Department of Biology Baylor University

February 2011 No. 59

PUBLICATIONS

Usenko, C.Y., S.L. Harper, M.T. Simonich, and R.L. Tanguay. (2010). Fullerene Toxicity, Handbook of Nanophysics: Nanomedicine and Nanorobotics, CRC Press, Boca Raton pp. 17.1-17.8.

Usenko, C.Y., E. Robinson, S. Usenko, B.W. Brooks, and E.D. Bruce. (accepted). PBDE congener-specific effects on embryonic zebrafish development. Environ Toxicol Chem.

Liu, Z. (graduate student) and C.M. Kearney. An efficient Foxtail mosaic virus vector system with reduced environmental risk. BMC Biotechnology 2010, 10:88.

Liu, Z. (graduate student) and C.M. Kearney. A tobamovirus expression vector for agroinfection of legumes and Nicotiana. Journal of Biotechnology, 2010, 147:151-159.

Gutzwiller, K.J., W.C. Barrow, Jr., J.D. White, L. Johnson-Randall, B.S. Cade, and L.M. Zygo. 2010. Assessing conservation relevance of organism-environment relations using predicted changes in response variables. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 1:351-358.

Forbes, M.G., R.D. Doyle, J.T. Scott, J. Stanley, H. Huang, B.A. Fulton, and B.W. Brooks. In press 2011. Carbon sink to source: Longitudinal gradients of planktonic P:R ratios in subtropical reservoirs. Biogeochemistry doi:10.1007/210533-101-9533-3.

Forbes, M.G., J.C. Yelderman Jr., T. Potterton, R.D. Doyle. 2010. Effects of intermittent loading, media type, and wetland age on nitrogen removal in horizontal subsurface flow wetlands. Water Science and Technology 62:1865-1871.

Doyle, R.D., J.T. Scott, M. Forbes. 2010. Hot Spots and Hot Moments of Planktonic Nitrogen Fixation in a Eutrophic Southern Reservoir. Lake and Reservoir Management 26:95-103. Nominated for Society of Wetland Scientist “Labounty Award for Best Paper.” 2010.

Adams, R.P., B. Rumeu, S.S. Fontinha and M. Nogales. 2010. Speciation of Juniperus cedrus and J. maderensis in the Canary Islands and Maderia based on terpenoids and nrDNA and cp petN sequences. Phytologia 92(1): 44-55.

Adams, R.P. and Vasu Dev. 2010. Synthesis and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis of angelates and tiglates as aid to identification of these components in essential oils. Flav. Frag. J. 25:71-74.

Adams, R.P., A.E. Schwarzbach and J.A. Morris. 2010. Juniperus zanonii, a new species from Cerro Potosi, Mexico. Phytologia 92(1): 105-117.

Mao, K.G. Hao, J.Q. Liu, R.P. Adams and R.I. Milne. 2010. Diversification and biogeography of Juniperus (Cupressaceae): variable diversification rates and multiple intercontinental dispersals. New Phytologist 188:254-272.

Adams, R.P. and L.N. Sharma. 2010. DNA from herbarium specimens: I. Correlation of DNA sizes with specimens age. Phytologia 92(3): 346-353.

Geng Chen (graduate student), Alicia K. Rogers (undergraduate student), Garrett League (graduate student) and Sang-Chul Nam. 2011. Genetic interaction of Centrosomin and Bazooka in apical domain regulation in Drosophila photoreceptor. PLoS ONE 6(1):e16127.

Sim, Cheolho and D.L. Denlinger. 2011. Catalase and superoxide dismutase-2 enhance survival and protect ovaries during overwintering diapause in the mosquito Culex pipiens. Journal of Insect Physiology. (in press)

White, J.D., S.J. Prochnow, C.T. Filstrup, J.T. Scott, B.W. Byars and L. Zygo-Flynn 2010. A combined watershed-water quality modeling analysis of the Waco Lake reservoir: I. calibration and confirmation of predicted water quality. Lake and Reservoir Management 26:147-158.

White, J.D., S.J. Prochnow, C.T. Filstrup, and B.W. Byars. 2010. A combined watershed-water quality modeling analysis of the Waco Lake reservoir: II. watershed and reservoir management options and outcomes. Lake and Reservoir Management 26:159-167.

White, J.D. and B.R. Moore. 2010. Carbon accumulation in a humid temperate prairie pasture following abandonment and afforestation. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology 4(6): 1-9.

