Larry Wiedman, PhD
Professor of Biology
lwiedman@sf.edu
Office: Achatz Hall 117B
Phone: 260-399-7700 x8214BS, Ball State University
MS, Wright State University
PhD, Kent State University
Dr. Wiedman (Doc, to most on campus) is a local native and graduate from New Haven High School. He is a Professor of Biology and the Director of undergraduate program in Environmental Science at USF. Dr. Wiedman teaches and instructs Advanced Environmental Science, Introduction to Environmental Regulations, Surface and Subsurface Process and Analysis, Marine Biology, Geology, and Geography. He also coordinates Environmental Science Internships and instructs the Bahamian Field Studies, Bahamian Field Research, Southern Appalachian Field Studies, Southern Rocky Mountains Field Studies, and Southwestern Field Studies site-based courses.
Doc has spent over 30 years working on and around Andros Island, Bahamas. Since 1981 he has been focused on the barrier reef of Andros Island, Bahamas and has collaborated with many students on such diverse areas as pine yard natural reforestation, mangrove growth studies, natural reintroduction of the long-spined urchin, Diadema to the reef following a virus in the early 1980s with over 98% mortality, and reefal herbivory. He is currently working with several USF students on projects to monitor the return of Diadema after its 25 year hiatus. In 1981 and again in 1983 a virus wiped out the Diadema population throughout the Caribbean. To that point they had been the greatest herbivores on the reef system, keeping the aggressive green algae at bay. With them gone, the much smaller and less mobile rock urchins expanded their populations to fill the niche, but not very efficiently. Now the Diadema are slowly returning naturally and he is monitoring how the reef reacts to their presence. This project will most likely be active for the next 7-10 years.
Also still in progress are several other interesting research projects involving USF students. Two current projects include studies on the role of parrot fish as herbivores on the reef and cataloging of the green macroalgae currently present. There is also an ongoing marine archaeology project studying English trade goods brought to Andros during the time frame of 1780-1870 and their significance. Finally, there are a few intermittent but ongoing projects on Red Mangrove growth rates (now over 12 years in duration), and differing pattern changes in floral zonation covering of one of the small off-shore cays to Andros (now in its 15th year) and a project being used by the Bahamian government to determine the feasibility of sustainable logging on Andros for domestic building use.
Dr. Wiedman currently is the President of the Board of Little River Wetlands Project, a land trust that oversees nearly 2000 acres and encourages protection of the wetlands along the Little River, a major contributor to the Wabash. He has served on the Board of Trustees of International Field Studies, Nelsonville, Ohio, the not-for-profit owner operators of Forfar Field Station on Andros from 1993-2010. He has also served as an informal adviser to the Bahamas Land Trust, CREP (Caribbean Regional Environmental Program) and The Nature Conservancy (Bahamas) on the formation and utilization of a new land/sea national park on Andros. He has held several positions at the state, regional and national level in the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society. He currently serves on the UNESCO Committee on Biological and Environmental Ethics. His interests in bioethics stem primarily from the perspective of an educator.
Prior to his current appointment, he was chair of the Department of Geology at Monmouth College (Illinois, USA) and was founder and director of their Environmental Science Program. He has also been a Wireline Engineer for Dresser Industries. His past research interests centered on South Polar Eocene Marine Invertebrate Paleoecology.