I have two major areas
of research, stream ecology and the biological control of introduced aquatic
plants.
Historically, streams have been considered communities that are structured
by abiotic factors, i.e., droughts and floods. My work in various
streams has demonstrated that members of the stream biota, primarily large
invertebrates like crayfish, can also have very important influences on
stream community structure. My research in Michigan streams demonstrated
that crayfish can have dramatic impacts on the abundance of a dominant
filamentous alga (Cladophora glomerata). By reducing the abundance
of this filamentous alga crayfish indirectly facilitated smaller benthic
algae (e.g., diatoms) and the invertebrates that fed on these small algae.
In this stream crayfish were acting as keystone species. Research
that I have conducted with students in Maryland and North Carolina streams
demonstrated that crayfish can also accelerate leaf decomposition rates
and have impacts on sediment accumulation in streams. In these streams
crayfish were acting as ecosystem engineers, i.e., they were influencing
habitat quality and resource abundance (availability of fine particles
of detritus) for coexisting taxa. Most recently, my students and
I have begun investigating the factors that influence the distribution
and abundance of different crayfish species throughout watersheds, i.e.,
from small headwater streams to larger rivers.
My research in biological
control has focused on the impact of a native insect on an introduced aquatic
plant (Eurasian watermilfoil). Watermilfoil was introduced into North
America about 60 years ago. Since then it has spread throughout much
of the continent and is a considerable nuisance in hundreds of lakes and
several rivers. Management of this nuisance plant has relied on the
use of herbicides or mechanical devices that cut or uproot the plant.
Beginning about 25 years ago watermilfoil populations began to decline
on their own. An herbivorous weevil (a type of beetle) was found
associated with these declining watermilfoil populations. Research that
I have conducted (alone and in collaboration with other ecologists) has
determined that the weevil can cause watermilfoil declines. Other
research groups have reached similar conclusions. As a result, this
native insect is being considered for use as a biological control agent
for watermilfoil. In addition, with its switch to the introduced
watermilfoil the role of this weevil in aquatic communities has changed.
It has gone from being a relatively unimportant member of the communities
it inhabits to playing an important role in structuring many communities.
In a recent paper I have argued that this weevil should be considered a
new keystone species in North American freshwater communities.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and J.R. Miller. 1990. Interpreting animal wall-following behavior. Experientia 26:758-761.
Creed, R.P., Jr., S.P. Sheldon and D.M. Cheek. 1992. The
effect of herbivore feeding on the buoyancy of Eurasian
watermilfoil. Journal
of Aquatic Plant Management 30:76-77.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 1994. Direct and indirect effects of crayfish grazing in a stream community. Ecology 75:2091-2103.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1995. Weevils and watermilfoil:
Did a North American herbivore cause the
decline of an exotic plant?
Ecological Applications 5:1113-1121.
Sheldon, S.P., and R.P. Creed Jr. 1995. Use of a native
insect as a biological control for an introduced weed.
Ecological
Applications 5:1122-1132.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 1998. A biogeographic perspective on Eurasian
watermilfoil declines: additional evidence for the role
of herbivorous weevils in
promoting declines? Journal of Aquatic
Plant Management 36:16-22.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 2000. Is there a new keystone species in
North American lakes and rivers? Oikos
91:405-408.
James M. Reed. 1997. The effects of the crayfish Cambarus bartoni on a headwater stream community. MS Thesis, Hood College, MD.
Brian Helms. 2000. The effects of two coexisting crayfish (Orconectes cristavarius and Cambarus chasmodactylus) on sediment accumulation and macroinvertebrates in the South Fork of the New River. MS Thesis, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Ken Fortino. 2000. Does a predator transition explain young of the year crayfish distributions in the New River? MS Thesis, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Robert Cherry. 2000. Land use impacts on leaf processing and invertebrate communities in southern Applachian streams. MS Thesis, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Theses in Progress
Todd Ewing. A comparison of the effects
of fish and crayfish on a stream community. MS Thesis.