Di. Vittorio, A.V., R.S. Anderson, J.D. White, N.L. Miller and S.W. Running. 2010. Development and optimization of an Agro-BGC ecosystem model for C4 perennial grasses. Ecological Modelling 221:2038-2053.

Taylor, M.F. 2010. Making biology teaching more Graphic. The American Biology Teacher 27(9):568-571.

Sturmbauer, C., M. Husemann (graduate student), and P. Danley. (accepted). New insights on explosive speciation and adaptive radiation from African cichlid fishes. In: Habel, J.C., Zachos, F.E.: Hotspots, Springer.

Locklin, J.L. and D.S. Vodopich. 2010. Eugregarine parasitism of Erythemis simplicicollis (Say) at a constructed wetland: a fitness cost of females? Odonatologica 39(4):319-331.

King, R.S., M.E. Baker, P.F. Kazyak and D.E. Weller. 2011. How novel is too novel? Stream community thresholds at exceptionally low levels of watershed urbanization. Ecological Applications. doi:10.1890/10-1357.1.

Shaftel, R.S. (graduate student), R.S. King and J.A. Back. 2011. Alder cover drives nitrogen availability in Kenai Peninsula headwater streams, Alaska. Biogeochemistry doi:10.1007/s10533-010-9541-3.

King, R.S. and M.E. Baker. 2011. An alternative view of ecological community thresholds and appropriate analyses for their detection. Ecological Applications doi:10.189-/10-0882.1.

King, R.S. and M.E. Baker. 2010. Considerations for analyzing ecological community thresholds in response to anthropogenic environmental gradients. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 29:998-1008. Joint first-authors.

Dodds, W.K., W.H. Clements, K. Gido, B. Hilderbrand, and R.S. King. 2010. Thresholds, breakpoints, and nonlinearities in aquatic ecosystems as related to management. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 29:988-997.

Baker, M.E.^ and R.S. King^. 2010. A new method for identifying and interpreting biodiversity and ecological community thresholds. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 1.25-37. ^Joint first-authors, listed in alphabetical order.

Holmes, W.C. and H.J. Blizzard. 2010. The derivation of the name Datisca (Datiscaceae). Phytoneuron 2010-6: 1-2. (March 10).

Singhurst, J.R. & W.C. Holmes. 2010. Lilium lancifolium (Liliaceae): New to Texas. Phytologia 92: 56-58.

Holmes, W.C. and B.K. Amor. 2010. The Vascular Flora of a River Bottom in East Central Mississippi. Phytologia 92: 88-111.

Holmes, W.C. 2010. A Dictionary of Louisiana-French Animal Names. Big Mailbox Publishing Co., Waco, TX. 137+ xx pp.

Holmes, W.C. 2010. Caricacceae. In Flora of North America Editors, Flora of North America vol. 7. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, pp. 170-171 + illustration p. 169.

Singhurst, J.R., J.N. Mink (graduate student) and W.C. Holmes. 2010. New and Noteworthy Plants of Texas. Phytologia 92: 248-254.Singhurst, J.R. and W.C. Holmes. 2010. Carissa macrocarpa (Apocynaceae): New to the Texas flora. Phytoneuron 2010-19: 1-3.

Mink, J.N. (graduate student), J.R. Singhurst and W.C. Holmes. 2010. Penstemon oklahomensis (Scrophulariaceae) in Texas. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 4: 471-472.

Singhurst, J.R., L.L. Hansen, J.N. Mink (graduate student), B. Armstrong, D. Frels Jr. and W.C. Holmes. 2010. The Vascular Flora of Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Kerr County, Texas. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 4: 497-521.

Nesom, G.L., J.L. Aplaca, W.R. Carr, N.L. Fowler, L.L. Hansen, S.L. Hatch, B.W. Hoagland, W.C. Holmes, E.L. Keith, B.L. Lipscomb, B.R. MacRoberts, M.H. MacRoberts, J.A. McDonald, T.F. Patterson, J.M. Poole, A.M. Powell, N. Rich, M.D. Reed, D.J. Rosen, J.R. Singhurst, B.A. Sorrie, B.L. Turner, D.E. Waitt, and J.K. Williams. 2010. Texas non-native plants: Overview of occurrence and invasiveness assessments. http://www.texasnonnatives.org

Singhurst, J.R. and W.C. Holmes. Comments of Buddleja lindleyana (Buddlejaceae) in Texas. Phytoneuron 2010-42. 1-2.

