Aquatic Botany journal features biologist Damian Walter’s ERDC-U project

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Published May 5, 2021
As part of an U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)-University project, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District Biologist Damian Walter is netting flowering rush plants for a feeding study at the ERDC Environmental Laboratory’s greenhouse on the Vicksburg, Mississippi, installation. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Dr. Nathan Harms)

As part of an U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)-University project, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District Biologist Damian Walter is netting flowering rush plants for a feeding study at the ERDC Environmental Laboratory’s greenhouse on the Vicksburg, Mississippi, installation. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Dr. Nathan Harms)

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory Research Biologist Dr. Nathan Harms co-authored a journal article as one of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Walla Walla District Wildlife Biologist Damien Walter’s 2019 ERDC University mentors.

With credit to the ERDC-Environmental Laboratory’s Aquatic Ecology and Invasive Species Branch and USACE Walla Walla District, the article, “Influence of Butomus umbellatus L. lineage and age on leaf chemistry and performance of a generalist caterpillar” recently appeared in Aquatic Botany, an international scientific journal that focuses on applied and fundamental research about macroscopic submerged, floating and emergent plants in marine and freshwater ecosystems.

During his six-month research project, Walter experimented on the growth, sediment preference and feeding pressure responses of the invasive species, flowering rush.

His goals were to determine how to eradicate the plants using chemical control methods for an aquatic river reservoir system. Walter directs the district’s mitigation and environmental stewardship programs for wildlife habitat management.