OUR RESEARCH
The overarching aim of our research program is to understand the implications of anthropogenic stressors (e.g. climate change, pollution, invasive species, and human encroachment) on behavioral and physiological responses that are necessary for individual and population level fitness in keystone ecosystem engineers (e.g. prairie dogs ) and wild-caught model organisms (e.g. Drosophila). To address these interdisciplinary questions, our research team utilizes both field and laboratory techniques at multiple biological levels of organization.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Our philosophy is to conduct collaborative, interdisciplinary research in both the field and the laboratory that will have direct implications for environmental quality and the conservation of keystone species and their natural habitat.
Lab news
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January 2018:
- Welcome back CSU-Pueblo students and to the entire research team! And a warm welcome to new graduate student Adam Liao and undergraduate students Chris Ahmay, Brianna Montoya and Izabella Sheppard!
December 2020:
- New paper published with the Animal Behavior Conservation Committee in Conservation Science and Practice! Check it out at: https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.319
- Great job to the entire team for finishing the field season strong!
June 2020:
- New paper published with Dr. Nate Bickford (Wildlife and Natural Resources Program, Colorado State University-Pueblo) in STEM Education! Check it out at: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/10/6/150
May 2020:
- Congratulations to team members Cody Back and Sara Colby who graduate with their B.S. in Biology this month!
- Congratulations to team member Cody Back who received the Jack Seilheimer Memorial Award in Wildlife and Natural Resources at Colorado State University-Pueblo!
April 2020:
- Congratulations to team member Cody Back who accepted a position with Colorado Parks and Wildlife after he graduates!
- Congratulations to team member, Cody Back, and former team members, Kevin Healey and Sean Kyle Staples (graduated B.S. 2018), whose manuscript on their work at the Pueblo Chemical Depot is now in press!
- Congratulations to team member Sara Colby who was accepted into graduate school in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University-Pueblo! She will continue her research in the laboratory studying the kissing behavior of black-tailed prairie dogs!
- Congratulations to former team member Hugh Long (graduated B.S. 2018) who was just accepted into medical school at Oklahoma State University!
March 2020:
- Principal Investigator Liz’s last manuscript from her PhD dissertation was accepted by the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology! Check it out at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00128-020-02825-w!
January 2020:
- Welcome back CSU-Pueblo students and to the entire research team! And a warm welcome to new undergraduate students Brittany Bohn, Allaura Bryant-Watkins, Courtney Knieriem, Keshon Jackson, Noah Robison and Klow Si!
December 2019:
- Great job to the entire prairie dog team for helping translocate 100 prairie dogs in need from Pueblo West to protected land!!! And thank you to all of the volunteers that came out and helped us as well!
- We were in the news again! Check it out at: https://www.chieftain.com/news/20191224/rodent-repreive-prairie-dog-relocation-program-saves-pueblo-west-rodents-from-annihilation
- Our work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pueblo Chemical Depot, and the Prairie Dog Coalition to translocate 100 prairie dogs from Pueblo West to protected land was in the news! Check it out at: https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/prairie-dogs-in-pueblo-west-getting-a-new-home
October 2019:
- Great job to the entire team for presenting their research at the College of Science and Mathematics Research Symposium at Colorado State University-Pueblo!
- Great job to team members Samantha Ulrich and Makenzie Randall for winning 2nd place for Best Poster Presentation at the College of Science and Mathematics Research Symposium at Colorado State University-Pueblo!
- Great job to team member Stephanie Dudley for winning 3rd place for Best Poster Presentation at the College of Science and Mathematics Research Symposium at Colorado State University-Pueblo!
July 2019:
- Great job to the entire team for presenting their research at the Behavior 2019 Conference in Chicago!
June 2019:
- Congratulations to team member Jenna Morales for being awarded the Charles H. Turner Award at the Behaviour 2019 conference!
- Congratulations to team member Cody Back! His abstract to present his research this October at the American Fisheries Society & The Wildlife Society Joint Conference was accepted!
- Congratulations to all of the team members whose abstracts were accepted for presentation at this year’s Behaviour 2019 conference!
- Principal Investigator Liz’s manuscript from her PhD dissertation was accepted by the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology! Check it out at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00128-019-02650-w!
