Jessica B. Moon

302 Walker Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Telehone: 814.863.1596
FAX: 814.863.2962
E-mail: jbm162@psu.edu

education:

Pennsylvania State University - Ph.D. Ecology (in progress)
Pennsylvania State University - M.S. Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Pennsylvania State University (Behrend College) - B.S. Biology

professional activities:

Ms. Moon’s primary research interest is to understand how anthropogenic disturbances affect ecosystem-level processes in freshwater aquatic systems. She has become familiar with a number of freshwater aquatic systems through her formal education. As an undergraduate student her primary focus was on streams. During this period Ms. Moon worked under the advisement of Dr. Pamela Silver ( Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College) in Goose Creek, VA. The research addressed how the spatial arrangement, species composition, and stability of leaf packs influence the abundance of meiofauna. During this time Ms. Moon also developed an independent research project, looking at the affect of a juvenile hormone analog, Fenoxycarb – used in agricultural pest control – on a non-target organism, Chironomus riparus. She was granted a Behrend College Undergraduate Summer Grant for work on this project. During her undergraduate education Ms. Moon also took a look at water quality issues abroad, studying for a summer at the University of Northampton, UK.

As a M.S. student Ms. Moon’s focus turned towards lakes. During this period she worked under the advisement of Dr. Hunter Carrick (PSU, University Park), on Lake Erie. She assisted in the “Lake Erie Trophic Status Study”, a collaborative project, of 17 institutions, funded by the EPA aboard the R/V Lake Guardian. The researchers involved in this study addressed the recent decoupling between chlorophyll a, a proxy of phytoplankton biomass, and ambient total phosphorus concentrations. They were particularly interested in how this decoupling might be related to the acceleration of dissolved oxygen depletion in the central basin of Lake Erie. The introduction of dreissenid mussels to the Great Lakes is one factor suspected to have direct and indirect impacts on nutrient cycling. Thus, Ms. Moon’s primary research objective was to reevaluate the nutritional status of phytoplankton, post-dreissenid mussel introduction, in the central basin of Lake Erie over space and time. During this period Ms. Moon also gained e xperience in the classroom; she was a teaching assistant for Ecosystem Management, Wildlife and Fisheries Measurements, and Limnology.

Currently Ms. Moon is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology, studying wetlands, many of which are the transition zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. She works at the Cooperative Wetlands Center under the advisement of Dr. Denice Heller Wardrop (PSU, University Park). The primary goal of Ms. Moon’s proposed research is to increase our basic understanding of how human disturbance affects microbial habitat source-sink dynamics in wetlands. There are two fundamental hypotheses of her work: 1) Disturbance is suspected to remove soil microbial habitat variability at small spatial scales within the ecosystem, leading to net changes in the source-sink dynamics of the ecosystem as a whole, and 2) The plant community composition and microtopography, two manageable wetland characteristics, are key elements in creating this soil microbial habitat variability. She hopes by relating soil microbial habitat parameters back to these wetland characteristics, this research will improve our efforts to restore and maintain the functions of natural wetlands. In addition, by understanding the internal spatial patterns of soil microbial habitat parameters in disturbed natural wetlands she hopes to hypothesize about the net changes to the source/sink dynamics of these wetlands. Ms. Moon has been granted a Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium Fellowship for work on this project.

professional employment:

2006–present: Graduate Student Service Assistant, IGDP in Ecology
2005–2006: Graduate Student Research Assistant, Cooperative Wetlands Center, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Pennsylvania State University
2004–2005: Graduate Student Research Assistant, Wildlife and Fisheries Department, College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania State University
2003–2005: Graduate Student Teaching Assistant, Wildlife and Fisheries Department, College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania State University
2001–2002: Research Assistant/Laboratory Technician, Neural Dynamics Laboratory Krasnow Institute for Advanced Studies, George Mason University
2000–2001: Undergraduate Research Assistant, Biology Department, Behrend College, Pennsylvania State University

professional organizations

Ecological Society of America
Society of Wetland Scientists
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography

academic organizations:

Ecology Graduate Student Organization, 2006 Vice-President/Treasurer
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Member
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society, Member

selected publications:

Carrick, H.J., Moon, J.B., and Gaylord, B.F. 2003. Phytoplankton dynamics and hypoxia in Lake Erie: Evidence for benthic-pelagic coupling in the central basin. Submitted to the Journal of Great Lakes Research 31(sup2): 111-124.

Moon, J.B. 2004. Response of phytoplankton in Lake Erie to nutrient enrichment: A bioassay approach. Masters Thesis, Pennsylvania State University.

Richardson, C., Gluckman, B., Weinstein, S., Glosch, C., Moon, J.B., Rider, G., and Schiff, S. 2003. In Vivo modulation of hippocampal epileptiform activity with radial electric fields. Epilepsia 44: 768-777.