Dr. H. Maurice Valett

H. Maurice (Maury) Valett

Professor of Systems Ecology
Division of Biological Sciences

Maury is an ecosystem ecologist who addresses how spatial configuration among elements of the aquatic landscape influences structure and function, including interplay among aquifers, floodplains, tributaries, wetlands, and main-channel subsystems.

Maury serves as the Director of the Valett Aquatic Ecology Laboratory and as the Co-Director of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems.

Dr. Royce Engstrom

Royce Engstrom

Professor of Analytical Chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

 Valett Aquatic Ecology Laboratory Analytical Laboratory Manager

 Royce Engstrom is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Montana.  After a number of years in university administration both at UM (including six years as President) and the University of South Dakota, he has returned to teaching and research.  He is collaborating with Dr. Valett on research related to the availability of nutrients in natural water systems, particularly looking at the role of nitrogen fixation in the Clark Fork River. 

 He is also serving as the Analytical Lab Director for the Valett lab, working to make reliable analytical methods available to members of the group, to standardize the protocol for data management, and to establish a Lab Safety Manual for the group.

Engstrom’s previous research was in the area of electrochemical analysis.  In particular, he and his students worked on the examination of electrode surface microheterogeneity, relating the efficacy of various electrode materials to their physical and chemical properties at the microscopic scale.  He made use of microiontophoresis, microvoltammetric electrodes, and electrogenerated chemiluminescence imaging as tools to probe surface activity at microscopic levels.  He applied some of these methods to examination of weathering on complex geochemical surfaces.  During his career, he taught a wide range of chemistry courses from General Chemistry to graduate-level analytical topics. 

email:   royce.engstrom@umontana.edu
Office:  HS 513b

Dr. Rafael Feijó de Lima

Rafael Feijó de Lima

 Rafael Feijó de Lima is a biologist and obtained his PhD in Brazil focusing on land use impacts on structural and functional parameters in freshwater ecosystems. He is a   postdoctoral researcher in the CREWS project. His current research focuses on the linkages between ecosystem metabolism, benthic algae, heavy metal contamination, and nutrient transport in the Upper Clark Fork River, Montana.

phone: (406) 239-8968

email:   rafael.feijo@mso.umt.edu

Claire Utzman

Claire Utzman

Valett Aquatic Ecology Laboratory Manager

 Claire received her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Montana, where she focused her studies on microbial and ecosystem ecology in both terrestrial and aquatic settings. As an undergraduate, Claire assisted with logistical and technical duties spanning three collaborating laboratories and four graduate research studies. These experiences exposed her to methods and concepts related to aquatic biogeochemistry, wetland and stream hydrology, heavy-metals contamination, and autonomous environmental sensors.

Claire manages the field and lab duties associated with a Long Term Research in Environmental Biology project to monitor water quality and quantity along 200 river-km of the Upper Clark Fork River. Claire is also involved in several other research efforts focused on tributaries of both the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. In the laboratory, Claire utilizes analytical instrumentation to assess nutrient availability in various water bodies and employs standard methods to quantify benthic algal and macrophyte standing stocks. She is also responsible for QA/QC and data management of numerous autonomous sensors deployed throughout western Montana. 

phone: (605) 431-7937
email:    claire.utzman@mso.umt.edu
office:  Health Sciences 513

Taylor Gold Quiros

Taylor Gold-Quiros

Systems Ecology Intercollegiate Graduate Program

Taylor Gold Quiros received her B.S. from Trinity University in Biology and Environmental Sciences in 2016 and her M.S. from Texas State University in Aquatic Resources in 2018. Her master's thesis was titled "Mercury concentrations in fish from the Guadalupe River, Texas: Relationships with Body Length and Trophic Position". She moved to Missoula in 2019 to study food web characterization in the Upper Clark Fork River, MT in order to investigate how aquatic communities respond to a gradient of contaminants from upriver heavy metal mining sources.

Her goal is to integrate both structural and dynamic food web investigative approaches in order to  1) characterize fish habitat quality and address changes in quality on a longitudinal scale 2) understand structural community response to historic heavy metal contamination and current restoration practices, 3) relate structural responses to dynamic food-web attributes, primarily those related to energy (growth and production) and contaminant flow (heavy metals) within food webs.

phone: (803) 305-9491
email:    taylor.goldquiros@umontana.edu
office:  Health Sciences 513

Colton Kyro

Colton Kyro

Systems Ecology Intercollegiate Graduate Program

Colton is conducting research on nitrogen movement and transformations within a rural stream wetland complex known as Lost Creek Dutchman Complex (LCDC). Lost Creek is a tributary of the Upper Clark Fork river near Anaconda, MT and has been identified as a significant source of soluble nitrogen since 1992. The project aims to determine the specific nitrogen source within a stretch of Lost Creek that has been determined as being loaded by nitrogen from groundwater water pathways. The region is characterized by an extensive wetland with several springs, irrigation diversions, a peat fen, a nearby waste water treatment plant and is surrounded on the uplands by cattle ranching and farming.

My research has several elements including groundwater modeling, nitrogen sourcing, soil microcosm and nitrogen mass balance. Ground water modeling will determine flow paths and movement of water as it carries soluble nitrogen into Lost Creek. Nitrogen sourcing will be determined by stable isotopes to quantify the mixing of nitrogenous species among the waste water settling ponds and other potential sources. Soil Microcosms will be manipulated under differing experimental conditions to elucidate factors influencing nitrogen retention and mobilization in soils within the complex. Nitrogen mass balance will summarize the previous elements and will determine the overall causes of nitrogen loading in Lost Creek. Colton's field season will start late spring and extend into late fall.

phone: (206) 601-8066
email:    colton.kyro@umontana.edu
office:  Health Sciences 513

Bonnie Holzworth

Bonnie Holzworth

MS Candidate 
Systems Ecology Intercollegiate Graduate Program

My research is addressing the role of mycorrhizae in the restoration of the Upper Clark Fork River floodplain - soils and their influence on carbon quality.

phone:   (406) 493-4885
email:    bonnie.holzworth@umontana.edu
office:   EL 201

Past Students @ UM

 Jacob Dyste

 MS 2017

Systems Ecology Program

Phased recovery framework following channel             reconfiguration as a stream restoration practice American Rivers, Denver, Colorado. Email: jdyste@gmail.com                                       

Pete Davis

MS 2017

Systems Ecology Program

Floodplain complexity and riparian forest productivity - remote sensing applications Email: pdavis327@gmail.com 

Nic Banish

MS 2017 

Systems Ecology Program

Factors influencing Cladophora biomass abundance in the Upper Clark Fork River