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Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab News


 We've been busy! Congrats to Emily Gray, Carissa Adams, Anna McCallum, and Matthew Gacheny for successfully defending their M.S. thesis projects!

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Emily Gray
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Anna McCallum

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Matthew Gacheny
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Carissa Adams

The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab goes to JMIH 2024!

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Mathew Gacheny, presenting on the thermal ecology of female EDBs
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Left to right: Sarah Ebert, Emily Langer, Emily Gray, Jayme Waldron, & Matt Gacheny
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Sarah Ebert, presenting on the use of camera traps to detect EDBs

Casey Hitchens and Sarah Ebert Celebrate Earth Day 2024!

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​Congratulations to Anna McCallum Humphrey, who has begun a PhD position with the Wildlife Ecology Lab at TSU studying Ambystoma salamanders!


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​Congratulations to McKenzie Merritt, who has accepted a position as an Environmental Scientist in Nebraska!


​The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab goes to SCPARC 2024!
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Dr. Jayme Waldron
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Oral presentation by Emily Gray
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Mathew Gacheny

​The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab goes to TWS 2023!
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Left to right: Matt Gacheny, Sarah Ebert, McKenzie Merritt, Casey Hitchens
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Sarah Ebert
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McKenzie Merritt
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Casey Hitchens

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​Morgan Page presents her thesis research at the WVHS 2023 Symposium!


The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab goes to JMIH 2023!
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Emily Langer
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Carissa Adams
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Anna McCallum Humphrey
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Morgan Page
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With a surprise from our own Shelby Timm!
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Emily Gray

The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab celebrates Earth Day 2023!​
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Left to right: Casey Hitchens, McKenzie Merritt, Sarah Ebert, and Emily Gray

The Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab goes to SEPARC 2023!
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Carissa Adams
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Anna McCallum Humphrey
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Emily Gray (left), Sarah Ebert (right)

Congrats to Jessica Cantrell! She recently started working with Steve Reichling at the Memphis Zoo on a Louisiana Pine Snake breeding and re-introduction program. Check this out:

https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2019/09/06/memphis-zoo-helps-save-north-americas-rarest-snake/


Congrats to all of the following students for defending their theses:




Mya Wiles: Mortality Risk Associated with Urban Land Use for Adult Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus)
Mya is now working at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science.




John Huang: Southern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger niger) foraging behavior and population dynamics.
John is now working with mule deer at Utah State University.




Emily Mausteller: Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) Ambush Site Selection in Coastal Saltwater Marshes
Emily now works with the SCDNR and DOD.




Allison Kelley: The Effectiveness of Long-distance Translocation of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus)
Allison is now working with USGS on the Brown tree snake project in Guam.





Sean Wineland: Using Environmental DNA and Occupancy Modeling to Identify Drivers of Eastern Hellbender Extirpation and Sampling Method Efficiency in West Virginia
Sean accepted at PhD assistantship in the Neeson lab in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma.




Katelyn Amspacher: Southern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger niger) Translocation, Occupancy, and Foraging Behaviors
Kate accepted a PhD assistantship in the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Clayton Nielsen.






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Michael Jungen: Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) External Radio-Transmitter Attachment Method and Long-Distance Translocation Survival.
Mike accepted a position with the Missouri Department of Conservation.








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Rachel Arrick: The Influence of Developmental Stage, Habitat, and Captivity on the Cutaneous Bacterial Communities of Eastern Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) in West Virginia.
Rachel is now working for the USDA Forest Service in the Monongahela National Forest office.








Jonathon Cooley: Survival of Neonate Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus) in an Anthropogenic Landscape.

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Check out this episode of Coastal Kingdom..... featuring the MU Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab's own Katelyn Amspacher and her fox squirrel research.

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Matthew Grisnik; defense; anuran callback surveys; Marshall University; Biological Sciences; Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab


Matt Grisnik, M.S. student in the Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, successfully defended his thesis on December 9, 2016. Congratulations, Matt!

Thesis title: Testing the efficacy of anuran callback surveys

Next up: Tennessee Tech University. Matt accepted a PhD position in Dr. Donald Walker's lab, where he will be studying the probiotic microbiome of endangered Tennessee bats.


Congrats to Berlynna Heres for winning the SSAR Victor Hutchison student poster award at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans! Great job, Berlynna!


Berlynna Heres, M.S. student in the Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, successfully defended her thesis on April 22, 2016. Congratulations, Berlynna!

Thesis Title: Ambush Site Selection in Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus)

Next up -- University of Maine, Orono. Berlynna accepted a PhD position in the Maine Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Unit, where she will be working with Joseph Zydlewski on an American eel project.

Berlynna Heres, Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, Marshall University Department of Biological Sciences

Elise Edwards, a 2014 graduate of the Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab, recently published one of her thesis chapters!! Congratulations, Elise!

