Nov. 20, 2007

Ryan Rehmeier, assistant professor of biology, has received a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Living Roadway Trust Fund of Iowa (LRTF) to study the effects of foreign plants on small mammal populations.

Specifically, Rehmeier will study the effects of crown vetch, an invasive vine-like plant often used along roadways for soil stabilization, on small mammal diversity along highways in Central Iowa. Approximately 40 plots will be examined to determine the abundance of individual species and variety of animal populations.

The survey will begin in spring 2008 and continue through the fall.

Rehmeier’s project will provide opportunities for funded undergraduate research for at least two advanced biology or environmental science students and will also function as an outdoor classroom for students in a few of Rehmeier’s classes.

Rehmeier said the grant could help the LRTF by emphasizing the need for more widespread adoption of integrated roadside vegetation management (IRVM). The Living Roadway Trust Fund of Iowa was established, in part, to use IRVM to restore and maintain native plants along Iowa’s roadways. If his research was to show that foreign plants affect small mammal populations, a more urgent argument for roadside rehabilitation and the restoration of native plants could be made.

Rehmeier’s research project is unique to the grant program because of its focus on mammals. He is one of a few professors from a small, private college to receive the grant since its inception in 1988.