Curriculum Vitae John Matthew Romansic 1203 E. Curtis St. Tampa, FL 33603 (813) 545-6500 jromansi@cas.usf.edu Education 2001-2007 Oregon State University Ph.D. - Zoology Advisor: Professor Andrew R. Blaustein Graduate GPA: 3.60 Title of thesis: Effects of multiple pathogens on amphibians in the Pacific Northwest 1994-1999 University of California, Berkeley BA - Integrative Biology and English (double major) Undergraduate GPA: 3.43 Experience 12/2007-present. Visiting Associate in Research. Investigations of community-level effects of pesticides and effects of temperature on chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Advisor: Dr. Jason R. Rohr, Email: jrohr@cas.usf.edu; Department of Biology, SCA112, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CPR107, Tampa, FL, 33620, (813) 974-3250. 09/2004-09/2007. US Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results Fellow. Experimental exploration of possible interactions between multiple pathogens and environmental stress, using amphibians as model hosts. Advisor: Dr. Andrew R. Blaustein, Email: blaustea@science.oregonstate.edu; Department of Zoology, 3029 Cordley Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, (541) 737-5356. 01/2001-06/2004. Teaching Assistant. Taught laboratory classes in introductory biology. Dr. Deborah Clark, Email: deborah.clark@oregonstate.edu; Biology Program, 2042 Cordley Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, (541) 737-2993. 3/2001-09/2004. Research Assistant. Coauthor of studies on the influence of ultraviolet-b radiation and the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on amphibians. Dr. Andrew R. Blaustein, Email: blaustea@science.oregonstate.edu; Department of Zoology, 3029 Cordley Hall, Oregon St. University, Corvallis, OR 97331, (541) 737-5356. 05/1998-6/2000. Field Technician. Assisted Dr. Vance Vredenburg s ecological field research on amphibians in the Sierra Nevada backcountry. Participated in a study testing the effects of human-introduced trout on threatened mountain yellow legged frogs (Rana muscosa). Removed trout using gill nets and instructed others on this use of gill nets. Surveyed frog embryo masses, tadpoles, and frogs. Assisted an experiment on the effect of trout on frog oviposition behavior and a behavioral study of male guarding of oviposition sites and male-male aggression. Collected toe and tail samples for analysis of frog population genetic structure. Pit-tagged a large number of postmetamorphic frogs as part of a long-term mark-recapture study. Tracked movement of frogs using radiotelemetry. Educated hikers about the frog research and its results. Assisted the discovery of a population of Mount Lyell salamanders (Hydromantes platycephalus). Recorded hiker use of wilderness resources. Assisted for a total of seven months over three field seasons. Dr. Vance T. Vredenburg, Email: vancev@sfsu.edu, Department of Biology, Hensill 534, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132 (415) 565-3341.
08/2000-10/2000. Scientific Aid (Volunteer). Helped remove human-introduced trout from high elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada to aid a population of mountain yellow-legged frogs. Used gill nets and electroshocking to remove trout. Measured removed trout to help track the success of the removal efforts. Surveyed frogs to help track their response to trout removal. Assisted a survey of Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi). Curtis Milliron, Email: cmilliro@dfg.ca.gov; California Department of Fish and Game, 407 West Line Street, Bishop, CA 93514, (760) 872-1125. 03/2000-8/2000. Field Technician. Collected salamanders in the Sierra Nevada for Dr. Wake's studies of salamander evolution at the Musuem of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. Searched for and collected salamanders alone and on group field trips. I collected specimens of California newts (Taricha torosa), Ensatina salamanders (Ensatina eschscholtzii), and slender salamanders (genus Batrachoseps). Extracted tissue samples for cryo-archiving and preserved specimens. Dr. David Wake, Email: wakelab@berkeley.edu; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, California 94720-3160, (510) 643-7705. 11/1999-3/2000. Field Technician. Assisted research at the University of California's Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley, California. Aided in long-term studies of the social system of acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus). Helped observe, census, catch, and band woodpeckers. Monitored California tiger salamanders (Ambystoma californiense) and California newts (Taricha torosa) using a drift fence/pitfall trap system. Assisted in the capture and handling of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). Dr. Walt Koenig, Email: koenigwd@berkeley.edu; University of California, Berkeley, Hastings Natural History Reservation, 38601 E. Carmel Valley Rd., Carmel Valley, CA 93924, (831) 659-5981. 10/2003-11/2003. Volunteer. Led sixth grade students in an aquatic ecology field work activity in which they used aquatic invertebrates as bioindicators of water quality. Staci Stein, Email: staci.stein@oregonstate.edu; Corvallis Outdoor School, 1555 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR 97333, (510) 745-5193. 