News and Events
October, 2010
Anna Johnson (’11), Landon LaSalle, (’12), and Ted Boozalis (’12) each received $800 awards from the Rhodes Student Travel Fund and also student membership and registration expenses from the Charlotte Magnum Student Travel Fund so they can present their research at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting in Salt Lake City, UT this January, 2011.
Anna will present a poster entitled, “An integrative assessment of snake parasitism across an urban-rural gradient”.
Landon will present a poster entitled, “Adding insult to injury: Primary and secondary costs of tail loss in lizards”.
Ted will give a talk titled, “Good As New? Morphological and Biochemical Analyses Reveal Variation Between Original and Regenerated Lizard Tails”.
May, 2010
Congratulations to Allison Graham (’10) for being awarded the Rhodes Early Career Award in Environmental Studies and the Environmental Studies Travel Grant by the Environmental Studies and Sciences programs.
Congratulations to Daniel Eastlack (‘11) for being invited to travel to China with the Memphis Zoo Conservation Department to participate in a National Science Foundation research planning workshop entitled,” A U.S.-China Planning Visit: Landscape-level biodiversity conservation, forest restoration and socioeconomics at multiple scales”.
May, 2010
Drs. Jon Davis, Laura Luque de Johnson, and Sarah Boyle were awarded $12,830.40 to establish a Rhodes Fellowship called “Integrative research training in biological sub-disciplines”. Adiha Khan (’13), Matt Grisham (’13), and Anna Johnson (’11) were selected to become the first Fellows and will conduct research on snake-hosted parasite ecology across an urban-rural gradient. The fellowship provides the students hands-on experiences that augment courses in field ecology, molecular biology, microbiology, parasitology, and GIS (Geographic Information Science). Congratulations everyone!
April, 2010
Tennessee Academy of Sciences – Western Collegiate Division – Christian Brothers University
Once again Rhodes’ students represented the College well at TAS in early April. EPAC Lab researchers Daniel Eastlack (’11) and Allison Graham (’10) presented their research. Dan gave a talk entitled, “A novel NIRS-based approach to chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) detection in the toad Anaxyrus fowleri ” and Allison presented a poster entitled, “Development of non-invasive reproductive monitoring techniques for endangered snow and Amur leopards ”. Both were recognized for their efforts; Dan was awarded 3rd place for his talk and Allison was awarded 1st place for her poster. Congratulations!
April, 2010
URCAS is here again! Congratulations to everyone in the EPAC Lab on their excellent presentations at URCAS.Great job everyone – you represented the lab well!
Allison Graham (’10) gave a talk entitled, “Development of Non-Invasive Reproductive Monitoring Techniques for Endangered Amur Leopards”. Allison was awarded the most outstanding oral presentation in environmental science for her talk.
Julia Goss (’10) gave a talk entitled, “Behavioral Modifications Following Tail Loss in Lizards".
Anna Johnson (’11) and Cybil Covic (’10) presented a poster titled, “True Blood: Hematological Comparison Between Wild and Captive Reptiles”.
Ted Boozalis (’12) and Landon LaSalle (’12) presented their poster entitled, “Costs of Loss: A Comparison of Biochemistry and Morphology of Original and Regenerated Lizard Tails”.
January, 2010
Dr. Davis and EPAC lab researchers Daniel Eastlack (’11) and Allison Graham (’10) presented their research at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting held in Seattle, WA.
Dr. Davis gave a talk entitled, “Natural and captive habitat conditions of Chinese giant salamanders ” with coauthors J. Pingping and A. Kouba from the Memphis Zoo and S. Willard from Mississippi State University.
Daniel presented a poster titled, “Is the bufonid Anaxyrus fowleri resistant to chytrid fungus? ” with co-authors J. Davis, A. Kouba, and C. Vance from the Memphis Zoo.
Allison presented a poster entitled, “Development of non-invasive reproductive monitoring techniques for endangered snow and Amur leopards ” with co-authors E. Willis and A. Kouba from the Memphis Zoo.
August, 2009
During summer 2009, Julia Goss (’10) participated in a summer REU Program at Rutgers University called RIOS (Research Internships in Oceanic Sciences). Julia’s project was titled “Recruitment and Mortality of Spisula solidissima: field and flume experiments.” Julia’s poster was selected as the most outstanding at the conclusion of the internship and as a result, she travelled to the 2010 Ocean Sciences Meeting sponsored by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in Portland, Oregon from February 22-26, 2010. Congratulations Julia! Photo from http://www.risaa.org/.
August, 2009
Welcome back EPAC Lab! The lab is anxious to get back to work as the fall semester begins here at Rhodes. After very active summers, several EPAC researchers will return for another year including: Julia Goss, Cybil Covic, Allison Conn, Allison Graham, and Anna Johnson. We will also welcome a few new faces to the lab including Dan Eastlack, Barrett Huggins, and Ted Boozalis. This year we have several projects planned – visit our research page to learn more.
July, 2009
The EPAC lab presented results of their recent study on the reliability and physiological consequences of common amphibian marking techniques this July 11-16 at the Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting in Beijing, China. Dr. Davis attended the conference, met with Chinese collaborators, and traveled to the Qinling Mountains of China to begin an international collaborative project on the Chinese giant salamander.
Dr. Davis visited several locations in China to learn about the current status of the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) in China. He traveled throughout Shaanxi Province to measure habitat characteristics including water quality, light availability, temperature and stream morphology at natural sites and in captive breeding farms. Additionally, Dr. Davis discussed the challenges facing the species in nature (i.e., over-harvesting and habitat loss) and success of captive breeding programs. The goals of the work are to begin a long-term collaboration between Dr. Zhang Hongxing at the Shaanxi Institute of Zoology, Rhodes College, The Memphis Zoo, and the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE Programme.
May, 2009
Stephanie Cassel recently earned the Best Student Paper Award at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium and the Tennessee Academy of Sciences Colegiate Division Tennessee Academy of Sciences Collegiate Division – Western Region meeting for her presentation on "Assessing amphibian marking techniques in recent toad metamorphs: Reliability, effects on survivorship and physiology, and conservation implications". The research has been a team effort – so CONGRATULATIONS EPAC LAB!