Carol Landry, associate professor of biology and plant ecology at the Mansfield campus, has been awarded a Fulbright Core Scholar Research Grant to the Bahamas.
Landry will be an adjunct professor in the Department of Pure and Applied Sciences and research maintaining biodiversity in coastal ecosystems with the University of the Bahamas Gerace Research Institute during three time periods for a total of six months over the 2019-2020 academic year.
Landry said the purpose of this project is to understand natural mechanisms that maintain biodiversity by investigating the reproductive ecology of plants and pollinators in Bahamian coastal ecosystems and comparing pollinator species composition on islands with and without honeybees. She is also interested in the effects of hurricanes on coastal plant-insect communities, impact of herbivory and seed predation on plant reproductive success and the effect of competition and predator and parasite interactions on pollinator population dynamics.
“Coastal ecosystems are of great concern because they provide significant environmental and economic benefits,” Landry said. “This study will provide information useful in the development of sustainable coastal management practices.
Along with the research, Landry will work with the director of the Gerace Research Institute and herpetologists to create an Iguana Garden that is comprised of plants used by the critically endangered San Salvador Rock Iguana providing accessible native food plants for young iguanas and serve as an education garden.
To learn more about the Fulbright Core Scholar Research Grant.