A new paper led by Cody Rhoden (MS graduate from University of Illinois) demonstrates how Maxent can be used as an effective tool to direct field survey efforts for rare and narrowly distributed species. Cody's field surveys led to new populations of two Ouchita Mountain endemic crayfish species, which also resulted in notable range extensions. The pre-print is posted on PeerJ, and the final paper will follow shortly.

Rhoden, C. M., W. E. Peterman, and C. A. Taylor. 2017. Maxent-directed field surveys identify new populations of narrowly endemic habitat specialists. PeerJ PrePrints 5:e3082v3081.
https://peerj.com/preprints/3082/

A new paper, led by Missouri doctoral candidate Jake Burkhart, looks at how amphibian breeding phenology relates to population genetic structure of four salamander species. Read the open-access article at Ecology & Evolution: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.3060/abstract

@TimberTweets 
Some fun Science Communication about our Timber Rattlesnake Research. Follow the lives of individual timber #rattlesnakes in southern Ohio as @OSUEnvironment and @Peterman_Lab researchers track them via radio-telemetry to help conserve the species.

Meaghan Gade has received the E.E. Williams Research Grant Award from the Herpetologists' League for her research on "Population Dynamics of Plethodontid Salamanders Across Multiple Environmental Gradients". A great start to a great research project!

Congratulations to Meaghan and Phil who both received Grants in Aid of Research at Highlands Biological Station!