Joel W Snodgrass

About

Professor Joel W. Snodgrass is a faculty member and Department Head in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation department at Virginia Tech. His research interests focus on aquatic ecology, specifically examining the effects of human-induced landscape change on the physical and biotic environment of aquatic systems. He is particularly interested in the biology and evolution of aquatic organisms, with a special emphasis on fish and amphibians inhabiting streams and freshwater wetlands. His work involves understanding how urbanization, salinization, and other environmental stressors impact aquatic ecosystems and their inhabitants. Professor Snodgrass has contributed to the scientific understanding of pollutant distribution in stormwater management ponds, the effects of road salt stress on aquatic food webs, and the toxicity of salts to amphibian embryos. He holds a B.S. from Guilford College, an M.S. from the University of Central Florida, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. His research has been published in various scientific journals, and he actively engages in extension and outreach activities related to aquatic ecology and conservation.

Research topics

• Biology
• Environmental science
• Ecology
• Geography

Selected publications

• Influence of Modern Stormwater Management Practices on Transport of Road Salt to Surface Waters

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2017-03-24 · 101 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Application of road salts in regions with colder climates is leading to ground and surface water contamination. However, we know little about how modern stormwater management practices affect the movement of road salt through urban watersheds. We investigated groundwater contamination and transport of road salts at two stormwater ponds in Baltimore County, Maryland. In association with the ponds, we documented a plume of contaminated groundwater that resulted in Cl– loadings to the adjacent stre…

  PublisherDOI

• Relative Toxicity of NaCl and Road Deicing Salt to Developing Amphibians

  Copeia · 2015-02-09 · 29 citations

  article

  Recently, increases in both road deicing salt use and impervious cover have caused salinity to increase in urban aquatic environments. Road deicing salts consist of salt, abrasives, metals, and anticaking agents, all of which can be transferred to surrounding aquatic environments through runoff. Few studies have attempted to identify the relative toxicity of road deicing salt ingredients. To investigate the relative toxicity of NaCl and road deicing salt to amphibians, we exposed embryonic Rana…

  PublisherDOI

• Variation in age, body size, and reproductive traits among urban and rural amphibian populations

  Urban Ecosystems · 2018-09-07 · 27 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The importance of terrestrial dispersal for connectivity among headwater salamander populations

  Ecosphere · 2015-10-01 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  Many organisms are primarily constrained to the channels of the upstream terminus of river networks with limited capacities for both in‐stream and overland dispersal. Dispersal is believed to contribute to gene flow and the demographic stability of headwater populations. While assumed, the importance of overland dispersal to gene flow is largely unexplored in headwater salamanders. Six microsatellite markers were used to assess patterns of genetic population structure for a headwater salamander,…

  PublisherDOI

• Long-Term Trends In Avian Migration Timing For the State of New York

  The Wilson Journal of Ornithology · 2017-06-01 · 7 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Throughout North America, organized groups of citizens and scientists have collected climate and bird phenology records since the 1880s. Most studies utilizing these data sets have compared mean first arrival dates but have not compared trends between historical and more contemporary data sets. We analyzed spring first arrival dates and fall last departure dates for 39 migrant bird species across three different data sets spanning a historical period when there was little climate change (1888–19…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• C-RUI: Cellular, Physiological and Life-history Responses of a Stream Fish, Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys atromaculatus), to Urbanization

  NSF · $296k · 2002–2007

Frequent coauthors

• Joanna Burger

  62 shared

• A. Lawrence Bryan

  Savannah River National Laboratory

  37 shared

• John H. Roe

  University of North Carolina at Pembroke

  26 shared

• William A. Hopkins

  Virginia Tech

  25 shared

• R. Casey

  Towson University

  20 shared

• Brian P. Jackson

  Dartmouth College

  18 shared

• Justin D. Congdon

  17 shared

• William A. Hopkins

  Virginia Tech

  16 shared

Labs

• Joel W Snodgrass LabPI

Education

• PhD Ecology, Institute of Ecology

  University of Georgia

  1996

• MS Zoology, Biological Sciences

  University of Central Florida

  1990

• BS Biology, Biology

  Guilford College

  1985

Similar researchers at Virginia Tech

• Paul Angermeierh-69
• James (Jim) Fraserh-55