, namely C: N: P), and how this may be related to cave adaptation. Please see the publications below for more information and the results of this work.

Publications *

• Schneider, K. M.C. Christman and W.F. Fagan. The influence of resource subsidies on cave invertebrates: Results from an ecosystem-level manipulation experiment. Ecology. In press. [doi: 10.1890/10-0157.1]
• Schneider, K, A.D. Kay and W.F. Fagan. 2010. Adaptation to a limiting environment: The phosphorus content of terrestrial cave arthropods. Ecological Research 25: 565-577. PDF / abstract
• Schneider, K. 2009. How the Availability of Nutrients and Energy Influences the Biodiversity of Cave Ecosystems [Dissertation]. University of Maryland: College Park (MD). 174 pp. Available from: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland.
• Hambäck, P.A., J. Gilbert, K. Schneider, H.M. Martinson, G. Kolb, and W.F. Fagan. 2009. Effects of body size, trophic mode and larval habitat on dipteran stoichiometry: A regional comparison. Oikos 118: 615-623. PDF / abstract
• Martinson, H.M.*, K. Schneider*, J. Gilbert, J.E. Hines, P.A. Hambäck, and W.F. Fagan. 2008. Detritivory: stoichiometry of a neglected trophic level. Ecological Research 23 (3): 487-491. (*co-first authors) abstract
• Nelson, K.C., G. Marbach-Ad, K. Schneider, Shields, K.V. Thompson, P.A. Sheilds and W.F. Fagan. 2009. MathBench Biology Modules: Web-based math for all biology undergraduates. Journal of College Science Teaching (JCST). April/May: 24-29.
• Fagan, W.F., F. Lutscher, and K. Schneider. 2007. Population and community consequences of spatial subsidies derived from central place foraging. American Naturalist 170(6): 902-915. PDF / abstract
• Culver, D.C., T. Pipan, and K. Schneider. 2007. Vicariance, dispersal, and scale in the aquatic subterranean fauna of karst regions. Freshwater Biology 54 (4): 918-929.
• Schneider, K. and D.C. Culver. 2004. Estimating subterranean species richness using intensive sampling and rarefaction curves in a high density cave region in WV. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 66 (2): 39-45.
• Gulley, J. G. Veni and K. Schneider. 2005. Mapping Survey of Brooksville Ridge Cave, Hernando County, FL. Technical report. Submitted to World Woods Corporation, Homosassa Springs, FL.
• Schneider, K. 2003. The Biogeography of the Subterranean Invertebrate Fauna of West Virginia [Thesis]. American University: Washington (DC). 82pp. Available from: UMI Microforms, Ann Arbor, MI; 1413637

Funding Sources and Workshop Invitations:

• 2008 Hockmeyer Fellowship, University of Maryland College of Life Sciences ($29,012)
• 2008 Goldhaber Travel Award [to present at ESA meeting (Milwaukee, WI)]
• 2008, 2006 Caesar F. Zymanek Memorial Scholarship, FBI National Academy Associates New York State/Eastern Canada Chapter ($500)
• 2007 National Speleological Society Research Advisory Committee, Research Grant ($500)
• 2007 European Commission, Marie Curie Grant [registration, living and travel expenses while attending the Time in Karst Symposium (Postojna, Slovenia)]
• 2007 University of Maryland, Travel Grant [to present at the ESA meeting (San Jose, CA)]
• 2006, 2007 West Virginia Association of Cave Studies Research Grant (waived fieldstation fees)
• 2006, 2007 Invitation to participate in the "Spatial Stoichiometry" Workshop [travel, lodging, expenses (NCEAS, Santa Barbara, California)]
• 2006 Invitation to participate in the "Future Directions in Karst" Workshop [travel and lodging (San Antonio, Texas)]
• 2006 University of Maryland, Travel Grant [to present at the International Symposium of Biospeleology (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)]
• 2006 Cave Research Foundation, Ph.D. Fellowship ($2, 491)
• 2005 Invitation to participate in the Karst ILTER Workshop [travel, lodging, and expenses (Ljubljana, Slovenia)]
• 2004 Cave Conservancy Foundation, Ph.D. Fellowship ($15,000)