Transforming Lives - Rockhurst University

Roc k Re p o r t 4 4 4 4 4 4Threatened Snakes Spawn Research OpportunityWhen rattlesnakeswere discoveredduring thesurvey of a construction sitefor a new subdivision inLenexa, Kan., an alliance ofenthusiasts — including aRockhurst faculty memberand her students — cameto their rescue.Mindy Walker, Ph.D.,assistant professor ofbiology at Rockhurst andprincipal investigator onthe timber rattlesnakerelocation project, was partof a group that transferredthe snakes to an undisclosedsite and began trackingtheir location and survivalrate using microchips,transmitters and wands.Students habituallyexposed themselves tofields of nettles, poison ivy,sunburns and ubiquitousticks, chiggers and mosquitosthroughout the summer.Arriving in the field in thepredawn darkness duringthe winter, they braved20-degree temperaturescoupled with rain. Theyeven set aside time duringChristmas break to isolateDNA in the laboratory.“They’re looking at everylevel of biology from thegene all the way up to theenvironment, which isinvaluable,” Walker said.The students’ passion,labor and relentless dedicationin adverse conditionsearned them, in Walker’sestimation, the designationof “true biologists.”The timber rattlesnake is the focus of a research project led byMindy Walker, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology.As further proof, they willco-author the final researchfindings that likely will bepublished in a nationalherpetology journal.In the classroom,Walker uses the projectto exemplify the interdependencyof organisms inthe environment and moreimportantly, the impact ofhuman development.Although the newsubdivision likely willfeature a stately entrancemarker, the snakes’ newhome won’t be advertisedto protect their safety.2 Ro c k h u r s t4s p r i n g 2008