Singhurst, J.R. and W.C. Holmes. 2010. Prenanthes aspera (Cichorieae): New To Texas. Phytoneuron 2010-52: 1-4. 2010-53. December 2010.

Mink, J.N. (graduate student), J.R. Singhurst, and W.C. Holmes. Dryopteris marginalis (Dryopteridaceae): New to Texas. Phytoneuron 53:1-6.

Holmes, W.C., J.R. Singhurst, and J.N. Mink (graduate student). Heuchera americana (Saxifragaceae) in Texas. Phytoneuron 2011-n: 1-4.

Mink, J.N. (graduate student), J.R. Singhurst, and W.C. Holmes. 2011. Dryopteris celsa (Dryopteridaceae) and E.J. Palmer 29404: Solution of a Texas mystery. Phytoneuron 2011-11: 1-8.

Danley, P.D. (In Press). Aggression in closely related Malawi cichlids varies inversely with habitat complexity. Environmental Biology of Fishes.

Bartram, B. (graduate student), P. Danley and J. Tibbs. (In press). Factors affecting blue catfish (I.furcatus) populations in Texas reservoirs. In Conservation, Ecology & Management of Worldwide Catfish Populations & Habitats (American Fisheries Society).

Sturmbauer, C., M. Husemann (graduate student), and P.D. Danley. (In press). Diversity, speciation and adaptive radiation in African cichlid fishes. In Biodiversity Hotspots (Springer) Eds. J. Habel and F. Zachos.

N.S. Green & K.T. Wilkins. 2010. Continuing range expansion of the northern pygmy mouse (Baiomys taylori) in northeastern Texas. The Southwestern Naturalist, 55:288-291.

B.K. Kirchner, N.S. Green, D.A. Sergeant, J.N. Mink & K.T. Wilkins. In press. Responses of small mammals and vegetation to a prescribed burn in a tallgrass blackland prairie. The American Midland Naturalist, July 2011.

PRESENTATIONS

Usenko, C.Y., E. Robinson, S. Usenko, and E.D. Bruce. Brominated flame retardants: new compounds new problems? SETAC North America, Portland, OR. November 7-11, 2010.

Usenko, C.Y.; E.D. Robinson, and S. Usenko. Simplified analytical methods for concentration and dose determination in toxicity studies, SETAC North America, Portland, OR. November 7-11, 2010.

Usenko, C.Y., B.W. Brooks, and E.D. Bruce. Effects of PBDE congener exposures on embryonic zebrafish development. SETAC South Central, Junction, TX. April 30-May 1, 2010.

Geng Chen (graduate student) and Sang-Chul Nam. 2010. Role of Centrosomin in Drosophila photoreceptor. Society for Developmental Biology. Southwest Regional Meeting, University of Texas/Austin, October 1-3, 2010.

Chris Kearney was an invited speaker at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute Peptide Conference in San Diego, CA held on January 10-11. His talk was “A suite of buisafe deleted plant viral vectors for high level protein expression.”

Tracy Pinney and Kevin Gutzwiller. Distance decay in bird community similarity: investigating predictions of neutral theory and niche-assembly theory. 95th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Pittsburgh, PA, August 2010.

Doyle, R.D. and D. Barker. 2010. Biodegradeable Organic Carbon Inputs to Lake Waco, TX. North American Lake Management Society. Annual Meeting, November 3-5, Oklahoma City.

Doyle, R.D. 2010. Nutrients in the aquatic environment: impacts to aquatic plants. The 2010 Biological Control for Nature Conference. Northampton, MA, October 3-7. Invited symposium presentation.

Doyle, R.D., M.G. Forbes, J.T. Scott. 2010. Spatial patterns of planktonic production and respiration: a test of reservoir zonation theory. Am. Soc. Limnology and Oceanography, June 6-11, Santa Fe, NM.

Forbes, M.G., R.D. Doyle, J. Yelderman. 2010. Coastal Prairie Wetlands: Big benefits in small packages. Soc. Wetland Scientist, June 27-July2, Salt Lake.

Filstrup, C.T., J.D. White, B.W. Byars, S.J. Prochnow, and O.T. Lind. Impact of climate change on terrestrial organic matter loading to a south-central United States reservoir. American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Meeting, June 2010, Santa Fe, NM.

Sides, M.A. (graduate student), J.D. White, and D. Murray (graduate student). Woodland composition inertia affected by disturbance and climate assessed by dimensional analysis of historical landcover change data. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2010, San Francisco, CA.

