The Andrews Forest LTER was again host to several Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students in 2008. Adam Martinez, a junior in biology at Oregon State University (OSU), put together an online field guide of the carabid ground beetles of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest.
Working with Dr. Christopher Marshall, Curator of the Oregon State Arthropod Collection (OSAC), Martinez took high-resolution images of specimens of all 100 carabid beetles known to live at the Andrews Forest. He then gathered information about each species and made the data and associated images available online. This new pairing of technology and taxonomy data has been dubbed "cybertaxonomy." Many of Martinez's photographs are so stunning that they have been used in the Oregonian newspaper and on the OSU website.The new online field guide is available at http://osac.science.oregonstate.edu/.
Garrett Wohlsein, a senior in Environmental Engineering at OSU, did his REU work in plant community ecology and insect community ecology. Wohlsein worked with Dr. Charles Halpern of the University of Washington in a vegetation survey crew and with Drs. Elizabeth Borer and Eric Seabloom on a nutrient network project. Says Wohlsein, "The REU program was an invaluable experience because it allowed me to explore and expand my interests in science."