News and Events
August, 2009
This summer Julia participated in a summer REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) at Rutgers University. The program was called RIOS (Research Internships in Oceanic Sciences) and Julia’s project was titled “Recruitment and Mortality of Spisula Solidissima: field and flume experiments.” Her research analyzed samples from three stations at the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory near the Rutgers Field Station to assess the recruitment and mortality of the surfclams. The experimental component was conducted in the racetrack flume at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and aimed to determine if shell-hash provides a physical and chemical refuge for juvenile surfclams. At the conclusion of the internship each student prepared a poster which he/she presented and Julia was selected as the winner. As a result, she will be traveling to the 2010 Ocean Sciences Meeting sponsored by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in Portland, Oregon from February 22-26. Congratulations Julia! Photo from 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!