Jeffrey J. Kovatch, Ph.D.

 

 

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Current Kovatch Lab Members
Laurel Ackison (Senior, Ecology/Evolution in Biology and Spanish) -  Laurel joined the lab in the fall of 2007.  She assisted on the non-lethal soft-tissue estimation in mussels project and did some work on ammonia toxicity in freshwater mussels. Laurel was a recipient of the 2007 NASA student research grant for her junior year. She studied in Puerto Rico for the 2008-09 academic year. 

Chris Chadwick (Junior, Environmental Science) - Joined the lab in the summer of 2009.  Chris is working with Byron (below) on an energetics project that involves quantifying filter feeding rates in freshwater mussels.

Byron Dodson (Junior, Biological Sciences) - Joined the lab in the summer of 2009.

Former Kovatch Lab Members

Misty Blankenship (B.S. Biological Sciences, 2007) - Misty assisted on the non-lethal soft-tissue estimation in mussels project.

Zack Halstead (B.S. Biology Sciences, 2008) - Zack assisted on the mass-dependent metabolic scaling in mussels project.  Zack was a paid summer research assistant off the 2007 NASA WV Research Enhancement grant and was a recipient of the 2007 NASA student research grant for his senior year.

David Sovic (B.S. Biological Sciences and Chemistry, 2007) - David was a paid summer research assistant off a 2007 NASA WV Research Enhancement grant.  He worked on the non-lethal soft-tissue estimation in mussels project and is second author on the manuscript in preparation and presentations at the 2008 Symposium of the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education (ORBCRE) and the 2009 International Symposium of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society.  David won the prize for Best Student Poster at the ORBCRE Symposium.  He is now working on his Ph.D. in ecotoxicology at Ohio State and is continuing to work with freshwater mussels as study organisms. 

Student Presentations from the Lab

  •  Ackison, L.C., Kovatch, J.J., Sovic, D.M. and Jones, T.G. 2008. Non-lethal estimation of soft tissue mass of freshwater mussels, Pyganodon grandis.  SX Research Day, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. Poster.
  • Ackison, L.C., Halstead, Z.R., and Kovatch, J. J. 2008. Effects of temperature and ammonia on the capacity of freshwater mussels to filter water.  West Virginia Undergraduate Research Day at the Capital,   Charleston, WV. Poster.
  •  Halstead, Z.R. and Kovatch, J.J. 2008. Examining the influences of temperature and mass on the metabolic rates of a freshwater mussel. SX Research Day, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. Poster.
  • Kovatch, J.J., Sovic, D.M., and Jones, T.G. 2008.  Non-lethal soft tissue estimation in freshwater mussels using shell morphometrics.  Symposium of the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education, Pittsburgh, PA. Poster. Best Student Poster Winner.
  • Kovatch, J.J., Sovic, D.M., and Jones, T.G. 2009. Non-lethal estimation of physiologically active soft-tissue mass in freshwater mussels using shell morphometrics.  International Symposium of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, Baltimore, MD.  

Laurel discusses her poster with Dr. May, 2008.

What you may actually see underwater when collecting mussels (photo by M. Kinsey).

Zack, Dr. Kovatch, and Laurel in the West Virginia State Capitol rotunda in Charleston, 2008.

 

Zack next to his poster at Sigma Xi Research Day, 2008.

Zack collecting mussels in Lake William, 2007.

Distinguishing between Pyganodon grandis (left) and Utterbackia imbecillus (right) in the field, 2007.

 

 

 

 

 

© Dr. Jeffrey J. Kovatch, 2009.  All rights reserved.