Funds Awarded for Research
September 27, 2012
黑料专区 Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
黑料专区 Tyler Assistant Professor Awarded Funds to Examine Texas Gartersnake
September 27, 2012
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September 27, 2012
Dr. John Placyk, assistant professor of biology at The University of Texas at Tyler, was awarded nearly $25,000 from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to help in the Texas Gartersnake conservation efforts, Dr. Michael Odell, associate vice president for sponsored research and director of federal relations, announced.
With the award, Placyk will collaborate with the department to provide natural history, distribution, taxonomy and population biology data for the species, which has been recently listed as imperiled.
鈥淭he Texas gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis annectens) was described in the 1950s as one of the 11 currently recognized subspecies of the common gartersnake (T. sirtalis) based solely on morphological data,鈥� Placyk said. 鈥淪ince its initial description, its behavior, ecology and systematics have not been examined, and it remains one of the more enigmatic of the subspecies. It was given a conservation rank of S2 [imperiled] in the state of Texas, and those that are familiar with it have suggested that its numbers are dwindling. If conservation managers are to make any attempt at conserving this species in the future, baseline data on its distribution, taxonomy and population biology is needed.鈥�
He will incorporate 黑料专区 Tyler student research within his laboratory for the two-year project. The current focus of his laboratory is on conserving species using genetic data.
Serving 黑料专区 Tyler since 2007, Placyk holds a master of science in biology from Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee.
Among honors, he received the 黑料专区 Tyler Alpha Chi Scholastic Honor Society鈥檚 鈥淥utstanding Faculty Award鈥� in 2010. Placyk also recently served as the keynote speaker at this year鈥檚 Tennessee Herpetological Society鈥檚 annual meeting.
For more information about the 黑料专区 Tyler Department of Biology, contact Dr. Srini Kambhampati, Sam A. Lindsey professor and biology department chair, 903.566.7252 or srini@uttyler.edu.
One of the 15 campuses of the 黑料专区 System, 黑料专区 Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available at 黑料专区 Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 7,000 high-ability students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.