Professor of Biology and Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Pierce published a paper titled “Relative Tail Width as an Indicator of Body Condition in Central Texas Eurycea Salamanders” in the August 2022 issue of Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 

—September 2022

During the last weekend of February, Professor of Biology Romi Burks and Professor of Biology Ben Pierce took eight biologists to the Texas Academy of Sciences (TAS) Annual Meeting in Clear Lake, Texas. Southwestern student contributions included two posters and two oral presentations as well as an exciting second-place team finish in “Science Jeopardy.”

—March 2022

Five Southwestern students had the opportunity to extend their coursework and research experience beyond the classroom with poster presentations at the Texas Conservation Symposium, which was cosponsored by Southwestern and the Williamson County Conservation Foundation. The students all had the opportunity to interact with keynote speaker Kelly Ramirez, assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and cofounder of 500 Women Scientists. Three of the presentations built on work the students did during the fall 2021 Conservation Biology course taught by Professor of Biology Romi Burks. These presentations, each of which delved into analyzing a particular Texas ecoregion, included the following:

In addition, two students mentored by Burks in the Molecular Aquatic Ecology Lab, Lillian Dolapchiev ’23 and Cynthia Bashara ’23, presented their research from the 2021 SCOPE program titled “Escar-go to San Antonio: Using Environmental DNA to Detect the Non-native Invasive Species Pomacea maculata.” 

Both Montgomery and Dolapchiev received recognition for outstanding presentations. Michael Gervasi ’23 also had his poster, “Trans Pecos 2050,” on display. You can view the ecoregions posters on Burks’s website.

Professor of Biology Ben Pierce and Assistant Professor of Biology Jennie DeMarco also gave presentations on their research, “Relative Tail Width as an Indication of Body Condition in Central Texas Euryceasalamanders” and “Invasive Species Litter Quality Alters Ecosystem Function through Enhanced Litter Decomposition Independent of Drought Conditions,” respectively. Pierce works each year to organize this symposium on behalf of Southwestern.

—January 2022

Biology major Rebecca Chastain ’20 presented a poster coauthored with Professor of Biology Ben Pierce at the Texas Academy of Sciences meeting in Nacogdoches, TX,  February 28–29. Chastain’s poster on Texas chirping frogs won first place in the terrestrial ecology section of the meeting.

—February 2020

Professor of Biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Pierce authored the seventh edition of Genetics: A Conceptual Approach, which was published by Macmillan Learning. This new edition emphasizes active learning and updates the book with the latest research in genetics.

—January 2020

Professor of Biology Romi BurksLauren Muskara ’20, Esther Nyaberi ’21, and Kaitlin Galassini ’21 attended the Texas Conservation Symposium, January 9–10th. Each gave a presentation. All three students received financial acknowledgments of the quality of their undergraduate research talks. The research on environmental DNA started during SCOPE 2018 and 2019 and will hopefully soon contribute to submissions to peer-reviewed journals. Their talk titles included the following:

Professor of Biology Ben Pierce, the Williamson County Conservation Fund (WCCF), and Southwestern University cosponsored the symposium, which attracted 118 attendees and featured 25 talks. 

—January 2020

Professor of Biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Pierce presented a talk at the Texas Academy of Science, March 1–2, titled “Body Condition in Natural Populations of the Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia).”

—March 2019

Professor of Biology and Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Pierce published a paper in the Journal of Herpetology titled “Frequency and Ecology of Tail Loss in Populations of the Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia).” The paper was coauthored with former Southwestern University student Daniel Gonzalez ’17.

—February 2019

Professor of Biology and Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Pierce published an article titled “Within-Spring Movement of the Georgetown Salamander (Eurycea naufragia)” in the August 2018 issue of Herpetological Conservation and Biology. The article was coauthored with former Southwestern students Areli Gutierrez ’15 and Samuel Guess ’17.

—September 2018

Eight faculty members in the natural sciences published a letter to the editor in the Williamson County Sunin the July 29th edition. “SU Scientists Refute ‘Hoax’ Climate Claim” was in reference to the Sun’s July 22 account of a community forum on the science of climate change. The letter was written by Professor of Biology Max Taub and co-signed by Professor of Chemistry Kerry Bruns, Professor of Biology Romi Burks, Professor of Biology Maria Cuevas, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Mike Gesinski, Associate Professor of Biology Martín Gonzalez, Professor of Kinesiology Scott McLean, and Professor of Biology Ben Pierce.

—July 2018

Professor of Biology and Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair Ben Piercegave an invited seminar on his research titled “Evolution and Ecology of the Georgetown salamander” to biology students and faculty at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 8, 2017.

—November 2017

Professor of Biology Ben Pierce was featured in the article “Untangling the Social Web of Frog Choruses” in the March 2017 issue of The Scientist.

—March 2017

Ben Pierce, professor of biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair, was recently awarded a $27,691 grant from the Williamson County Conservation Foundation to carry out research on the ecology of the Georgetown salamander. In the past five years, Pierce has received a total of $131,557 for his research on the Georgetown salamander.

—March 2015

Ben Pierce, professor of biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair, published an article in Herpetological Conservation and Biology titled “Population size, movement, and reproduction of the Georgetown salamander,Eurycea naufragia.” The paper was co-authored with 2013 graduate Kira McEntire and 2012 graduate Ashley Wall.

—August 2014

Ben Pierce, professor of biology, served as the scientific advisor for an Eagle Scout project that earned a Texas Environmental Excellence Award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Pierce advised high school student Connor Crowe on how he could help restore Georgetown Salamander habitat around Twin Springs Preserve, which was damaged by a storm in September 2010. A video about the project can be seen here. The research that Pierce and Southwestern students and have been doing on the Georgetown Salamander was mentioned at the May 7 award presentation.

—May 2014