Warren's Journal

Sandhill Cranes

2010-11-22T08:30:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, 21 November 2010, Warren drove three members of the USF Science Club (Chelsea, Jason & Rosie) to see the sandhill cranes at Jasper-Pulaski State Nature Preserve.

Science Club's Field Station Outing

2010-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

The USF Science Club had a terrific time on their recent overnight visit to the Crooked Lake Field Station. Activities included snorkeling, supper aboard the pontoon boat, a campfire, and hillbilly golf.

Presentations

2010-07-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some presentations that have stemmed from the work of the USF Mussel Ecology Group:

Pryor WW. 2004. Population biology of Quadrula pustulosa at Johnny Appleseed Park. Presented at the Great Lakes Mollusk Watchers’ Conference, Porter, Indiana.

Pryor WW. 2005. Distribution of the native freshwater mussels in the rivers of Allen County, Indiana. http://www.sjrwi.org/documents/PryorWDistrbNatvMusslAllenCo.pdf

Pryor WW. 2006. Sediment analysis in the Saint Joseph River. Seminar Presentation to the Science Faculty and Students of the University of Saint Francis.

Goodman SS, Gillespie RB & Pryor WW. 2007. Assessment of freshwater mussel communities in Cedar Creek, northeast Indiana. Abstract in Program of the Indiana Academy of Science 123rd Annual Meeting, p. 54.

Tracy SJ, Smith HN, Heyerly AL & Pryor WW. 2007. Investigation of the thermal environment of freshwater mussels in northeastern Indiana: A preliminary report. Abstract in Program of the Indiana Academy of Science 123rd Annual Meeting, p. 55.

Pryor WW, Morman RE, Wire KR, Baumgartner JM & Meier AH. One hundred years of unionids: replication of the 1908 survey of freshwater mussels of Allen County, Indiana. Poster at Indiana Academy of Science, 124th Fall Meeting, October 23-25, 2008, University of Evansville.

Morman RE, Baumgartner JM & Pryor WW. 2009. Mussel community trends in the Saint Joseph River (of the Maumee): Annual surveys at Johnny Appleseed Park. Presented at Indiana Academy of Science, 125th Fall Meeting, October 22 & 23, 2009, Indiana University Kokomo.

Baumgartner JM, Morman RE & Pryor WW. Spatial difference in community composition of unionids of the Saint Joseph (of the Maumee) at Johnny Appleseed Park. Presented at the 22nd Annual Butler University Undergraduate Research Conference, Indianapolis, IN.

Morman RE, Baumgartner JM & Pryor WW. 2010. Ecological physiology of Lampsilis siliquoidea (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Crooked Lake, Whitley County, Indiana: A preliminary analysis. Poster at Association of Franciscan Colleges and University, at University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne, IN.

2010-03-17T03:02:00.000-07:00

On 12 March 2010, Rosemary, Joe and I visited Columbus, Ohio. There we toured the Freshwater Mussel Conservation and Research Center, examined shells with Tom Watters at Ohio State's Mollusk Museum, and got personal with an echidna at the Zoo.

Crooked Lake Winter Walk

2010-01-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

On 14 Jan 2010, Rosemary and Warren visited Crooked Lake. We walked from the Field Station to the shore near our mussel bed and back again. Along the way, we saw some unexpected wildlife: tiny insects by the thousands jumping around on top of the snow, two species of spiders (also on the snow), some bright green moss in liquid water flowing into the lake, and several kinds of birds. The ice was too thick and opaque for us to view the mussels, but we made an important observation: there was no evidence of recent muskrat activity near the mussel bed.

It was perfect weather for this kind of activity. The temperature was cold enough to keep the mud at bay, and warm enough for the walkers' relative comfort. There was little wind, and sometimes the sun even emerged!

