Blog

Hellbender Research at Zoo Nashville

New research and conservation efforts to protect Hellbender salamanders is going on at the Nashville Zoo. The Walker team at MTSU is engaging in this work as well as making efforts to profile microbiomes of these important amphibians to southeastern US ecosystems. See the Mental Floss article on the Hellbender Salamander Conservation Project

Wildlife, herptile, and microbiome diversity continue to captivate me

This summer I was fortunate enough to be asked to spend two weeks in Tennessee collecting samples to understand bacterial-fungal interactions in the gut of reptiles and amphibians. This was the most fun that I’ve ever had on a field trip! I learned how to successfully collect and sample a variety of reptiles and amphibians. The senior team members also explained how to identify snakes, salamanders and frogs in the Eastern TN region. I learned how to identify good amphibian habitat and properl...

Join the Team

Come join our team working on Herptile microbiomes. You can find links to apply for positions at MTSU, OSU and UCR. Join the Team

Herptile Microbiomes Project Announcement

We are happy to announce the Herptile Microbiomes Project is getting ready to initiate. We are now advertising for PhD and postdoctoral reseacher positions. The project was notified of successful funding application at the NSF as part of the Rules Of Life Microbiome Interactions and Mechanisms. Our project consists of a team of four researchers from three universities. We are excited to recruit students and postdoctoral researchers into a diverse project that includes field work, live animal...