3/2002-1/2004. Volunteer. Participated in youth outreach programs introducing junior high and high school students to amphibians, amphibian population declines, and careers in ecological research. Gave slide show presentations and led discussions on amphibian biodiversity. Lois Sullivan, Email: lois.sullivan@oregonstate.edu; OSU/Marion County Extension Service, 3180 Center St. NE, Room 1361, Salem, OR 97301, (503) 373-3764; Dr. Stevan J. Arnold, Email: arnolds@science.oregonstate.edu; Department of Zoology, 3029 Cordley Hall, Oregon St. University, Corvallis, OR 97331, (541)737-3705. 01/1998-05/1999. Undergraduate Student Instructor. Assisted Graduate Student Instructors in the teaching and mentoring of undergraduates in a special field laboratory section of Introductory Biology. Mentored students in group research projects. Taught students how to capture, handle, and identify California voles (Microtus californicus), house mice (Mus musculus), and various lizard species. Trained students in application of ear tags to mark rodents. Tutored students in scientific writing. Graded writing assignments and scientific reports. Dr. Steve Takata, Email: steve_takata@yahoo.com ; (510) 502-2086; Mike Moser, Email: mmoser@berkeley.edu; Department of Integrative Biology, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building #3140, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, (510) 642-8123. 01/1999-05/1999. Volunteer. University of California, Berkeley, Volunteer - Authored species accounts for AmphibiaWeb (www.amphibiaweb.org), an online resource for researchers, conservationists, and members of the general public concerned about amphibian population declines. I authored accounts for Ambystoma gracile (northwestern salamander), Plethodon stormi (Siskiyou Mountains salamander), and Rana cascadae (Cascades frog) and co-authored species accounts for Batrachoseps attenuatus (California slender salamander), Bufo californicus (arroyo toad), and Bufo canorus (Yosemite toad). Dr. David B. Wake, Email: wakelab@berkeley.edu; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, California 94720-3160, (510) 643-7705. 2001-present. Reviewer. Conservation Biology. 2002-present. Reviewer. Herpetological Review.
2004-present. Reviewer. Western North American Naturalist. 10/2/2004. Invited Panelist. Graduate School Panel Discussion: Is Graduate School for Me? Department of Biology, Oregon State University. Grants Awards 2008 Third place. Poster competition at the Netherlands-Flemish Ecological Society (Netherlands-Vlaamse Vereniging voor Ecologie; NecoV) Wintersymposium. 2005 Best Graduate Student Poster, Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society poster competition 2004 US Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship. Project title: Exploration of complex interactions between multiple pathogens and environmental stress, using amphibians as model hosts. 2001, 2002, 2003 Oregon St. University Deparment of Zoology Research Funds 2002-2003 Oregon Sports Lottery Scholarship 2002 Declining Amphibian Population Task Force SEED Grant. Proposal title: The effects of a pesticide and ultraviolet-b radiation on susceptibility of amphibian larvae to the pathogen Saprolegnia ferax. 1999 UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology Gompertz Award. Project title: A field experiment testing the effect of UV-B radiation on the hatching success of mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) and Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla) embryos at a high elevation site in California. Publications Romansic, J. R., Higashi, E. M., Diez, K. A., and Blaustein, A. R. Susceptibility of newlymetamorphosed frogs to a pathogenic water mold (Saprolegnia sp.). Herpetological Journal (in press). Garcia, T. S., Romansic, J. M. and Blaustein, A. R. 2006. Survival of three species of anuran metamorphs to UV-B radiation and the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatadis. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 72:163-169. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M. and Blaustein, A. R. 2006. Effects of nitrate and the pathogenic water mold Saprolegnia on survival of amphibian larvae. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 68:235-243. Johnson, P. T. J., Preu, E. R., Sutherland, D. R., Romansic, J. M., Han, B. and Blaustein, A. R. 2006. Adding infection to injury: synergistic effects of predation and parasitism on amphibian malformations. Ecology 87:2227-2235. Blaustein, A. R., Romansic, J. M. and Scheessele, E. A. 2005. Ambient levels of UV-B cause mortality in juvenile western toads, Bufo boreas. American Midland Naturalist 154:375-382. Blaustein, A. R., Romansic, J. M., Scheesele, E. A., Han, B. A., Pessier, A. P. and Longcore, J. E. 2005. Interspecific variation in susceptibility of frog tadpoles to the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Conservation Biology 19:1460-1468. Blaustein, A. R., Han, B., Fasy, B., Romansic, J., Scheesele, E., Anthony, R. G., Marco, A., Chivers, D. P., Belden, L. K., Kiesecker, J. M., Garcia, T. S., Lizana, M. and Kats, L. B. 2004. Variable breeding phenology affects the