Herpetology & Applied Conservation; Marshall University; Elise Edwards Elise Edwards, holding a smooth greensnake


Edwards, E., T. K. Pauley, and J. L. Waldron. 2016. Estimating Spring Salamander Detection Probability Using Multiple Methods. Journal of Herpetology 50: 126-129.






Jonathon Cooley, graduate assistant in the Marshall University Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, and some eastern diamondback rattlesnakes recently conducted  an outreach program for the Friends of Nemours Wildlife Foundation.

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Brad O'Hanlon, recent graduate of the Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, won first place for his student presentation (The Spatial and Behavioral Effects of Anthropogenic Landscapes on Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes) at the Gopher Tortoise Council annual meeting in Covington, Louisiana (Oct 16-18, 2015). Awesome job, Brad!


On September 28, 2015, Brad O'Hanlon, a graduate student in the Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab, successfully defended his thesis, Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) Movement and Behavior in Response to Anthropogenic Landscapes. Congratulations, Brad!

Brad O'Hanlon; eastern diamondback rattlesnake; herpetology and applied conservation lab; marshall university




On August 7, 2015, Cory Goff, a graduate student in the Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab,  successfully defended his thesis, Effects of Trails and Roads on Peaks of Otter Salamander (Plethodon hubrichti) and Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) Movement Behavior. Great job, Cory!

Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; Cory Goff; Plethodon; Conservation

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Patrick McMillan and Jayme Waldron chatting about eastern diamondback rattlesnakes.






On May 27th, Expeditions with Patrick McMillan visited of one our study sites to film free-ranging eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. It was a great visit with Patrick and his crew.


On April 17, 2015, Shelby Timm, a graduate student in the Herpetology & Applied Conservation Lab, successfully defended her M.S. thesis: Population-level effects of direct application liming on Gyrinophilus porphyriticus

Congratulations, Shelby!

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Jonathon Cooley and Berlynna Heres, current graduate students in the Herpetology and Applied Conservation lab, recently gathered with herp lab alumni in South Carolina to collect data on snake ecology projects. It was great seeing Kevin Messenger, Marcie Cruz, and Abby Sinclair! Check out some of our photos below. Thanks to Kevin Messenger for sharing his photos!

Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; South Carolina; eastern diamondback rattlesnake; longleaf pine savanna
Talking about snakes in the piney woods: From left to right: Jonathon Cooley, Jayme Waldron, Wade Kalinowsky, Abby Sinclair, and Marcie Cruz.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; Abby Sinclair; South Carolina; Eastern diamondback rattlesnake; longleaf pine savanna
Herp lab alum, Abby Sinclair, next to an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied ConservationLab; Kevin Messenger; Coachwhip; South Carolina; longleav pine savanna
Herp lab alum, Kevin Messenger, holding a coachwhip.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; Jonathon Cooley; eastern diamondback rattlesnake; graduate student; South Carolina; longleaf pine savanna
Jonathon Cooley and an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; Berlynna Heres; eastern diamondback rattlesnake; south carolina; longleaf pine savanna
Berlynna Heres, walking a burn.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; South Carolina; longleaf pine savanna; eastern diamondback rattlesnake
Herp lab alum, Marcie Cruz. What's in that bag?!
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Jonathon Cooley, holding a yellow rat snake
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab; Shane Welch; South Carolina; longelaf pine savanna; eastern diamondback rattlesnake
Walking burned piney woods. Left to right, Oscar, Shane Welch, and Wade Kalinowsky


Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab M.S. student, Shelby Timm, recently accepted a position with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Conservation Corps Program as an invasive species crew leader. Congrats, Shelby!

Shelby Timm, black racer, Marshall Universtiy Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab
Shelby Timm, holding a black racer.

Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab M.S. student, Cory Goff, recently accepted a doctoral position at Texas State University under the mentorship of Dr. Caitlin Gabor and Dr. Susan Walls. Congratulations, Cory!!


Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab graduate students present their research projects at The Wildlife Society's annual Conference in Pittsburgh, PA

Three herp lab graduate students, Brad O'Hanlon, Shelby Timm, and Cory Goff, presented posters at The Wildlife Society annual conference in Pittsburgh, PA (27 October 2014). Cory's poster won Honorable Mention in the student poster competition! Congrats, Cory!
Shelby Timm
Cory Goff
Brad O'Hanlon

Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab participates in the Davis Creek Watershed Inc. Community Educational Outreach Day in South Charleston, WV

The herp lab participated in the Davis Creek Watershed Community Educational Outreach Day in South Charleston, West Virginia, on 14 September 2014. Herp lab students (Brad O'Hanlon and Corry Goff) taught local children about amphibian and reptile conservation. Live specimens were on display, including snakes, salamanders, and turtles.
Cory Goff, Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation graduate studentCory Goff, holding a pine snake.

Brad O'Hanlon, Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation graduate student
Brad O'Hanlon demonstrating how to identify local salamanders.
Marshall University Herpetology and Applied Conservation Lab
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