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- Lucinda Carnell was awarded a 2 year RIG (Research Initiation Grant) from NSF beginning
this fall to characterize serotonin-signaling pathways involved in behavior adaptation
in the nematode, C. elegans.
- Lixing Sun has three new peer-reviewed papers that he completed and submitted recently:
(1.) Zhang J.X., D. Liu, L. Sun, R. Wei, G. Zhang, H. Wu, H. Zhang and C.Zhao. 2008. Potential chemosignals in the anog
enital gland secretion of giant pandas, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, associated with sex and individual
identity. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 34: 398-407; (2.) Zhang J.X., X. Rao, L. Sun, D. Wang, D. Liu and C. Zhao. 2008.
Cohabitation impaired physiology, fitness and sex-related chemosignals in golden hamsters. Physiology and Behavior, 93:1071-1077;
(3.) Zhang, J. X., Y. J. Liu, J. H. Zhang, and L. Sun. 2008. Dual role of preputial gland secretion and its major
components in sex recognition of mice. Physiology and Behavior 95:388-394. The third article was cited and
highlighted by the British Journal Nature (China) as a significant new discovery in ecology and
evolution and can be found online in Nature China Highlights - Subject Category: Ecology and Evolution,
27 August 2008 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2008.197
- Dave Darda presented an invited public lecture at the Barn Beach Reserve in Leavenworth on
September 12. The evening presentation, "Amphibians and Reptiles of Central Washington" was part of Barn Beach's
public lecture series on the natural history of north central Washington. Approximately 60 people attended.
A smaller group accompanied Dr. Darda on an all-day field trip the following day.
- Jim Johnson and Ian Quitadamo published a manuscript (with an undergrad researcher) this summer:
Quitadamo, I. J., Faiola, C. L., Johnson, J. E., Kurtz,
M. J. 2008. Community-based inquiry improves critical thinking in general education biology.
Cell Biol. Educ. 7(3):327-37.
- Holly Pinkart published two papers from the Soap Lake Research lab this summer:
Vanengelen, M., B. Peyton, M. Mormile,
and H. Pinkart. 2008. Fe(III), Cr(VI), and Fe(III) mediated Cr(VI) reduction in alkaline media using a
Halomonas isolate from Soap Lake, Washington. Biodegradation 19: 841-850 and Dimitriu, P., H. Pinkart, B. Peyton,
and M. Mormile. 2008. Spatial and Temporal Patterns in the Microbial Diversity of a Meromictic Soda Lake in
Washington State. Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74: 4877-4888
- Ian Quitadamo was asked to serve on the Washington State Leadership and Assistance for
Science Education (LASER) Steering Committee, overseeing science education for much of the state.
- In July, Dave Darda accepted a one-year appointment as the Associate Dean of the College of
the Sciences.
- Ian Quitadamo became a member of the Washington State Teachers Association Executive Board.
- Ian Quitadamo became a Washington State Quality Award Examiner (based on national
Baldrige organizational excellence criteria). He will be involved when CWU submits a lite application.
- Holly Pinkart's undergraduate research student, David Justus, was awarded an internship at
the National Institutes of Health at the end of spring quarter. David started working on stem cell research
at NIH this summer.
- Linda Raubeson and undergraduate Science Honors student Skip McCoy (first author)
with Jennifer Kuehl (DOE Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) and
Jeffrey Boore (DOE Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Berkeley, UC-Berkeley, and Genome Project Solutions)
had their paper, "The complete plastid genome sequence of Welwitschia mirabilis: an unusually compact plastome
with accelerated divergence rates" published in
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:130 in May 2008.
- Linda Raubeson and Lucinda Carnell were recipients of the
2008 Equipment Grant Awards for their proposal titled "Thermocyclers: Essential Equipment for Biological Sciences".
Gabriel Stryker and Holly Pinkart were also recipients for their proposal of "Real-time
(Quantitative) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) System." Their proposals were evaluated by academic affairs
administrators and a five person committee made up of members from each of the four colleges and the library.
