Gisell Maldonado is a Path Scholar majoring in honors anthropology. She was awarded an Honors Research Travel Grant to perform research at the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. Based on the work completed on her trip, she was awarded a SURF grant to work with Amelia Villaseñor, assistant professor of biological anthropology.
Gisell Maldonado (left) and her thesis mentor, Dr. Amelia Villaseñor.
During her first semester as an undergraduate, Gisell Maldonado was eager to explore the wide-ranging field of anthropology to find the subtopic that she would research for her honors thesis. She eventually joined the human paleoecology lab run by Amelia Villaseñor, an assistant professor of biological anthropology, who explores human history and prehistory through the study of modern ecosystems. The lab conducts research on a variety of topics, including the unique ecosystem of a tallgrass prairie near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the topic Maldonado has chosen for her thesis.
The Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve has protected the American bison populations since the late 1980s. It is now home to more than 2,100 of the animals, one of the largest private herds in the country. The tallgrass prairie ecosystem was once prevalent throughout the Midwest and into Northwest Arkansas, but now the Preserve’s 39,650 acres make up the largest piece of tallgrass prairie left on Earth.
Maldonado is working with Villaseñor to focus her research on the two large mammals that currently inhabit the prairie, the indigenous bison that once roamed the prairies in the millions, and cattle, which were introduced to the continent by European settlers in the late 16th century and early 17th century. Using feces and hair samples, Maldonado is examining differences in the two species’ diets through a technique called stable isotope analysis.
Stable isotope analysis is a tool for investigating ecological niches that provides an indirect, yet precise method for reconstructing animal interactions with the environment. The process also allows researchers to collect data non-invasively.
For her thesis, Maldonado will examine carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) and nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N). Carbon stable isotopes aid researchers in diet reconstruction and provide valuable insights about types of plants consumed by the species being studied. Nitrogen stable isotopes provide information about the amount of protein consumed. Maldonado expects to find that the bison and cattle affect the base of the food chain differently, even though they have similar diets.
Maldonado first visited the preserve in June 2024 between her sophomore and junior years. She spent four days in Pawhuska wading through the tall grass after the bison and cattle. There, the team stumbled upon entire skeletal structures, winter bison coats, various birds and a blanket of prairie flowers in bloom. She visited areas of the prairie tended by the Nature Conservancy as they conduct experiments in prairie preservation.
Collecting bison feces in the Williams Tallgrass Prairie.
Together with Villaseñor and graduate student, Taylor Hubbard, Maldonado collected an abundance of diverse flora and faunal samples from the species of interest. In the process of data collection, she learned about research design and observation techniques and developed a deeper connection to the ecosystems that make the United States unique.
Back in Villaseñor’s lab, animal tissue samples collected from the prairie were processed using standard protocol in preparation for study via the University of Arkansas Stable Isotope Laboratory (UASIL).
Maldonado’s senior year in the lab will be focused on finalizing tissue processing, analyzing data and creating graphs and literature to graphically communicate her research findings. Her thesis will contribute to other modern-day preservation efforts that illuminate differences between indigenous bison and the ever-growing presence of human-introduced fauna and their combined impact on this fragile ecosystem.