May 2019:
- Principal Investigator Liz’s manuscript with Dr. Roman Yukilevich from her first postdoc was accepted by the journal Evolution! Check it out at: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13752
- Principal Investigator Liz received the Domestic ToxScholar Outreach Grant from the Society of Toxicology! The grant will support CSU-Pueblo to host a visit from a toxicologist for professional development for undergraduate students.
April 2019:
- Principal Investigator Liz was nominated by the CSU-Pueblo students for the Students’ Choice Faculty and Staff Award! It’s such an honor!
- Great job to the entire team for presenting their research at the CSU-Pueblo Student Research Symposium!
- Principal Investigator Liz received the CSU-Pueblo Faculty SEED Grant (with collaborator Dr. Brian Vanden Heuvel) to fund a new project entitled: "Building new conservation tools to protect America's prairie keystone species, the Black-tailed prairie dogs"!
March 2019:
- Team member Teyah Schiffer won second place in the John C. Johnson Award for Excellence in Student Research at the Western Region District Beta Beta Beta Convention in Colorado! Great job Teyah!
- And the field season is off to a roaring start!
January 2019:
- Great job to team members Teyah Schiffer, Stephanie Dudley, and Chloe Weiter for successfully presenting their research at the Colorado Chapter of the Wildlife Society!
- Welcome new undergraduate students Kyle Espinoza, Cody Back, Jenna Morales, and Makenzie Randall!
December 2019:
- Congratulations to team members Rachel Ruiz and Sean Kyle Staples who graduated with their B.S. in Biology from CSU-Pueblo! Both are off to bigger things and we are so proud of both of you!
October 2018:
- Great job to the entire team for presenting their research at the CSU-Pueblo College of Science and Math Research Symposium!
September 2018:
- Team members Teyah Schiffer, Samantha Ulrich and Rachel Ruiz presented their research to high school STEM students! Great job team!
July 2018:
- Team member Rachel Ruiz received honorable mention for the undergraduate Genesis Award @ABS_2018! She presented her collaborative work with other team members Samantha Ulrich and Annalee Losch at the conference. Way to go Rachel!
- New paper on its way in the Journal of Visualized Experiments! Team members Hugh Long and Tyler Harvey are featured in the methods video! Check it out at: https://www.jove.com/video/57450/experimental-protocol-for-using-drosophila-as-an-invertebrate-model
June 2018:
- We are very proud of team members Sean Kyle Staples who accepted a position as a research scientist with an environmental consulting firm! Way to go Kyle!
- Kudos to team member Rachel Ruiz who won the Award for Excellence in Presentation of Scientific Data at the Metabolism of Infectious Diseases Conferencein Fort Collins!
May 2018:
- Congratulations to team members Hugh Long and Kevin Healey who graduated with their B.S. in Biology from CSU-Pueblo! Both are off to bigger things and we are so proud of both of you!
- Way to go team member Hugh Long for being awarded the Department of Biology Excellence Award!
- Welcome new undergraduate students Stephanie Dudley and Chloe Weiter to the team!
April 2018:
- Great job to team members Samantha Ulrich, Stephanie Dudley, Chloe Weiter, Sean Kyle Staples and CBASE students for volunteering at the #marchforsciencedenver. They presented their research, ran science demonstrations related to their research, and proudly marched for science. Great job everyone!
- Great job to team members Hugh Long and Tyler Harvey for presenting their research at the Beta Beta Beta Honor Society Meeting in Fort Collins!
- Great job to team members Hugh Long and Tyler Harvey for presenting their research at the CSU-Pueblo Student Research Symposium!
- The Journal of Visualized Experiments visited the lab at CSU-Pueblo to film our recently accepted protocol! Stay tuned for more information!
February 2018:
- Team members Hugh Long, Sean Kyle Staples, Rachel Ruiz, Samantha Ulrich, and Teyah Schiffer were filmed today by the Channel 13 news crew in the lab at CSU-Pueblo!
January 2018:
- Welcome new undergraduate students Teyah Schiffer, Sean Kyle Staples, Samantha Ulrich, Annalee Losch, and Tyler Harvey to the team!