Herpetology at Austin Peay State University

03/24/2026

https://www.science.org/content/article/microscopic-spikes-snakeskin-block-bacterial-buildup

Structures on python scales could inspire chemical-free antimicrobial designs

03/11/2026

https://hitchcockproject.org/research-highlights-conservation-challenges-for-nevada-gila-monsters/

Gila monsters face escalating conservation challenges in Nevada amid limited habitat protection and pressures from climate change. By Alanna Garcia.

12/19/2025

12/19/2025

Happy Giladays!!

10/03/2025

It was really great to get together with lab alumni and current students at the TN Herpetological Society Meetings.

04/04/2025

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gila-monsters-struggle-climate-change

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.71008

The Mojave Desert may lose and gain suitable habitat for Gila monsters. But the unathletic reptiles might be mostly stuck in the waning oases.

02/17/2025

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/texas-endangered-dunes-sagebrush-lizard-oil-gas-endangered-species-act-donald-trump-drill-baby/

In the oil-rich Permian Basin, the dunes sagebrush lizard faces extinction. Will Donald Trump finally do it in?

01/17/2025

APSU alum Kris Wild is kind of a big deal! Awesome work on one of the most important scientific problems of our time.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq4372?

Climate warming can induce a cost-of-living “squeeze” in ectotherms by increasing energetic expenditures while reducing foraging gains. We used biophysical models (validated by 2685 field observations) to test this hypothesis for 10 ecologically diverse ...

12/20/2024

Happy Gila-days everyone!