Kammie Voves and Sam Hannabass, both biology graduate students in Dr. Day Ligon’s turtle ecology lab, traveled to Chihuahua, Mexico to attend the 66^th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (SWAN).

About the presentations

Hannabass gave an oral presentation over her research comparing the physiological condition of alligator snapping turtles living in captive and wild conditions.

Voves gave an oral presentation on her research assessing suitability of river habitats for reintroduction of alligator snapping turtles in Oklahoma. She also presented a poster on her work developing methods to quantify underwater structural characteristics of rivers using sonar.

Voves also won a Howard McCarley Student Research Award. It is an $1,000 prize to support her research. Voves will use the award to determine the trophic positions of nine turtle species in an aquatic system. This work is important to developing a better understanding of the ecological services that turtles provide in the environment.

Importance of SWAN

The SWAN annual meeting is one that is frequently attended by students from Missouri State University. Meetings are held outside of the United States every third year. It is well-attended by academics from Mexico and Central America in years that it is hosted in the United States.

“It offers excellent opportunities to interact with researchers from other countries and to develop international collaborations,” said Ligon, associate professor of biology.