During the summer of 2015, tne students participated in the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates “Long-term Perspectives on Human-River Dynamics at the Confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers: Interdisciplinary Research for Students in Ecology and Archeology” program at the Center for American Archeology, Kampsville, IL. Program activities combined conceptual and theoretical topics with practical activities designed to provide students with knowledge and experience necessary for research and careers in STEM fields. This unique program allowed students to participate in archaeological and ecological research focused on human-river interactions during the approximately 10,000 years of human occupation of the Lower Illinois Valley. As part of their experience, students conducted original research projects investigating various dimensions of past and present human-fish interactions.
Variation of Fish Diversity in the Lower Illinois River Over a 2,000 Year Temporal Span
Curtis T. Dopson (University of West Georgia) and Erin N. Laute (Southeast Missouri State University)
Variation in Fish Size Distribution Through Time Within the Lower Illinois River Valley
Ariana O. Enzerink (Oberlin College) and Tom Higgins (Siena College)
Variation in the Relative Abundance of Common Fishes Across Archeological and Modern Time Periods
Stephanie R. Goesmann (Blackburn College) and Paige L. Ottenfeld (Tennessee Technological University)
Shifts in Relative Abundance of Blackwater Fishes in the Lower Illinois River Valley through Millennia
Nigel Q Knutzen (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) and Lillian C. Ward (Aquinas College)
Examining Ictalurus spp. and Ameiurus spp. Size Distribution in the Lower
Illinois River Over 2,000 Years
Paula M. Long (University of Central Arkansas) and Abigail T. Uehling (Hamilton College)