(anticipated completion
date: Summer 2000)
Research and Professional Experiences
1990-1994
Visiting Assistant Professor, Middlebury College
1994-1996
Assistant Professor, Hood College
1996-present
Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University
Grants
1987
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund Grant-in-Aid, $500
1988
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund Grant-in-Aid, $500
1991-1993
Army Corps of Engineers Grant (CoPI with S. Sheldon) $165,647
1995-1996
Washington Biologists Field Club Grant (with J. Reed), $1276
1998
University Research Council (summer), ASU, $1000
2000
University Research Council (summer), ASU, $1000
Publications (names in bold are student coauthors)
Creed, R.P., Jr. 1985. Feeding, diet, and
repeat spawning of blueback herring, Alosa aestivalis, from
the Chowan
River,
North Carolina. Fisheries Bulletin,
U.S 83:711-716.
Creed, R.P., Jr. and S.R. Reice. 1990.
Seasonal diet of the margined madtom, Noturus insignis
(Osteichthyes:Ictaluridae),
in a North Carolina piedmont stream. Brimleyana
16:23-32.
Creed, R.P,. Jr. and J.R. Miller. 1990. Interpreting animal wall-following behavior. Experientia 46:758-761.
Creed, R.P., Jr., S.P. Sheldon and D.M.
Cheek. 1992. The effect of
herbivore feeding on the
buoyancy
of Eurasian watermilfoil. Journal of Aquatic Plant Management 30:76-77.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1993.
The effect of feeding by a North American weevil,
Euhrychiopsis lecontei, on Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum
spicatum). Aquatic
Botany
45:245-256.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1994.
The effect of feeding by two herbivorous insect larvae on
Eurasian
watermilfoil. Journal of Aquatic Plant
Management 32:21-26.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1994.
Aquatic weevils associated with northern watermilfoil
(Myriophyllum
sibiricum) in Alberta, Canada. Entomological
News 105:98-102.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 1994. Direct and
indirect effects of crayfish grazing in a stream community.
Ecology
75:2091-2103.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1994.
Potential for a native weevil to serve as a biological control
agent for
Eurasian
watermilfoil. Technical Report A-94-7. U.S. Army Engineer Waterways
Experiment Station,
Vicksburg,
Mississippi.
Creed, R.P., Jr., and S.P. Sheldon. 1995.
Weevils and watermilfoil: Did a North American herbivore cause
the
decline
of an exotic plant? Ecological Applications
5:1113-1121.
Sheldon, S.P., and R.P. Creed Jr. 1995.
Use of a native insect as a biological control for an introduced weed.
Ecological
Applications 5:1122-1132.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 1998. A biogeographic
perspective on Eurasian watermilfoil declines: additional
evidence
for the role of herbivorous weevils in promoting declines? Journal
of Aquatic
Plant
Management 36:16-22.
Tamayo, M.,
C.W. O'Brien, R.P. Creed Jr., C.E. Grue and K. Hamel. 1999.
Distribution and
classification
of aquatic weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in the genus Euhrychiopsis
in
Washington
State. Entomological News
110:103-112.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 2000. The weevil-watermilfoil
interaction at different spatial scales: what we know and need to
know.
Journal of Aquatic Plant Management 38:000-000.
Creed, R.P., Jr. 2000. Is there a
new keystone species in North American lakes and rivers? Oikos
91:405-408.
Contributed Papers (names in bold are student coauthors)
1988
-Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference, Kellogg Biological Station,
Michigan State University,
Hickory Corners, Michigan.
-North American Benthological Society, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
-Entomological Society of America, Louisville, Kentucky (with J. Miller).
1989
-Algal Ecology Consortium, Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners,
Michigan.
-North American Benthological Society, Guelph, Ontario.
-Ecological Society of America, Toronto, Ontario.
1991
-North American Benthological Society, Santa Fe, New Mexico (with S. Sheldon).
-Ecological Society of America, San Antonio, Texas (with S. Sheldon).
1992 -New England Association of Environmental Biologists, New Hampshire (with L.O'Bryan and S. Sheldon).
1996 -North American Benthological Society, Kalispell, MT (with J. Reed).
1998
-North American Benthological Society, Prince Edward Island, Canada (with
D. Orlando
and J. Shook)
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Monroe, LA (with B.
Brown and W. Dobson).
1999
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Wilmington, NC (with B.
Brown and W. Dobson).
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Wilmington, NC (with K.
Fortino).
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Wilmington, NC (with B.
Helms).