- Lixing Sun and coauthors Drs. Jianxu Zhang, Kevin Bruce and Milos Novotny have received attention from
MSNBC,
LiveScience, Yahoo.com and the Washington Post regarding their paper "Chronic exposure of cat odor enhances aggression, urinary
attractiveness and sex pheromones of mice" which was published in the Journal of Ethology (279-286)
- Paul James and graduate students Andrew Puls and Allison Johnson attended the
"Annual Meeting of the North Pacific International Chapter of the American Fisheries Society" in Bellingham, WA, on
March 4-6, 2008.
Paul and Andrew co-authored a paper that Andrew presented titled "Microhabiotat Partitioning in an Eastern
Cascades Stream Fish Assemblage" and Andrew won second place ($125) for the his presentation in the
student paper competition at the meeting.
- Steve Wagner and other CWU biologists have established the Amphibian Decline Research Fund.
According to Dr. Wagner, several CWU researchers are at the forefront of research that investigates factors contributing
to both the worldwide and regional decline of amphibians in Washington State. However, amphibians, and also reptiles,
are underrepresented groups for the funding of research at the state or federal level although it has been reported that
approximately 1/3 of the world's amphibians are threatened with extinction. Therefore, in order for these biologists to
continue to be leaders in herpetological research and provide educational and research opportunities for CWU students and
faculty, they have created the Amphibian Decline Research Fund. The group is currently focusing their efforts on the
disease factors contributing to amphibian decline, long-term monitoring of amphibian biodiversity in Washington State
and the Yellow Mountains of China, a research expedition to document the biodiversity of amphibians in southern Borneo
(Indonesia), and providing small grants to enhance research and emergency funding for projects. If you are interested
in supporting the amphibian or herpetological research at CWU please contact Dr. Steve Wagner, phone 509-963-3105 or
email at wagners@cwu.edu.
- Lixing Sun was awarded a College of the Sciences Faculty Summer Research Grant for a $3000 study called
"Differential recombination rate between males and females as a consequence of sexual conflict".
- Susan (Belmont) Brady, an undergraduate researcher, Jim Johnson, and Steve Wagner
presented a paper titled
"DNA Barcoding and Amphibian saprolegniasis" at the Joint Wildlife Society and Society for Northwestern Vertebrate
Biology annual meetings in Missoula Montana on February 25-29. In addition, Kori Ault, NSF graduate fellow,
John Arlt, Ellensburg High School teacher, Jim Johnson and Steve Wagner
presented a poster entitled "Yakima WATERs
Project: Team HERPS Helps to Enhance Research in Public Schools". April Barraca, graduate student, and
Jason Irwin presented a poster titled "Frogs in the Snow: Where do they go? The overwintering strategies of Cascade Frogs
(Rana cascadae)". Aja Woodrow, graduate student, presented a poster entitled "Effects of salvage logging on an Eastern
Cascade Bird community 12-13 years post stand-replacement fire".
- Dave Darda presented an invited public lecture at Yakima Valley Community College on January 29.
The presentation was part of YVCC's Visiting Lecture Series and was titled "Andy Rooney's Eyebrows, the Human Tailbone,
and that Thing that Hangs Down in the Back of Your Throat: Oddball Anatomical Structures and the Stories they Tell".
Approximately 200 people attended.
- Kori Ault, NSF Fellow, and Steve Wagner attended the NSF sponsored GK-12 conference in Washington
D.C., Feb 29- March 2, and presented their contributions to the Yakima WATERs Project.
- Jim Johnson, Susan Belmont (undergraduate researcher), and R. Steven Wagner
published a paper titled "DNA Barcoding as a means to identify organisms associated with amphibian eggs" in
Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3:116-127.
- Ian Quitadamo was nominated to the Washington Science Teacher Association Executive Board as a
representative of Teachers of Teachers of Science (TOTOS), a state-wide consortium of higher education institutions involved
in science teacher education.
- Jim Johnson and Steve Wagner co-authored a paper along with Tara Chestnut (WSDOT)
titled "Results of amphibian chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) sampling in Denali National Park,
Alaska, USA" that is currently in press for Herpetological Review.
- Steve Wagner was a co-author of a submitted paper with Chinese colleagues (Bin Wang, Jianping Jia, Feng Xie, Xiaohong
Chen, Gang Liang) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu Institute of Biology titled "Phylogeographic evidence of
diversification and range expansion in the Feirana complex across central China" to Molecular Ecology.