Adhikari, A. (graduate student) and J.D. White. What are the potential CO2 emission effects for thorn woodlands? a promising remote sensing approach for mapping carbon sequestration. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2010, San Francisco, CA.

Murray, D. (graduate student) and J.D. White. Woodland patch dynamics affected by oak growth: fire, climate, and human influences. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2010, San Francisco, CA.Yao, J. (graduate student) and J.D. White. Impact of fire disturbance on regional net ecosystem exchange for a sub-humid woodland and grassland ecosystem. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2010, San Francisco, CA.

King, R.S. Synchronous changes in periphyton autotrophy, carbon:nutrient ratios, and species composition reveal stream ecosystem thresholds at low levels of phosphorus enrichment. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD. December 2010 (invited).

King, R.S. An alternative view of ecological community thresholds and appropriate analyses for their detection. UNC Institute for the Environment, Chapel Hill, NC. November 2010 (invited).

King, R.S. Wetlands are strongly linked to headwater stream ecosystems in the Kenai Lowlands, Alaska. Duke University Wetland Center Distinguished Speaker Series, Durham, NC. November 2010 (invited).

King, R.S. Effects of urbanization on stream communities. Kachemak Bay Research seminar series, Homer, AK. October 2010 (invited).

King, R.S. Linking observational and experimental approaches for the development of regional nutrient criteria for wadeable streams. Texas Parks and Wildlife Regional Directors meeting, Buda, TX. June 2010 (invited).

King, R.S. and M.E. Baker. Considerations for analyzing ecological community thresholds in response to anthropogenic environmental gradients. Joint meeting of ASLO/NABS, Santa Fe, NM. June 2010.

Back, J.A., J.M. Taylor (graduate student) and R.S. King. Sex and size matter: ontogenic controls on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry in aquatic macroinvertebrates. Joint meeting of ASLO/NABS, Santa Fe, NM. June 2010.

Taylor, J.M. (graduate student), J.A. Back, T.W. Valenti, and R.S. King. Evidence for fish-mediated nutrient recycling in experimental streams. Joint meeting of ASLO/NABS, Santa Fe, NM. June 2010.

Shafter, R.S., R.S. King and J.A. Back. Alder drives nitrogen availability, breakdown rates, and macroinvertebrate colonization of grass litter in Kenai Lowland headwater streams, Alaska. Joint meeting of ASLO/NABS, Santa Fe, NM. June 2010.

PAPERS/POSTERS PRESENTED AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS

North American Symposium on Bat Research, Denver CO. October 2010

Differences in structure of the bat community in managed and unmanaged southeastern pine-hardwood forests. Poster: Anica Debelica (presenter), Michael Weber (Business Fellows undergraduate) and Ken Wilkins.

The role of ecomorphology in determining response of a forest-dwelling bat community to management by prescribed burns. Poster: Cory Hanks (Honors Program undergraduate, presenter), Anica Debelica, Tommy Pettit and Ken Wilkins.

The relationship between clutter orientation and bat activity in forest canopies and edges. Oral presentation: Tommy Pettit (presenter) and Ken Wilkins.

Texas Society of Mammalogists, Junction TX. February 2011

Effects of prescribed fires on composition of the forest-dwelling bat community in southeastern pineyforests. Oral presentation: Anica Debelica (presenter), Cory Hanks, Tommy Pettit, and Ken Wilkins.

A Comparative Study of Wing Morphology and Echolocation Call Characteristics among Sympatric Bat Species in Sam Houston National Forest. Poster presentation: Cory Hanks (presenter), Anica Debelica, Tommy Pettit, and Ken Wilkins.

Seasonal and Nightly Bat Activity Patterns in Alpine Aspen (Populus tremuloides) Forests. Oral presentation: Tommy Pettit (presenter) and Ken Wilkins.

Multiple Captures of Reithrodontomys fulvescens and Baiomys taylori: evidence for short-term social traveling. Oral presentation: Nick Green (presenter), Laura K. Beard, Cathleen N. Early, and Ken Wilkins

Texas Academy of Sciences, Austin TX. March 2011

Differences in structure of the bat community in managed and unmanaged southeastern pine-hardwood forests and the role of ecomorphology. Oral presentation: Anica Debelica (presenter), Cory Hanks, Tommy Pettit, and Ken Wilkins.

