Research

Corinne Schoppet - small mammal study

Faculty research at BSFS

  • Greene, Janice, Professor of Biology, Missouri State Avian ecology and monitoring, environmental education
  • Greene, Brian, Associate Professor of Biology, Missouri State Cottonmouth Ecology of Southwest Missouri
  • Havel, John, Professor of Biology, Missouri State Freshwater ecology, population biology
  • Heywood, John, Professor of Biology, Missouri State Plant ecology, population genetics
  • Mathis, Alicia, Biology Department Head, Missouri State Behavioral Ecology of salamanders and fish
  • Maher, Sean, Assistant Professor of Biology, Missouri State Mammalogy
  • Wait, Alexander, Assistant Professor of Biology, Missouri State Physiological and chemical plant ecology

Student research at BSFS

2021

Undergraduate

  • Hall, Grace - Phenology and leaf production. 

Graduate

  • Ajao, Akeen - Sassafras and oak sapling density.
  • Sharma, Sanjeev - Primary productivity research. 

2019

Undergraduate

  • Hall, Grace - Phenology and leaf production. 

2018

Staff

  • Dalton, Ben — Field activity across P. angusticlavius populations.
  • Dalton, Ben — Activity correlation across life stages in A. Ambystoma.

Graduate

  • Mosier, Megan — (Advisor: B. Dalton) Exploratory behavior of P. angusticlavius, examining effects of gravidity and predation.
  • Adkins, Casey — (Advisor: S. Maher) Tick occurrence and environmental predictors.

Undergraduate

  • Vonbokel, Alexis and Regan Carter — (Advisor: A. Wait) The effects of prescribe fire history on decomposition rates in Oak woodlands: A test of the mesophication hypothesis.
  • White, Sarah and Jami Baker — (Advisory: B. Dalton) Effects of time of day and predator activity on salamander behavior.

2017

Graduate

  • Lynn, Colton — Comparison of behavior between two species of Plethodon salamanders.
  • Maag, Dylan — The Spatial Ecology and Microhabitat Selection of the Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius) in Southwest Missouri.
  • Cornish, Christine — Atrazine and macrophyte presence in southwest Missouri wetlands.

Undergraduate

  • Michalski, Joey — Response of an old-growth post-oak woodland to fire management: a 19-year study.
  • Keller, Miranda — Fire and climate history effects on overstory production in an Ozark woodland.

2016

Graduate

  • Heimbach, Sarah — Effects of territorial pressure on the behavior of the Ozark Zigzag Salamander.
  • Lynn, Colton — Comparison of behavior between two species of Plethodon salamanders.
  • Maag, Dylan — Spatial ecology and habitat selection of Pygmy Rattlesnakes at the Drury/Mincy Conservation Areas.
  • Beasley, Emily — Island Biogeography & Metacommunity Structure of Ozark Small Mammals.
  • Remick, Tyler — The effects of bot fly parasitism on average daily movement in white footed mice, with implications for a social network.

Undergraduate

  • Shebesta, Baillie — A summary of the 2015 bird banding data at the Bull Shoals Field Station.
  • Gardner, Katy — Antipredator responses of larval Ringed Salamanders.
  • Sheek, Kane — Overstory Primary Production in an Oak/Hickory Woodland as a Function of Prescribed Fire.

2015

Graduate

  • Combs, Catherine — Exploring the GLADE: A residential program as a transformational factor on environmental knowledge, attitudes, and action. Thesis: graduated May 2015.
  • Ellison, Stephanie — Sampling methods for small mammals and parasites.
  • Heimbach, Sarah — Effects of territorial pressure on the behavior of the Ozark zigzag salamander.
  • Shelton, Kayla — Kin recognition and its effects on cannibalism in Ambystoma annulatum (Ringed Salamanders).

Undergraduate

  • Prince, Ashley — Effects of prescribed fire on over story production in Ozark woodlands.

Research use outside of the university

  • Soper Gorden, Nicole — Project Baseline seed collection.