-North American Benthological Society, Duluth, MN.
-North American Benthological Society, Duluth, MN (with B.
Helms).
-North American Benthological Society, Duluth, MN (with K.
Fortino).
-North American Benthological Society, Duluth, MN (with B.
Brown and W. Dobson).
2000
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Chattanooga, TN (with R.
Cherry).
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Chattanooga, TN(with K.
Fortino).
-Association of Southeastern Biologists, Chattanooga, TN (with B.
Helms).
-North American Benthological Society, Keystone, CO (with B.
Helms).
-North American Benthological Society, Keystone, CO (with K.
Fortino).
-North American Benthological Society, Keystone, CO (with B.
Brown and W. Dobson).
-Ecological Society of America, Snowbird, UT (with K.
Fortino)
-Ecological Society of America, Snowbird, UT (with B.
Brown and W. Dobson)
Invited Presentations
1990
-Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
-Symposium at N. American Benthological Society on Substrate-
Biota Interactions (Blacksburg, VA)
1991
-Department of Zoology, U. of Vermont, Burlington, VT
-New England Association of Environmental Biologists, Fairlee, VT
-Department of Biology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
-Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1992
-Department of Biology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
-Department of Biology, SUNY-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY
-Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, U. of Vermont, Burlington, VT
1993
-New England Association of Environmental Biologists, Meridan, CT
-Department of Biology, W. Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT
-Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, U. of Vermont, Burlington, VT
-Department of Biology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
1994
-Department of Biology, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
-Department of Biology, Hood College, Frederick, MD
-Department of Biology, Loyola University, Chicago, IL
-Depar tment of Biology, Radford University, Radford, VA
-Symposium at N. American Benthological Society on Ecology and
Control of Aquatic Macrophytes (Orlando, FL)
1995 -EPA Conference on Lake Management, Chicago, IL
1996
-Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth U., Richmond, VA
-Department of Biology, Appalachian State U., Boone, NC
-Symposium at the Aquatic Plant Management Society Meetings on Watermilfoil
Ecology (Burlington, VT)
1998
-Symposium at the Aquatic Plant Management Society Meetings on Watermilfoil
Ecology and Biological
Control (Memphis, TN)
1999 -Department of Biology, UNC-Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
2000
-Department of Biology, WCU, Cullowhee, NC
-Symposium at the N. American Benthological Society Meetings on Context
Dependence in Ecological Interactions (Keystone, CO)
-Department of Biology, East Tennessee State U., Johnson City, TN
Research Students
Graduate
-Elizabeth Hahn, M.S. Student, Hood College, Coastal marsh ecology (graduated
1995)
-Cindy Benedek, M.S. Student, Hood College, Behavioral ecology (graduated
1995)
-James Reed, M.S. Student, Hood College, Stream ecology (graduated 1997)
-Brian Helms, M.S. Student, A.S.U., Stream ecology (graduated 2000)
-Kenneth Fortino, M.S. Student, A.S.U., Stream ecology (graduated 2000)
-Robert Cherry, M.S. Student, A.S.U., Stream Ecology (graduated 2000)
-Todd Ewing, Current M.S. Student, A.S.U.
Undergraduate
-Brian Good, Biology Honors Student, Middlebury College, 1992. Stream
community ecology
-Danielle Orlando, Biology Honors Student, Hood College, 1996. Stream
community ecology
-Jill Shook, Summer Biology Student in the Summer Science Institute (1996),
and honors student,
Hood College. 1997. Stream community ecology.
-Stephen Lee Echols, Independent study in Stream Ecology, ASU, 1999.
-Chris Wood, Independent Study in Stream Ecology, ASU, 2000.
-Kathryn Shulzitski, Honors Student, Stream Ecology, ASU, 2000-2001.
Professional Societies
Ecological Society of America
North American Benthological Society
Aquatic Plant Management Society
Professional Services
1990-present Reviewer
for: Ecology, Oecologia, American Midland
Naturalist, Journal of the North American
Benthological Society, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science,
Hydrobiologia,
Entomological News, Journal of the Aquatic Plant Management Society; National
Science Foundation
(Research Proposals), Bulletin of the Association of Southeastern Biologists
1999-present
Associate Editor
for the Journal of the North American Benthological Society