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- Linda Raubeson published a paper entitled "Comparative chloroplast genomics: analyses
including new sequences from the angiosperms Nuphar advena and Ranunculus macranthus" published
in Biomed Central Genomics Volume 2007, issue 8, 27 pgs.
- Linda Raubeson presented a paper at the Botany and Plant Biology Congress, Chicago, July 8-11, 2007. Five
undergraduate students and two other members of my lab also presented on their research. Two of the undergraduates were
supported to work in the lab over the summer on REU supplements to her NSF grants.
- Linda Raubeson submitted a manuscript for review based on a CWU science honors thesis.
- Jason Irwin attended a grant-writing workshop along with Roger Fouts at Simon Frazier University
organized by The Grant Institute.
- Steve Wagner contributed to a successful biodiversity field school in China during the summer
and then conducted amphibian biodiversity fieldwork in Borneo for two weeks.
- Ian Quitadamo, Steve Wagner and Paul James contributed to a
successful workshop to initiate the NSF WATERS grant along with several graduate student fellows and public school
science teachers.
- Holly Pinkart co-authored a paper titled "Coevolution of cyanophage and cyanobacteria in an Antarctic lake"
published in Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology X. Proc. SPIE 6694: 54-67 and co-authored another
titled "Diversity, evolution, and horizontal gene transfer in soda lakes" published in Instruments, Methods, and
Missions for Astrobiology X.
- Steve Wagner, (Biology), Megan Matheson (Psychology), and Lori Sheeran
(Anthropology) offered the Biodiversity and Primate Behavior Field Research Program for the third year. This collaboration between
Central Washington University and Anhui University was held from late July through late
August, 2007, at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, Huangshan Scenic Spot, China. Seven students participated in this program,
accompanying them to the China.
Directly following this program, Steve Wagner was invited to assess the biodiversity and disease status of amphibians occurring
in Tanjung Putting Preserve near Pankglabun, Borneo.
- Jason Irwin co-authored a paper with Julie Lee-Yaw and David Green titled,
"Post-glacial range expansion from northern refugia by the wood frog, Rana sylvatica",
which has been accepted to Molecular Ecology.
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- Tom Cottrell returned from his international exchange in China.
- An informational meeting about the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project and potential associated research
opportunities was held Friday, January 19, 1:00-3:00pm in Science 147. Project members from WSDOT made a
presentation and hoped to get an idea of CWU's interest and potential involvement. The meeting was very well
attended.
- Steve Wagner attended the Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans in early January and gave a presentation with
Tim Englund from the Math Department.
- Paul James and Kris Ernest received funding from the COTS equipment grant program
for teaching and research equipment for field biology studies.
- Dan Selski, Jason Irwin, and Dave Darda received funding from the COTS equipment grant program for anatomical models,
skeletal material, and a cadaver for teaching Human Anatomy and Physiology.
- Biology student, Amy Redburn was accepted into Case Western Dental School.
- Darwin Day-Darwin Week presentations and activities were all well attended. Thanks to Jason Irwin, Steve Wagner,
Jim Johnson, Kari Taylor, Dave Darda, and Alex Glass for planning and coordinating this very successful event -
our 6th annual.
- Jim Johnson and Steve Wagner have received funding via a contract with the
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for work with amphibian fungal infections.
- CWU had a strong showing with the second most talks given at the Society for Northwest Vertebrate Biology
meetings in Victoria, B.C. in late February.
- Biology major Susan Belmont received the "Best Presentation Award" for her talk on chytrid
fungus infection in local frog populations. The title of her talk: Teasing Apart Death and Pestilence: Demography and
Infection of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in a Natural Population of Pacific Treefrogs. Susan worked with
Steve Wagner and Jim Johnson.
- Christopher Gaulke, undergraduate with Jason Irwin, Jim Johnson and
Steve Wagner, presented a talk entitled, "Pathophysiology of Chytridiomycosis in Amphibians".
- Michelle Lester, undergraduate with advisors Lori Sheeran (Anthro),
Megan Matheson (Psych), and Steve Wagner, presented a talk entitled,
"Demography of Pachytriton brevepis in Huangshan China".