2014

Graduate

  • Casey, Avery — Overstory production responses to fire.
  • Combs, Cathy — Residential education: Impacts on long-term knowledge, attitudes, and environmental behavior.
  • Knudsen, Abbie — Studying Ambystoma, and is aiming to identify if larvae have behavioral syndromes (“personalities”) that are consistent across multiple contexts, and whether or not those syndromes are also consistent across different life stages.
  • Loucks, Cody — Spring ephemerals responses to fires.
  • Shelton, Kayla — Studying cannibalism in several Ambystoma species, namely the ringed salamander and marbled salamander. Her research goals as of now are to identify if salamanders that are known cannibals consume kin vs non-kin.

Undergraduate

  • Green, Eric — Armadillo monitoring.
  • Jones, Allison — A survey of northern saw-whet owls at BSFS.
  • Loyd, Kendell — Honors Project: Ratios of native to non-native species as a function of fire.
  • Michalski, Joey and Tessa Middleton — Effects of fire management on the age structure and species composition of on old-growth post-oak woodland.
  • Rumley, Kelsey — An overview of bird banding at the Bull Shoals Field Station
  • Wakefield, Brad — A 2015 comparison to previous bird banding data at BSFS

Research use outside of the university

  • College of the Ozarks students are conducting a deer population survey at BSFS.
  • Gordon, Nicole Soper Project Baseline seed collection.
  • Womack, Kathryn — University of Missouri. Bat Project.

2012

Graduate

  • Allen, C. Ryan and Nathan Light (Advisor: L. Robbins) Quantifying the Acoustic Call Signature of Silver-Haired Bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans).
  • Armstrong, Kory — (Advisor: L. Robbins) Use of and Artificial Roost (rocket box) by Missouri Bat Species at BSFS.
  • David Dickson — (Advisor: J. Greene) Land use effects on stream morphology and macroinvertebrate communities in the Ozarks region; Taney County, Missouri. Thesis completed 12/2012.
  • MaryAnn Blinkhorn — (Advisor: A. Wait) Leaf litter research.
  • Emilee Helton — (Advisor A. Mathis) Embryonic learning by larval ringed salamanders.
  • Ben Dalton — (Advisor A. Mathis) Indirect effects of contamination on reproductive pheromone discrimination by a terrestrial salamander.

Undergraduate

  • John Ward — (Advisor J. Greene) Quail survey.
  • Jordan Skaggs — (Advisor J. Greene) Saw whet owl survey.
  • Kendell Lloyd — (Advisor A. Mathis) Classical conditioning in Plethodon angusticlavius

2011

Graduate

  • Benjamin Smith and Tara Elmore — Bird Banding at BSFS.
  • Cottengim, S — In progress. Evaluation of year 2 of the Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems (GLADE).
  • Beth Glidewell — Collection and isolation of Daphnia lumholtzi from Bull Shoals Lake.
  • Travis Reeder — Manipulating behavioral syndromes in a terrestrial salamander.

Undergraduate

  • Patrick Goforth — Decomposition as a function of fire history.
  • Michelle Highfall — Productivity and precipitation.

Research use outside of the university

  • C. Wilton and M. Wilson — Mississippi State University. Black bear research.
  • J. Weng — Kansas State University. Sand fly research.
  • Audubon Society of Missouri — Bird Surveys.
  • University of Missouri (2 researchers) — Breeding bird/nesting research.

  • Jeremy Keene (Ballard Lab), Ohio State University – Botanical Society of America contract on Violaceae

2010

Graduate

  • Janelle Bowcock, Joseph R. Lemen, and Benjamin Hale — Bat mist net and acoustic detection surveys to determine the presence/absence of species at BSFS.
  • MaryAnn Blinkhorn and Brad Culberson — (Advisor: A. Wait). Fire, Oak Regeneration, and Understory flora Development in Managed Ozark Forests: Mechanistic Assessments for Managers.
  • Rob Hunt — (Advisor: A. Mathis). Chemical communication of the spotted salamander.
  • Valerie Jones — (Advisor: A. Mathis). Heart rates of salamanders exposed to predator cues.
  • Michael Lampe — (Advisor: A. Mathis) Responses of salamanders to stress secretions of earthworms.
  • Nicole Miller — Washington University Missouri Botanical Garden, Plant-pollinator interactions and stress adaptation: Implications for glade endemism.
  • Mammology Class — (Advisor: L. Robbins) Small Mammal surveys.
  • Stout K — (Advisor J. Greene) M.N.A.S. A follow-up evaluation of the Green Leadership Academy for diverse Ecosystems (GLADE)

2009

Graduate

  • Becky Gehringer — (Advisor: A. Wait) Fire effects on canopy development, oak regeneration and understory plant community composition
  • Jenny Parsons — Collection of terrestrial (Plethodon angusticlavius) salamanders for use in laboratory experiments

Undergraduate

  • Chloe Bethany — Washington University. Studying the Phenomenology of place through the Poetics of Botany and Art.

