Principal Investigator

 Assistant Professor of Global Change Biology
Ph.D. Michigan State University

Jason Martina is an assistant professor at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX (started fall 2019). His primary research interests involve better understanding global change phenomena in wetland and grassland ecosystems. Before coming to Texas State, he was the program coordinator of the EEB and ABS programs at Texas A&M University and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. He received his Ph.D. at Michigan State University with Drs. Steve Hamilton and Merritt Turetsky and completed a postdoc at the University of Michigan with Drs. Deborah Goldberg and Bill Currie.
TXST Faculty Webpage
My CV

Postdoctoral Scholars

Dr. Clementina Calvo
​Clementina is a Postdoc at Texas State University (starting December 2022). She received her M.Sc. (2016) and Ph.D. (2022) in Biology from Universidad de la República in Uruguay. Since the beginning of her career, she has been interested in global impacts on freshwater systems. In her B.Sc. and M.Sc., she focused on invasive species performance under different environmental scenarios. During her Ph.D., she investigated the ecosystem role of riparian zones. More specifically, she focused on how climate change and land use affect riparian zone nutrient retention, as well as how hydroperiod, disturbances and light availability affect water quality. In her research, Clementina usually combines fieldwork sampling with experiments and modeling to broaden the scale of analysis and better understand underlying mechanisms. Her work involves strong cooperation with international institutions, and has been taken into account by water reservoir protection policies. 

Dr. Taofeek Muraina
​Taofeek is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Biology at Texas State University (December 2023). Taofeek is a plant ecologist and acquired his Bachelor of Agriculture (Pasture and Range Management) and Master of Agriculture (Pasture Production and Utilization) in 2011 and 2015 respectively from Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria, and PhD (Agroecology) in 2020 from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. His recent and current research activities largely involve assessment and management of grasslands, savannas, and related ecosystems for efficient functioning and sustainable delivery of ecosystem services under current and future global/climate change drivers (e.g., extreme drought, eutrophication, grazing, soil disturbance). In the Martina Lab, Taofeek will develop a framework for the integration of long-term grassland experiments within the NutNet, DRAGNet, and DroughtNet initiatives with process-based models to scale response to global change drivers from the individual level to ecosystem function.

Current Graduate Students

Tilak Chaudhary
Tilak is a Ph.D. student at Texas State University (started Spring 2022). He received his M.Sc. in Biology (2021) from Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK), M.Sc. in Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology (2015) from the University of Goettingen (Germany), and B.Sc. in Forestry (2010) from Tribhuvan University (Nepal). During his master’s thesis at TAMUK, he investigated the short- and long-term effects of drought on the forest ecosystem in East Texas. His general research interest lies in sustainable ecosystem management under changing global climate and disturbance regimes. He is particularly interested in understanding changes in plant community structure and species composition at different spatial scales due to climate change and natural and anthropogenic disturbances. He uses GIS, remote sensing, field experiments, and modeling tools in his research. He worked with different national and international organizations in Nepal for more than five years in the field of natural resource management, climate change, human-wildlife conflict, and biodiversity conservation.

Alyssa Haram
Alyssa is a Ph.D. student at Texas State University (started in spring 2023). She recieved her M.Sc. in Biology (2023) from Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN and her B.Sc. in Environmental Biology from Saint Mary's University in Winona, MN. During her master's thesis she conducted management-based research on an invasive macro-algae (Nitellopsis obtusa) measuring the effects of mechanical management and quantifing starch phenology of N. obtusa. Her research interests involve the role of aquatic invasive species in modifiying wetland function and their interactions with the surrounding environment. 

