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Stephen Plont
Biological Sciences
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Stephen is a PhD student with Dr. Erin Hotchkiss in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. He is interested in how ecosystem processes influence the transport and transformation of carbon and other nutrients throughout stream networks, and how water quality is influenced by environmental change at the ecosystem scale.
Stephen is a graduate of Michigan State University, where he earned a B.S. in Environmental Geosciences and a B.A. in Chemistry in 2017. He first became interested in freshwater ecosystems and biogeochemistry after conducting field experiments at the Kellogg Biological Station, investigating how different buried organic matter sources could fuel carbon removal in streams.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”44803″ img_size=”275×355″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]He continued to pursue research questions linking hydrology, environmental change and carbon cycling across stream networks while working as a research technician at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Blue River, Oregon. Using data collected in the H.J. Andrews, Stephen completed his undergraduate thesis work investigating how changes in streamflow and stream intermittency alter carbon fate and transport.
Since arriving at Virginia Tech, his research has focused on how land use and region influence organic carbon fate and coupled carbon-nitrogen cycles in streams. Using a combination of long-term data collection, laboratory experiments, and whole-ecosystem manipulations, he is currently assessing how stream confluences influence ecosystem function, the fate of carbon and nutrients in stream networks, and ultimately how stream confluences impact downstream water quality.
With the Interfaces of Global Change program, Stephen is excited to engage local and global communities in their water resources and the important ecosystem services they provide. He also hopes encourage involvement of undergraduates and underrepresented minorities in science.
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