2007

Graduate

  • Jason Wolf — (Advisor J. Havel) Effects of fish cues on zooplankton vertical migration behavior.
  • Tammy Yelden — (Advisor J. Havel) Essential fatty acids as tracers of reservoir food webs.

Undergraduate

  • Doug Hughes — (Advisor C. Rovey) Independent study (GLG 499) Hydrology of the Bull Shoals Field Station.

2006

Graduate

  • Mullich, D — (Advisor B. Greene) Antipredatory behavior of the cottonmouth.
  • Pulley, D — (Advisor D. Moll) The effect of scent and flagging on predation of artificial turkey nests

Undergraduate

  • Obagagu, Theo — (Advisor A. Wait) Herbivory and leaf production in managed and unmanaged oak/hickory forest.

2005

Graduate

  • McMinn, Brian; Angela Bandy — (Advisor J. Greene) Water quality monitoring of Beaver Creek and Bull Shoals Field Station.
  • Brad Mormann — (Advisor L. Robbins) Winter roosting of Red Bats (Lasiurus borealis) in Southwest Missouri.
  • Pam (Brown) Lucas (Advisor A. Wait) Foliar herbivory on understory oaks as a function of forest type and prescribed burning.
  • Miranda Milam-Dunbar — (Advisor L. Robbins) Ecophysiology of hibernating eastern Red Bats (Lasiurus borealis).
  • Corinne Schoppet — (Advisor T. Tomasi) Acorn contribution to mammalian energetics.

Undergraduate

  • Mari Shuler (Advisor A. Wait) Overstory leaf production and leaf litter as a function of forest type and prescribed burning.

2004

Graduate

  • Aubrey, Doug — (Advisor A. Wait) Physiology and demography of oak and hickory seedling and saplings as a function of habitat type and fire.
  • Brown, Pam — (Advisor A. Wait) Herbivory of Oak seedlings and saplings as a function of habitat type and fire.
  • Boyles, Justin — (Advisor L. Robbins) Roosting ecology of Evening Bats.
  • Jerry Weimer — (Advisor M. Bowe) Examination of cloning in Savanna Oaks.

Undergraduate

  • Shane Snider and Megan Ladd — (Advisor M. Bowe) Genetic diversity in bamboo.

Prior to 2004

  • Becky Gehringer - Forest vegetation response to prescribed burn
  • Corinne Schoppet — Acorn contribution to mammalian energetics. Complete thesis December 2005.
  • Brad Mormann — Winter ecology of red bats at BSFS (field monitoring). Complete thesis August 2005.
  • Miranda Milam — Winter ecology of red bats (behavior under laboratory conditions). Complete thesis May 2005.
  • Pam Brown — Herbivore damage on oak seedlings and saplings as a function of habitat type and fire. Complete thesis May 2005.
  • Doug Aubrey — Fire effects on the seedling and sapling composition in an Ozark Forest: A demographic and physiological approach. Complete thesis July 2004.
  • Justin Boyles — Roosting habitat of evening bats at BSFS. Complete thesis May 2004.
  • Tina Tamme Hopper — The Establishment of Daphnia lumholtzi Sars in a Pond Environment. Complete thesis July 2002.
  • Jessica Smith — Reduced hawk moth pollination in Missouri populations of Ruellia humilis (Acanthaceae). Complete thesis July 2002.
  • Kristen Pattinson - Blue-green algae and the seasonal succession of Daphnia . Completed thesis July 2001.
  • Jennifer Moody-Weis — Pollinator limitation of Oenothera macrocarpa.Completed thesis July 2000.
  • Shanda King — A Quantitative Analysis of the Vegetation of Post-Oak Savannas and Dolomite Glades in Taney County, Missouri. Completed thesis June 2000.

Undergraduate Research at BSFS

  • Michelle Highfield — Forest vegetation response to prescribed burns
  • David Pulley — Soil respiration rates.