Ricardo M. Holdo
Professor
Phone: (706) 542-0075
Email: rholdo@uga.edu
Office: Ecology 188B
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kvs9iOMAAAAJ&hl=en
Jason Donaldson
Senior Research Associate
Email: Jason.Donaldson@uga.edu
Jason is from Cape Town, South Africa, and received his Ph.D. from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he focused on interactions between fire, herbivores and vegetation in the Kruger National Park. Before joining our lab, Jason was a post-doc at Wake Forest University where he studied savanna dynamics and trophic cascades in the Serengeti National Park as part of Prof. T. Michael Anderson’s lab. Currently, he is conducting research in Serengeti as part of a collaborative project with Yale University, the University of Glasgow, Wake Forest University and the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute to analyze the effects of migrating wildebeest on macroparasite loads in resident herbivores. When in Athens, he is looking forward to exploring the trails of the Appalachian Mountains and watching live college football.
Basil Senso
M.S. student
Email: Basil.Senso@uga.edu
Basil is a Master’s student from Tanzania who joined the lab in January 2024. Prior to joining the lab as a graduate student, Basil obtained his B.Sc. in Biotechnology and Laboratory Sciences at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). Basil served as the lab manager for our collaborative project on migration and infectious disease dynamics project in Serengeti. Basil’s research focuses on the effects of wildebeest migration and environmental drivers on lungworm transmission in two resident alcelaphine antelope species closely related to wildebeest: topi and hartebeest.
Maya Gonzalez
M.S. student
Email: Maya.Gonzalez@uga.edu
Maya is a master’s student from Tampa, Florida. She is working on the hydraulic mechanisms underpinning early, pre-rain leaf-out in trees across southern Africa, using satellite imagery to observe large scale patterns in plant phenology and rainfall cycles. She earned her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida in 2023, where her research focused on the response of shrub cover to multi-decadal weather conditions and the presence of grazing at various spatial scales in the desert Southwest. Before joining the lab in the fall of 2024, she gained field work experience sampling small mammals and grassland birds. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, birdwatching, and learning new cooking recipes.
Virginia Griswold
M.S. student
Email: vgriswold@uga.edu
Virginia is a Master’s student researching plant-soil feedbacks of Ericaceae, with focal points on succession and plant function in forest ecosystems of the Southern Appalachians. Her research interests center on plant and seed ecophysiology and interactions with mycorrhizal fungi. Prior to UGA, she completed her BA in Biological Sciences from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she researched mycorrhizal mutualisms of Ericaceae and their implications for Rhododendron conservation. In her free time, Virginia likes to swim, walk with friends or family, and practice botanical illustration.
Lab Alumni
Michael Belovitch (Ph.D. student)
Isabel Wargowsky (M.S. student)
Phoebe Judge (M.S. student)
Cece Working (M.S. student)
Niki Gajjar (B.S. student, undergraduate research assistant)
Jules NeSmith, Lab Manager and Research Assistant
Annabelle Barr (undergraduate research assistant)
Juliet Eden (B.A. Student, undergraduate research volunteer)
Laura Lenz (B.A. Student, undergraduate research volunteer)
Brooke Amerson (undergraduate research volunteer)
Kathryn King (undergraduate research volunteer)
Lucia Sol Mochi (Visiting Ph.D. Student and Fullbright Scholar, University of Buenos Aires)