Mussel Geek Retreat

2009-12-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

The Mussel Geeks held a writing retreat on 15 & 16 December 2009 at the Crooked Lake Field Station. Our goals were to produce rough drafts of the Introduction and Results Sections for our manuscript, which documents changes in the mussel communities of northeastern Indiana streams, in collaboration with our colleagues at IPFW. Stephanie joined Rosemary, Joseph and Warren on Tuesday afternoon, to concentrate on the results. We worked hard most of the time, but took breaks, too, during which we enjoyed one another's company, played cards, and ate some pretty fantastic food. We had hamburgers and mashed potatoes for lunch, beef and noodles for supper, and oatmeal and bacon for breakfast. On Tuesday evening, Rosemary serenaded us on her viola.

IAS Presentation

2009-12-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

Rosemary presented some of our recent work at the Fall Meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science at IU-Purdue at Kokomo in October.

Morman RE, Baumgartner JM, and Pryor WW. 2009. Mussel community trends in the Saint Joseph River (of the Maumee): Annual surveys at Johnny Appleseed Park.

Abstract: The Saint Joseph River, at Johnny Appleseed Park, has been annually surveyed for thirteen years. In 2009, 25 species were identified in a survey conducted August 4th and 5th. Population trends were compared to historic studies conducted by Watters (1988, 1998). Importantly, a zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) was found for the first time at this location in 2009.

Crooked Lake Temperatures

2009-07-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

My students and I have begun to measure temperatures in Crooked Lake (near Columbia City, Indiana). Since our interest is in the microhabitats of mussels living there, we are concentrating our efforts in the shallows presently where we know that mussels are living. The technology that makes this possible are submersible data loggers which record the temperature every 15 minutes, and store the data until it is downloaded to a computer. We have established several stations, and intend to summarize one of them routinely and post the summaries to the web. You can find the information by following this link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t42UV5zkqM3lZNDqODsGcsA

More detailed raw data is availably upon request. Write me at wpryor@sf.edu.

Mussels at Crooked Lake

2009-06-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Mussel Geeks have settled upon two projects for the summer of 2009. One is to complete our manuscript based upon our results from the mussel survey of 2008. We are joining with colleagues from IPFW in that effort, pooling our data from the Maumee, Saint Mary and Saint Joseph Rivers, with their data from Cedar Creek.

We are also trying to gather microhabitat data on a population of fat muckets living in Crooked Lake, near Columbia City. We are exploring the variation in temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH to which those mussels are exposed on a daily basis.

Lichens

2009-03-29T08:27:00.001-07:00

This image of a lichen was taken through a hand lens (14X Bausch & Lomb) with a Nikon Coolpix digital camera.

Crooked Lake

2009-03-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

We returned to Crooked Lake today, and observed at least two loons. One is shown above.

American Coot

2009-03-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived. Yesterday, I got a good, long look at a common loon on Crooked Lake, and today I saw this nice coot on Mirror Lake on the campus of USF.

SEM micrograph

2009-02-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Biology Department Research

2009-01-29T08:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some research projects in which my colleagues and I are involved.

Dr. Larry Wiedman is heavily involved in field projects on the coral reefs near Andros Island in the Bahamas. Each year he leads groups of students into those waters, where many of them study the ecology of organisms such as parrotfish and long-spine sea urchins.

Dr. Amy Obringer is a reproductive physiologist, who has participated in projects to help breed endangered animals such as rhinos and Wyoming toads. She is also very active in humanitarian issues, such as one to supply infant formula to developing nations.

Dr. Teri Beam is a molecular geneticist with many publications and discoveries to her credit. She has worked with the “piggy-bac” gene, and is on sabbatical in the Spring of 2009 to pursue her new research into the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Beam is officially the Chairperson of Biology, a roll that I am temporarily filling in her absence.

My students and I spent much of the summer of 2008 in boats on the rivers around Fort Wayne. We replicated a survey of freshwater mussels that was originally performed in 1908 by biologists from the Federal Government. We presented our preliminary results in a poster at the Fall meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science, and are presently working on a manuscript with colleagues from another university, with the intention of submitting it for publication in a peer reviewed journal.