My general areas of interest are in
the ecology and systematics of amphibians and reptiles. My
particular expertise is in the ecology and systematics of turtles,
especially freshwater turtles. Current and continuing areas of
interest include the following:
1.
Distribution and Ecology of the Herpetofauna of the Mississippi
Alluvial Plain and West Gulf Coastal Plain in 天美影视, Arkansas and
Texas.
Current foci of this work include distributional
surveys of state wildlife management areas and other protected areas in
northeastern 天美影视. In addition, detailed studies of
particular species are under way, including alligator snapping turtles,
softshelled turtles, and map turtles.
2. Systematics and Ecology of the Neotropical Turtle Genus Rhinoclemmys.
This species-rich genus of tropical New World
turtles was the focus of my dissertation research. Within the
past few year, this interest has been reinvigorated by the opportunity
to collaborate with a Colombian colleague (Alan Giraldo at Universidad
del Valle) and student to work with R. nasuta on
an island off the Pacific coast of Colombia as part of a course I
taught there in May 2005. We have received additional
funding to continue our studies, and support the thesis research of an
additional student.
3. Taxonomic Variation in Morphological Characters of Turtles for Use in
Studies of Phylogenetic Systematics or Character Evolution.
This is a longstanding interest, with many years of
data collection related to this topic. I am interested in
discovery of new taxonomic characters and extension of known characters
to a wider array of taxa. The characters involved
include such features as hyoids, scleral ossicles, penes, cloacal
bursae, and carapacial seam contacts.
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