Ten undergraduate and graduate students from the Missouri State University biology department presented their research at the Sept. 24 meeting of the Missouri Herpetological Association:

• Travis Anthony: “Freshwater turtle community in three rivers in northeastern Oklahoma”
• Mitch East : “Diet and feeding behavior of juvenile alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) in eastern Oklahoma”
• Wendy Evans: “Effects of temperature on foraging success in two species of semi-aquatic snakes”
• Andrew Hoffman: “Use of managed wetlands by salamanders at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Missouri”
• Valerie Jones: “Predatory chemical cues affect gill blood flow in larval ringed salamanders”
• Michael Lampe: “Detecting danger from prey-guild members: behavioral and metabolic responses of Ozark zigzag salamanders to stress secretions from earthworms”
• Erin Murray: “Predation in the strawberry poison frog: are adults and juveniles equally protected from ctenid spiders?”
• Daniel Schepis: “Spatial patterns, multi-scale habitat selection and thermal ecology of the western mud snake at the northern limits of its range”
• Denise Thompson: “Rocky raccoon must die: Nest predation patterns in a reintroduced population of alligator snapping turtles”
• Charlie Tucker:  “Can automated radio telemetry quantify ornate box turtle activity and nesting pattern?”

Anthony, East, Thompson and Tucker were advised by Dr. Day Ligon, assistant professor of biology; Evans, Hoffman and Schepis were advised by Dr. Brian Greene, assistant professor of biology; and Lampe, Jones and Murray were advised by Dr. Alicia Mathis, department head.

An additional presentation was made by a biology staff member:

• Adam Crane presented “Socially facilitated antipredator behavior by ringed salamanders,” which he co-authored with Mathis.