exposure of amphibian embryos to ultraviolet radiation and Optical characteristics of natural waters protect amphibians from UV-B in the U.S. Pacific Northwest: a comment. Ecology 85:1747-1754. Blaustein, A. R., Romansic, J. M., Kiesecker, J. M. and Hatch, A. C. 2003. Ultraviolet radiation, toxic chemicals, and amphibian population declines. Diversity and Distributions 9:123-140. Vredenburg, V., Tunstall, T., Nguyen, H., Romansic, J. and Schoville, S. 2001. Hydromantes platycephalus (Mt. Lyell Salamander). Behavior. Herpetological Review 32:178. Romansic, J. 2001. Adventures in Log-Rolling and Rock-Flipping: Searching for Slender Salamanders. Sierra Nature Notes, an online journal of natural history news in the Sierra Nevada. Available online at http://www.yosemite.org/naturenotes/slendersalamander.htm. Proposed Publications Vredenburg, V. T., Chan, L. M., Romansic, J. M., and Tunstall, T. A field test of the effects of UV-B radiation on three high elevation amphibians in California. Submitted to Copeia. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M. and Blaustein, A. R. Effects of the pathogenic water mold Saprolegnia ferax on survival of amphibian larvae. Submitted to Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. Romansic, J. M., Waggener, A. A. and Blaustein, A. R. Influence of ultraviolet-b radiation on growth, prevalence of deformities, and susceptibility to predation in Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) larvae. Submitted to Hydrobiologia. Oral Presentations Amphibian Disease Diagnostics Workshop and Lab at the 2006 Joint Annual Meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology and the Washington Chapter of the Wildlife Society. Romansic, J. M., Blaustein, A. R., Diez,, K. A., and Higashi, E. M. Saprolegnia and amphibians. March 27, 2006. 2006 Meeting of the California/Nevada Working Group of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M., and Blaustein, A. R. Separate and combined effects of nitrate and the pathogenic water mold Saprolegnia on survival of amphibian larvae. January 12, 2004. 2005 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M., and Blaustein, A. R. Separate and combined effects of nitrate and a pathogenic water mold on survival of amphibian larvae. August 12, 2005. Herpetological Seminar, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M., and Blaustein, A. R. Effects of Saprolengnia ferax on amphibians. November 3, 2003. Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force Symposium, Fourth Asian Herpetological Conference, Chengdu, China. Vredenburg, V., Hansen, L, Romansic, J., Chan, L., Tunstall, T., and Knapp, R. Testing the effects of ambient UV-B radiation on high elevation amphibians. July 18, 2000. Poster Presentations Netherlands-Flemish Ecological Society (Netherlands-Vlaamse Vereniging voor Ecologie; NecoV) Wintersymposium. Individual and combined effects of multiple pathogens on Pacific treefrogs (Pseudacris regilla). February 7-8, 2008. EPA STAR Fellowship Conference. Romansic, J. M. Testing for between-pathogen interactions using amphibian hosts. September 26, 2006. Romansic, J. M., Scheesele, E. A., Han, B. A., Pessier, A. P., and Longcore, J. E, and Blaustein, A. R. Exposure of amphibians to the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and ultraviolet-b radiation. Joint meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology and the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Feb. 23, 2005.
EPA STAR Fellowship Conference and EPA STAR Fellowship Capitol Hill Poster Session. Romansic, J. M. Exploration of complex interactions between multiple pathogens and environmental stress, using amphibians as model hosts. October, 12-13, 2004. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. Romansic, J. M., Scheesele, E. A., Han, B. A., Pessier, A. P., Longcore, J. E, and Blaustein, A. R. Effects of the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on larvae of four frog species. August 5, 2004. Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology Annual Meeting. Romansic, J. M., Diez, K. A., Higashi, E. M., and Blaustein, A. R. Susceptibility of amphibians to the pathogenic water mold Saprolegnia ferax. March 21, 2003. Dr. Andrew R. Blaustein Professor Department of Zoology 3029 Cordley Hall Oregon St. University Corvallis, OR 97331 Phone: (541) 737-5356 Email: blaustea@science.oregonstate.edu Fax: (541)737-0501 Dr. Jason R. Rohr Assistant Professor University of South Florida Tampa, FL Phone: (813) 974-0156 Email: jrohr@cas.usf.edu Fax: (510) 643-8238 Dr. Vance T. Vredenburg Assistant Professor Department of Biology 1600 Holloway Ave San Francisco State San Francisco, CA 94132 Phone: (510)207-7827 Email: vancev@sfsu.edu Fax: (510) 643-8238 Dr. David B. Wake Emeritus Professor/Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles Museum of Vertebrate Zoology 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 Phone: (510) 643-7705 Email: wakelab@berkeley.edu Fax: (510) 643-8238 Dr. Paul C. Jepson Professor and Director Integrated Plant Protection Center 2040 Cordley Hall Contact Information for Six References
Oregon State University Corvallis OR 97331 Phone: (541)737-9082 Email: jepsonp@science.oregonstate.edu Fax: (541)737-3080 Dr. Joseph W. Spatafora Department of Botany and Plant Pathology 2082 Cordley Hall Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon 97331 Phone: (541)737-5304 Email: spatafoj@science.oregonstate.edu Fax: 541-737-3573