- Steve Wagner and Jim Johnson presented a talk entitled,
"Synergistic interactions among an herbicide and pathogen: a potential evolutionary arms race".
- Tara Chestnut (Washington Dept. of Transportation), Jim Johnson, and
Steve Wagner presented a talk entitled, "Detecting a deadly amphibian disease: are park visitors
inadvertent vectors?"
- Dan Beck and his graduate student, Patrick Emblidge, attended the Desert Tortoise Council
meetings in Las Vegas,
Nevada Feb. 23 and 24. Dan was invited by the Council to talk about Gila monster biology and sign copies of his
Gila monster book. His invited talk was entitled, "History, Humans, and Heloderma: Why Monsters Matter", followed
by a reception/book signing. He also organized a session (7 talks, 2 posters) on Gila Monster biology and gave another
talk entitled, "Introduction and Overview of Bumpy Lizard Biology". Following the meetings, Dan and Patrick conducted
field trips to Gila Monster habitat in Nevada and Utah, where Patrick will conduct his thesis research.
- Linda Raubeson and Rhiannon Peery taught a two-day basic botany workshop to the
Kittitas County Master Gardeners. About 30 master gardeners attended Feb 22nd and 27th. The workshops were hosted in
the Biology Department at CWU where attendees were able to benefit from Department's prepared slide collection, microscopes,
and greenhouse (which they enjoy very much). The Department has hosted such workshops for many years.
- Linda Raubeson has learned that the two requests that she made to NSF for REU Supplements have been
funded. These provide supplemental funds to existing grants to support undergraduate researchers over the summer.
She has been recommended to receive a $7,000 supplement to the Chloroplast Genomics grant to support student Skip McCoy
this coming summer and a $6,000 supplement to the Gymnosperm Tree of Life grant to support student Ashley Dutton.
- Response from faculty interested in potential involvement with the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project was very strong
- 16 people associated with 7 departments proposed 29 ideas for potential projects!
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- Mary Poulson has had another paper accepted for publication. "Response of Photosynthesis to High Light
and Drought for Arabidopsis thaliana Grown Under a UV-B Enhanced Light Regime" (Poulson, Boeger and Donahue). It will be
published in the peer-reviewed journal, Photosynthesis Research and is the result of research carried out during her
research leave in Spring 2006.
- Steve Wagner has another paper in press, this one in the Journal of Heredity, a top-tier genetics
journal. The paper describes the genetic diversity of Southern Torrent Salamander, a Pacific Northwest endemic mature
forest-associated species, and defines conservation units. "Spatial genetic structure and regional demography in the
southern torrent salamander" by M.P. Miller, S.M. Haig, and R.S. Wagner.
- Co-PIs Gazis, Wagner, Quitadomo, Kurtz, and
Pratt-Situala have been awarded a 3.2 million G - K12 NSF grant - the
Yakima WATERS project. This interdisciplinary project will fund 6 graduate students per year in COTS and is designed to
bring a more mature science curriculum into local middle schools and high schools.
- Susan Belmont, an undergraduate in biology under the mentorship of Steve Wagner and
Jim Johnson,
presented a talk at an international meeting sponsored by the Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Network. The
presentation, "Chytridiomycosis in Pacific Northwest Amphibians: Death and Pestilence in Your Backyard", highlighted research
on the growing threat to Northwest amphibian biodiversity.
- On Nov. 3, four faculty members from the Biology Department at Yakima Valley Community College met with our Curriculum
Committee to discuss and compare our introductory majors sequences. Following the meeting, a social hour allowed for more
informal discussion among Biology faculty, staff, and graduate students and our YVCC colleagues.
- On November 3-4, Dave Darda attended the Northwest Regional Human Anatomy and Physiology (HAPS) Conference. Session
topics included high altitude physiology, offering online anatomy and physiology, and interactive cadaver imaging technology.
- Kris Ernest is co-author of a recently published paper concerning conifer forest canopy ecology:
Shaw, D.C., K. A. Ernest, H. B. Rinker, and M.D. Lowman. 2006. Stand-level herbivory in an old-growth conifer forest canopy. Western North American Naturalist 66(4):473-481.