Sabina Prajapati
Sabina is a Ph.D. student at Texas State University (starting Fall, 2023). She received her M.Sc. in Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology (2015) from University of Göttingen (Germany), B.Sc. in Forestry (2010) from Tribhuvan University (Nepal), and subsequent training from UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands (Watershed and River Basin management). She has worked for the Ministry of Forests and Environment (Government of Nepal) in soil and watershed conservation and management for more than a decade. For her master’s degree she analyzed the effect of management practice and altitude on coffee in Mount Elgon, Uganda. Her general research interest lies in understanding the effects of global change on ecosystem functions, particularly grassland soil health and carbon sequestration. For her dissertation she will be working in the Blackland prairies in Texas.

Traci Foulkes
​Traci received her B.A. in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a second-year M.S. student studying the effects of restoration on carbon storage in diverse grassland ecosystems. Traci has been working as a conservation specialist for the greater part of the past decade conducting endangered species habitat management and surveys, flora and fauna surveys, water quality tests and prairie restoration in Central Texas. 

Jenna DeMent
Jenna is a second-year MS student at Texas State University working on remote sensing of the invasive species Arundo donax. After receiving her BS in Biology and Ecology at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, she spent several years working with state agencies and NGOs assisting with various habitat management practices throughout the United States.

Sabrina Sanders
Sabrina is a first-year MS student studying the effects of coastal wetlands on nitrogen and phosphorus retention and cycling in the Great Lakes Region using the simulation model Mondrian. She received her BS in Wildlife Biology at Texas State University. . ​

Christopher Riggins
Chris is currently a first-year M.S. student looking to focus his studies on endangered Texas wild-rice (Zizania texana). He received a B.S. in Aquatic Biology from Texas State University in 2018. Since then, he has worked as a Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist at The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, specializing in habitat restoration and invasive species mitigation in the San Marcos River.

June Shaukat​
​June is a first-year M.S. student studying two endangered brassica species in East Texas, Leavenworthia texana and Physaria pallida. She received a dual degree in environmental science and film from the University of Texas at Austin. During her undergraduate degree, she modeled populations of endangered cacti in Big Bend National Park and studied grassland response to disturbance in the Kalahari. More recently, she worked professionally editing academic video, and hopes to use this outreach experience to educate landowners on endangered species conservation.

Current Undergraduate Students

Yovani Valdes
I am a senior undergraduate student working on my B.S. in Wildlife Biology at Texas State University. I have volunteered for the Plant Biology Society, the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), and Bobcat Stream Team. I previously had an internship with U.S. Fish and Wildlife doing research on the endemic Texas Wild Rice of the San Marcos River, monitoring its flowering and cloning habitats during the ongoing drought (2022-2023). I have an interest in tropical plants and the ecology of tropical biomes and hope to eventually get a master's in contributing to the understanding and conservation of these fragile and diverse biomes.

Andrew Martinez
Andrew is a senior at Texas State University, working on a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology. He has spent the majority of this time in the lab helping with soil coring and processing for a soil carbon project at the LBJ Wildflower Center in south Austin. 

Lab Alumni

Graduate Students
Brianna Fogel (MS thesis, graduated Spring 2023)
​Meg Herod (MS thesis, graduated Fall 2022)
Anthony Omofoma (MS non-thesis, graduated Fall 2022)

Undergraduates
Courtney Velasquez (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Claudia Smith (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Alex Badgwell (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Emily Horan (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Sydney Scace (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Ryan Kridler (Undergraduate - Texas State)
David Molnar (Undergraduate - Texas State)
James Caulfield (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Claudia Arias (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Sabrina Sanders (Undergraduate - Texas State)
Grace Vielleux (Undergraduate - Texas A&M)
Aaron Banks (Undergraduate - Texas A&M)
Ryan Doner (Undergraduate - Texas A&M)
Michael Behrendt (Undergraduate - Texas A&M)
Ramiro Ramirez (Undergraduate - Our Lady of the Lake University)
Alejandro Ramirez (Undergraduate - Our Lady of the Lake University)
Sydney Coulter (Undergraduate - Our Lady of the Lake University)
Danielle Herrera (Undergraduate - Our Lady of the Lake University)