Collaborators
Below are other Universities, groups, and people the WU Box Turtle Team is Currently Collaborating with:
Baker UniversityWe use Baker University's Wetland Laboratory space for conducting behavior assays. Baker Wetland is well managed and although we don't currently study box turtles on Baker Wetland property, we do bring turtles from eastern Kansas to the lab for various projects before returning the turtles back to their original point of capture.
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Cedar Point Biological StationWU Research team members live at Cedar Point Biological Station in Western Nebraska over the summer and complete field-based research projects there. WU students collaborate with UNL students and also gain other research experiences with other research teams operating out of CPBS. Dr. Reed and his team have been studying turtles there since 2013. Before Dr. Reed, Dr. Gwen Bachman (Dr. Reed's PhD adviser) established the study population in 2003 making this a valuable long-term research program.
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COe College & Dr. Daniel HughesThe WU Turtle Research Team works with Dr. Hughes at Coe College. Dr. Hughes, following similar research protocols to ours, studies a HUGE population of box turtles in central Iowa. WU students travel to Iowa to study box turtles there and to conduct behavior assays on the Iowan turtles. We are trying to determine if there are population level differences in behavioral syndromes, perhaps as a consequence of different selective pressures the turtles experience.
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Mitzi Cafer; Wildlife RehabiltatorThe WU Turtle Research Team works with Mitzi Cafer for box turtle rehabilitation and re-introduction back into the wild (once healed). Currently, we are in the early stages of a project where we radio-track rehabilitated turtles after they are released back into the wild. We are trying to determine the efficacy of releasing turtles into novel habitat when their origins are unknown. Turtles are often dropped off at rehab centers with little to no information regarding their original point of capture making release programs difficult.
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TOpeka Zoo and Conservation Center; Joe Maloney, Rachael Rost, and Dennis DinwiddyThe WU Turtle Research Team has been supported through Wildlife Research and Conservation Grants offered by the Zoo. In addition, Dr. Reed collaborates with Dennis Dinwiddy regarding a state-wide demography study aiming to estimate ornate box turtle populations. Using historical data as a baseline, the goal is to determine if populations are stable, increasing, or decreasing. Joe Maloney helps facilitate research grant opportunities and Rachel Rost helps coordinate outreach events the WU Turtle Team does at the Zoo.
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Karlyle WOodsKarlyle Woods is Washburn University's field station used by numerous classes (biology, physics, anthropology, etc). The WU Turtle Research Team has an "Education Population" of box turtles that live at Karlyle Woods and are used for many outreach events, including for kids camps, WU clubs, families, and any other group interested in learning about radio telemetry and/or box turtles.
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