- Lixing Sun is co-author of a recently published paper concerning Giant Panda behavior:
Juan Liu, Yue Chen, Liran Guo, Bo Gu, Hui Liu, Anyan Hou, Xuefeng Liu, Lixing Sun, and Dingzhen Liu. Stereotypic behavior
and fecal cortisol level in captive Giant Pandas in relation to environmental enrichment. 2006. Zoo Biology 25:445-459.
- Holly Pinkart and her research group have submitted three abstracts
(one undergraduate and one graduate student as
co-authors) for the American Society for Microbiology general meeting this coming spring.
- Biology major Erika Nelson has been accepted to veterinary school in Scotland.
- Darlene Boykiw reports that eleven students are applying to medical school this year.
Levente Fabry, Chemistry, is the
pre-med advisor.
- Robbie Soltz helped to secure a sizable donation of materials and equipment (worth $10-15,000) to the
Biology and
Chemistry Departments. The connection came through a student in one of Robbie's classes.
- Jason Irwin and Dave Darda have just returned from Phoenix where the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and
Comparative Biology was held Jan. 3-7. Jason gave two presentations summarizing work done here at CWU as well as work done
before joining our faculty. Both projects involved CWU students - undergraduate and graduate.
Oral presentation: "A climate-based model of winter energy consumption to examine the southern range limit of the goldenrod
gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis) on late goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)
Poster presentation: Phylogeography of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica): mtDNA cytochrome b sequences indicate a deep East-West
division
Dave had a good number of discussions with colleagues whose work is related to his upcoming sabbatical project.
- Our faculty search yielded 60 applicants. The search committee has narrowed the field to nine finalists. Letters have
been requested, and we anticipate extending invitations very soon.
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- Tom Cottrell is on an international exchange for Fall Quarter at Anhui University in China.
- Steve Wagner, Megan Matheson (Psychology), and Lori Sheeran
(Anthropology) organized and offered, for the second time, the Biodiversity and Primate Behavior Field Research Program.
This collaboration between Central Washington University and Anhui University was held during late July through late
August 2006 at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, Huangshan Scenic Spot, China. By all reports, it was again very much of
a success.
- The Department held its annual fall retreat on Thursday, September 14 at the Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center.
Topics included Murdock grant possibilities, our upcoming faculty search, program assessment, and curricular issues
relating to our introductory majors' sequence.
- Mary Poulson has a new publication: "Effects of ultraviolet-B radiation on leaf morphology for
Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. (Brassicaceae)." Acta Botanica Brasilia 20(2):329-338.
- Linda Raubeson attended the Botany 2006 meetings, which serves as the annual conference for several
national botanical societies. They were held in Chico, CA from July 28th to Aug 2nd. She attended along with Rhiannon
Peery (former MS student, current project tech), Skip McCoy (undergrad, Science Honors student) and Stephanie Margheim
(undergrad, STEP sophomore researcher). Skip and Stephanie each presented their research from the past year in poster
presentations; Rhiannon and Linda each gave oral presentations.
- Linda Raubeson also received a new grant -- funded through the NSF Tree of Life program. Overall
4-year award is for $3M, Harvard is the lead institution. Fifteen PIs and Co-PIs and a dozen institutions are participating
in the overall collaborative grant/project. Title: Gymnosperms on the Tree of Life: Resolving the Phylogeny of Seed Plants.
The CWU based award (Raubeson, PI) is for $493,500.
- Holly Pinkart has a new publication in one of the International Society for Optical Engineering
electronic journals: "The sulfur cycle in a permanently meromictic haloalkaline lake." Proceedings of the Instruments,
Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology IX. SPIE Digital Library: http://spiedl.org.
- Robbie Soltz and Wendy Bohrson (Geology) have submitted a STEM STEP Proposal to
NSF.
- Robbie Soltz , Jim Cook (History), and Moose Mack (Economics) submitted an NSF REU Proposal
to do Conservation/Water Resource Management studies in NW China.
- Lixing Sun spend part of his summer pursuing research activities in China.
- Lixing Sun has a new publication: "The Effect of Male Competition on Female Choice in the Brandt's
Vole" in the European journal Folia Zoologica.
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