Multiple captures of Reithrodontomys fulvescens and Baiomys taylori may indicate short-term, not long-term pair-bonding. Oral presentation: Nick Green (presenter), Laura K. Beard, Cathleen N. Early, and Ken Wilkins

Bat activity distribution in a medium-sized city, Waco, Texas: preliminary findings. Poster presentation: Han Li (presenter), Therese Gavin, and Ken Wilkins.

Southwestern Association of Naturalists, April 2011

Bat interaction with vegetation in forest edges and canopies. Oral presentation: Tommy Pettit (presenter) and Ken Wilkins.

GRANTS

Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund. Tools for ecosystem-based management of wetlands on the Kenai Lowlands, Alaska: Understanding upland-wetland-stream connections. C. Walker, R.S. King, D.F. Whigham and M. Rains. $299,824. 2010-2012.

Baylor University: Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement – Parallel Speciation or Common Ancestry? – Evolution of Diversity in New and Old World Genera of Band-Winged Grasshoppers. PI: Patrick Danley. $5000.

2010. Gus Glasscock, Jr. Endowed Fund for Excellence in Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. Grant amount: $7,000 (awarded). [PI: Anica Debelica]

2010. Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research. Grant amount: $996 (awarded) [PI: Nick Green]

2010. Doctor of Science in Physical Therapy (DScPT), U.S. Army Medical Center & School (Brooke Army Medical Center, Ft. Sam Houston TX and United States Military Academy, West Point NY. Renewal proposal, July 2010—December 2015. Contract value: $175,091 (awarded). [Co-PIs: Ken Wilkins and L. Lyon]

2010. Doctor of Science in Occupational Therapy (advanced residency, DScOT), U.S. Army Medical Center & School, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. Renewal proposal, July 2010—October 2015. Contract value: $187,919 (awarded). [Co-PIs: Ken Wilkins and L. Lyon]

AWARDS

SETAC Student Travel Award (to attend National meeting in Portland, OR). Funding to Aid Interdisciplinary Research (FAIR), SETAC South Central Chapter (award for research proposal).

Marsh Madness was recognized with a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Environmental Excellence Award in Education for its GEAR UP Waco program. Robert Doyle received recognition for outstanding service in Environmental Education by the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) for his role in Marsh Madness. This national award is granted to one recipient annually.

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, Spring 2010. Tommy Pettit

MISCELLANEOUS

Darrell Vodopich was the featured speaker at the Fall Biology Awards Night and Davidson Lecture which was held on November 12, 2010. The title of his talk was “Processes of Species Change in the Galapagos Islands.”

Baylor and the City of Waco celebrated World Wetland Day on February 11 with a special seminar at the Lake Waco Wetlands Research and Education Center. The Department of Biology was well represented in the following talks:

Jason Taylor (graduate student) – “Stream research at the BEAR facility mesocosms”

Robert Doyle – “Can the wetland save the lake? – what the water quality data tells us”

Jacquelyn Duke - “Riparian wetlands”Marty Harvill – “Undergraduate research and teaching at the Lake Waco Wetlands”Darrell Vodopich – “Dragonfly field research at the Lake Waco Wetlands”

Fred Gehlbach (Research Professor) finished a 30-year study of effects of suburban sprawl and climate change on a population of suburban-nesting Eastern Screech Owls in Waco and sent the manuscript to Journal of Raptor Research in January. He also negotiated with the University of Arizona Press’ request to publish his book manuscript on a 10-year study of a unique guild of five, close-nesting species of small owls, their ecological niches and ecosystem in two mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona. He expects to put finishing touches on the field study and mostly written manuscript this year.

Walter Holmes has recently been invited by the St. John Baptist Parish Public Library, LaPlace, LA, to give a presentation on March 17, 2011 on his books (A Dictionary of

Louisiana-French Animal Names (2010) and Flore Louisiane: An Ethnobotony of French-speaking Louisiana (1990)). The title of the presentation will be “Crapaud Volant,” (flying toad).

Patrick Danley, The Sound and the Fury (and the Color): Diversification of Lake Malawi Cichlid Fish. UT Arlington. 2010.

NEWS OF FORMER STUDENTS

David M. Hillis, 1960 graduate of Biology and son of Bill Hillis, is now the Roark Centennial Professor of Biology at the University of Texas/Austin. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In February he received the President’s Civitatis Award for major academic contributions to the Biological Sciences at the University of Texas. He is also senior author of a new beginning Biology textbook, Principles of Life, W.H. Freeman and Company, 2010.

