Grant Foster

Grant Foster

Quantitative Ecologist & Educator

University of South Carolina

Biography

I’m Grant Foster a quantitative ecologist in training at the University of South Carolina under Dr. Tad Dallas. I’m interested in undergraduate ecology education, and hope to be able to pursue a tenure-track teaching position following graduation from my PhD. I’m also interested in other things, including integrating computational data science with Ecology and modeling species interaction networks. Outside of research, I enjoy spending time outside with my dog, gardening, and recording wildlife using ebird and iNaturalist-feel free to connect with me there if you’re interested!

Interests
  • Undergraduate Biology/Ecology Education
  • Ecological Networks
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Community Assembly Dynamics
  • Disease Ecology
Education

  • PhD, Biological Sciences (in progress), 2016-present

    University of South Carolina

  • BSc in Ecology; BSc in Biology, 2016

    University of Georgia

Skills

Science
R R & Rstudio
Git
Network Network Analysis
Science Pedagogy
Python Python

Learning!

Hobbies
Birding
Gardening
iNat iNaturalist
Board Games

Teaching Resources

Disease Ecology Lab Materials
Student-facing materials for an upper level disease ecology lab!
May 4, 2024 1 min read
Disease Ecology Lab Materials
R modules for Honors Ecology & Evolution
Student-facing materials for a mid-level disease ecology lab!
Dec 1, 2023 1 min read
R modules for Honors Ecology & Evolution

Projects

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All Networks Theory Teaching
Understanding Ecological Interactions Across Geographic Ranges
Across their geographic ranges, potential symbionts may interact any place they co-occur, or they may interact in only a subset of these sites. As a result, the actual presence of an interaction may be the result of local environmental or ecological contexts.
Code
Understanding Ecological Interactions Across Geographic Ranges
Strategies to Assess Data Science Skills in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms
As biologists we code frequently in our work, but many of us didn’t learn to code in the classroom. As such, when we’re then trying to assess coding skills in our own classrooms, we may not always be aware of the variety of different assessment styles at our disposal.
Strategies to Assess Data Science Skills in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms
Mutualistic Network Assembly Across Space
In nature, local species interaction networks are dynamic, changing in composition and structural properties as new species disperse to the area, existing species become locally extirpated, and as existing links rewire to form new associations or dissolve old ones.
Code
Mutualistic Network Assembly Across Space
Link Prediction in Tropical Plant-Frugivore Interaction Networks
The observed structure of a consumer-resource network consists of only a subset of potential links within that network. The true structure deviates from the metaweb of potential interactions due to stochastic assembly processes, while sampling effort limitations and error mean our observed network likely imperfectly represents this realized structure.
Code
Link Prediction in Tropical Plant-Frugivore Interaction Networks
Changes in Mutualistic Network Architecture in Response to Human Change
Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change impacts nearly all ecosystems on the planet through a number of mechanisms, one of which may be the altering of mutualistic interactions. Species turnover due to invasion and extinction, mismatches in species phenology, and other factors may fundamentally alter the architecture of mutualistic networks in many systems.
Changes in Mutualistic Network Architecture in Response to Human Change
Comparisons of Covid-19 Outbreak Dynamics across space and time
The large spatial scale, geographical overlap, and similarities in transmission mode between the 1918 H1N1 influenza and 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemics together provide a novel opportunity to investigate relationships between transmission of two different diseases in the same location.
Code Manuscript
Comparisons of Covid-19 Outbreak Dynamics across space and time

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Citizen Science in a Changing World (Speaker + Panelist)
Large-scale participatory science projects such as iNaturalist and eBird present outstanding opportunities to collect data useful for answering biological questions, as well as get people engaged in their local environments. This talk walks through some of the potential pros and cons of these types of “use-agnostic” programs across multiple perspectives. By better understanding how these data are generated, what the quality control and assurance processes are, and how individual citizens can get involved, we can better understand how to use these powerful tools.
May 15, 2024 10:45 AM — 11:30 AM University of South Carolina
Slides
Citizen Science in a Changing World (Speaker + Panelist)

Contact

Send me a message using this form, or send me an email directly at the address below!