Biology major Allyson Plantz and Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, gave a presentation titled “Living on the edge: Potential fates of apple snail (Pomacea insularum) eggs laid on emergent variation in riparian areas” at the Ecological Society of America meeting held in Austin Aug. 7-12 The talk was part of a special session Burks organized that featured  presentations given by undergraduate researchers with their mentors. Read a summary of the presentation here. Other co-authors on the paper were senior Tracy Day and 2011 graduate Megan Rice.

Max Taub, associate professor of biology, recently published a series of lab exercises with 2011 graduate Gillian Graham. The lab exercises are designed to help students learn about global temperature change in the 21st century. They were published online by the Ecological Society of America.

Junior Alexis Kropf and 2009 graduate Colin Kyle were the authors of a paper that is being published in a special issue of Current Zoology focused on invasive species. Their article, titled “Prime waterfront real estate: Apple snails choose wild taro for oviposition sites,” provides evidence for a preference of apple snails to lay their pink egg clutches on another invasive species of plant (wild taro, Colocasia esculenta) and contradicts the prediction that larger females lay the largest egg clutches. Smaller snails can produce just as many eggs. Kropf and Kyle are students of Romi Burks, associate professor of biology.

Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, has had a paper titled “Quite the appetite: Juvenile island apple snails (Pomacea insularum) survive consuming only exotic invasive plants” accepted for publication in the Journal of Molluscan Studies. Co-authors on this paper included 2008 graduate Sarah Hensley and 2009 graduate Colin Kyle. Hensley and Kyle monitored the growth and survival of two size ranges of immature apple snails over a period of six weeks during which the snails received a suite of three exotic, invasive plants. Ecologists usually consider these plants to be less nutritious and desirable than native plants, but contrary to what the literature would have predicted, the snails grew just fine on subpar resources. This suggests that island apple snails may be able to survive for periods of time with poor resources, possibly contributing to their success as exotic, invasive species. 

Alexis Kropf, a junior biology and Spanish major, is one of 135 students from 30 states who have been honored as the first Newman Civic Fellows by Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents who are committed to educating students for civic and social responsibility. College and university presidents across the country were asked to nominate promising college student leaders for the award. “These students represent the next generation of public problem solvers and civic leaders. They serve as national examples of the role that higher education can − and does − play in building a better world,” said Maureen Curley, president of Campus Compact. The awards are named for Frank Newman, who was one of the founders of Campus Compact. Read more here.

Abbie Ornelas received an honorable mention award for the poster she presented at the Texas Academy of Science meeting last week. The poster was titled “Peroxisome-defective mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana” and featured research she did under the direction of Andrew Woodward, visiting professor of biology.

Biology students Alex Hall, Meredith Liebl, Kira McIntyre, Abbie Ornelas, Allyson Plantz, Megan Rice, Violetta Vasquez and Ashely Wall are participating in the Texas Academy of Science meeting being held this week at St. Edward’s University. Hall is giving a talk and a poster on “Call latency in anuran breeding call surveys in Central Texas,” Plantz is giving a talk on “Predation of apple snail (Pomacea insularum) eggs by red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans),” Rice is giving a talk on “Nutrient enrichment negatively impacts water stressed apple snail hatchlings” and Liebl is giving a talk about Southwestern’s SMArT program. Ornelas is presenting a poster on “Peroxisome-defective mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana” and Vasquez is presenting a poster on “Characterization and mapping of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants.” Wall and McIntyre were co-authors on a talk being given by Biology Professor Ben Pierce titled “Monthly counts of Georgetown salamander, Eurycea naufragia, in two springs.” Pierce is the 2010-2011 president of the TAS and Biology Professor Romi Burks is president-elect. Burks was program chair for the meeting.

An article written by Max Taub, associate professor of biology, is one of the 25 most-cited articles in Global Change Biology since January 2008, according to Web of Science®.

Sophomore biology major Allyson Plantz has received an $800 grant from the science research society Sigma Xi. Plantz will use the award to create more housing for freshwater turtles known as red-ear sliders that she uses as for predation experiments involving the turtles and the egg clutches of freshwater apple snails.

Max Taub, associate professor of biology, had a paper titled “Effects of Rising Atmospheric Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide on Plants” published by the Knowledge Project, an online library of peer-reviewed science articles for college and high school students. Read the article here.

Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, was the invited speaker for the opening session of the Association of College and University Biology Educators annual meeting held at Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio, Oct. 8-9. The meeting focused on recommendations and goals set by BIO2010, a call for change in national biology education. To this end, Burks titled her talk “Everything I needed to know about BIO2010 I learned from snails” and used her experience studying apple snails (specifically the island apple snail Pomacea insularum) as a model for a successful undergraduate research program. The research model used by Burks has met the recommendations of BIO2010 by providing students with ownership of their projects, opportunities to present their work at regional and national meetings, chances for international travel and research, and involvement in the scientific publication process. 

Kayla Odom, a junior majoring in biology with a minor in environmental studies, was selected to participate in an ecosystem research program at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest located in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. She will spend 10 weeks working with two researchers who are exploring the effect of moose herbivory on songbird habitat and the distribution of food. This summer research program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Students selected for the program receive travel expenses, room and board, and a stipend of up to $4,500.

Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, served as an “opponent” for the Ph.D. defense of Pia Hertonsson within the Department of Limnology at the University of Lund March 16-19. During her visit, Burks gave a seminar about her applesnail research with Southwestern undergraduates titled “Two Snails Are Not Better Than One: Reproductive trends of the invasive island apple snails, Pomacea insularum, exceed those of the known invader P. canaliculata” and met with faculty and graduate students. As the opponent, Burks gave a second talk during the defense that put Hertonsson’s work on benthic macroinvertebrates in context of shallow lake research. Following this, Burks served as the main reviewer of the work by asking about details including statistical analyses but also posing bigger-picture questions as well. 

Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, recently had a paper titled “Pink Eggs and Snails: Field oviposition patterns of an invasive snail, Pomacea insularum, indicate a preference for an invasive macrophyte” published in the Shallow Lakes volume of the peer-reviewed journal Hydrobiologia. The paper was written with senior Matt Trawick and 2009 graduate Colin Kyle, who is now a graduate student in ecology and evolution at The University of Chicago. Burks, Kyle, Trawick and 2009 graduate James McDonough also recently finalized a paper for the Texas Journal of Science titled “Population dynamics of an established reproducing population of the invasive apple snail (Pomacea insularum) in suburban southeast Houston, Texas.”  

Four Southwestern students presented papers or posters at the Texas Academy of Science meeting March 4-5. Olivia Stanzer presented a paper titled “The Persistence of Pink: Potential Ecological Influences of Ovorubin in Egg Clutches of Pomacea insularum,” Alexis Ritzer presented a paper titled “Two Year Population Survey at Two Sites of the Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia),” Tiffany Biagas presented a poster titled “Feel Free to Hit the Snooze Button: Time of Day Does Not Influence Surface Counts of the Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia), and Alexis Kropf presented a poster titled “Size Really Doesn’t Matter for Exotic Female Apple Snails (Pomacea insularum) in Terms of Fecundity.”

Ben Pierce, professor of biology, served as president-elect and program chair for the meeting and Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, served as awards chair and vice president. Pierce assumed the TAS presidency at the end of the meeting and Burks will be responsible for the 114th meeting at St. Edwards in March 2011 as program chair and president-elect.

Romi Burks, associate professor of biology, recently published an article in the teaching resource section of Science Signaling about co-authoring papers with undergraduates. The paper was co-authored by 2001 graduate Matt Chumchal, who is now an assistant professor of biology at TCU.

Ben Pierce, professor of biology, is the author of a new genetics textbook published by WH Freeman titled Genetics Essentials: Concepts and Connections. Pierce is author of several additional genetics textbooks used by colleges and universities across the country.

Romi Burks, who teaches a First-Year Seminar class on chocolate, took chocolate-themed artwork done by several current and former students to the Austin Chocolate Festival last weekend. Current students whose work was featured included Erika Moreno (“A Piece of Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away”), Hannah Witmer (“Without”), Jean Murenzi (“Dark Side of Chocolate”), Michael Espinoza (a musical performance titled “Layers”), Olubusola Okunnu (“The Anti-Hypertensive Agent”) and Rachel Thibodeau (“A Million Little Pieces”).

Artwork by former students that was featured included “Tasting,” a photo series by Michael Kamas, FYS ’07; “Daily Cacao Hit,” a line drawing by Eduardo Rameriz, FYS ’08); “Hershopoly,” a game spoof by Justice Kinley, FYS ’08; “Bitter & Sweet Sonnets,” by Julie Ann White, FYS ’07; “La Magdalene,” a nun in chocolate by Catie Ertel, FYS ’07; “Then and Now,” a collage by Nicole Rea FYS ’07; and “Jacobe de Hershey,” a splatter paint by Bailey Thompson FYS ’07.

Burks developed the artwork component of her seminar in collaboration with Star Varner, professor of art. “I like the openness of this creative assignment because chocolate as art now comes in so many forms − from sculptures to paintings to even accessories,” Burks said. To see photos of some of the students and their artwork, go here.

Rebecca Sheller, associate professor of biology, is presenting a paper about her research on two breast cancer cell lines at the American Association of Cancer Research International Meeting to be held in Denver April 19-23. The paper was written in collaboration with Maria Cuevas, assistant professor of biology, and Maria Todd, assistant professor of biology.

Romi Burks, assistant professor of biology, received $15,680 to continue her research on an exotic applesnail named Pomacea insularum. This grant was part of $139,000 awarded by Southwestern to fund 11 faculty-student research projects in the coming year. The projects will enable nearly 30 Southwestern students to conduct research with faculty members, particularly during the summer. 

Students Colin Kyle, James McDonough, Matt Trawick and Anna Frankel will be presenting their research at the Texas Academy of Sciences meeting in Junction, Texas, March 6. Frankel will talk about her experience working with sea turtles on South Padre Island last summer. Kyle, McDonough and Trawick will talk about their applesnail research with biology professor Romi Burks. The abstracts of their research are posted here.