Stephen Cook (BIO graduate 2010), a former student in Ryan King’s Aquatic Bio class last spring, has taken his interest in aquatic science to the extreme. Stephen is currently working as a research technician for Alaska Fish and Game on a crabbing vessel in the Bering Sea out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. This is the same port and crab fishery featured on the television show “Deadliest Catch.”

TRAVEL

This past summer, Patrick Danley’s lab went to Malawi to collect data concerning the divergence of species and maintenance of biodiversity in Lake Malawi’s cichlid fishes.

Claudia Carvalho, Diane Hartman, and undergraduate students Bianca Guerrero, Tim Dobin, Lucy Xu, Kelsey Deal, Balpreet Pamma and Tiffany Goines attended the North Texas Undergraduate Research Symposium on November 5th at UNHSC in Fort Worth. While there they presented the following posters: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Carriage Rate in a Healthy Undergraduate Population (Tim Dobin, Tamarah Adair and Diane Hartman), What is the Incidence of Salmonella in the Central Texas “Wild-Caught” Turtles? (Bianca Guerrero and Diane Hartman), and The Effect of Blue Light on the Growth of Staphylococcus aureus (Balpreet Pamma and Tamarah Adair).

Bianca Guerrero (undergraduate student) and Diane Hartman attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students held on November 10-13 in Charlotte, NC where Dr. Hartman was a judge for Microbiology poster presentations.

CONGRATULATIONS!

The Fall Biology Awards Night and Davidson Lecture was held on April 16, 2010. The following outstanding seniors were recognized for their achievements during the program: Jessica Salter (August 2010), and Jesse Conner, Samuel Loper, Hayley Marshall, Benjamin Nguyen, Anna Patronella, Lindsay Tilger, Jonathan Tobey, and Scott Walker (December 2010).

The February 4, 2011 issue of the Waco Tribune-Herald featured a full-page article by Fred Gehlbach on the subject of—what else?—birds. This is the first of a series of monthly

columns in which Fred will discuss “Central Texas critters and plants and his life-long passion for the environment.”

RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Dr. David W. Eldridge will retire in May 2011 after a 43-year career at Baylor University. Dr. E came to Baylor in the fall of 1968 as the 9th professor in the Department of Biology. In 1968, student enrollment at Baylor was around 5,500 and the department occupied two floors in the Sid Richardson Science Building. Dr. E taught five different classes that first year: Cellular Biology, Cellular Biology Laboratory, General Botany, Bacteriology and Microbiology.

In 1968, Biology majors were required to take Introductory Botany, Introductory Zoology and Cellular Biology. After several years Dr. Eldridge promoted and helped develop a 2-semester course in Introductory Biology that is the basis for our current Biology 1305, 1306, 1105, and 1106. Because basic cell biology was now taught in the basic sequence, he modified Cellular Biology to a senior level class, now Biology 4307 - Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry (Cell Fizz).

As student enrollments increased over the years, class size increased and the number of faculty also increased. Dr. Eldridge continued to teach large classes in Biology 1305 and 1306, as well as Cell Fizz.

When the Department of Biology moved to the new Baylor Sciences Building in 2004, due to the increased enrollment his Bio 1305-1306 and Cell Fizz classes became larger and larger, hitting a massive 290 students in Biology 1305 in Fall 2005 and 165 in Cell Fizz in 2007. Dr. E estimates that in his 43 years he has taught well over 15,000 students.

Dr. E has maintained contact with many of these students and says he will continue to do so in retirement. He plans to do more reading, perhaps writing and of course continue his passion for fishing for that big bass at Lake Fork.

Anyone wishing to send Dr. E a note may do so at David_Eldridge@baylor.edu or to his home address: 254 Bluffview Circle, China Spring, TX 76633.

SUPPORT THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

There are many opportunities for donations in support of the Department of Biology Scholarship Funds. These include:

The Kenny Cameron Memorial Endowed Scholarship – This endowed scholarship fund provides assistance to deserving undergraduate students who are from Harris County, TX and who are majoring in biology. Additionally, scholarship awards will be made on the basis of merit and need.

Eugene Crowder Memorial Tuition Scholarship – These fund awards are designed to help defray tuition costs for undergraduate students for any 3000, 4000 or graduate level Baylor Biology course. This is applicable for the semester following the semester of the award. Academic accomplishments and financial need of the applicants will also be considered.

The David W. Eldridge Endowed Scholarship – The scholarship fund provides assistance to students of Baylor University who are majoring in biology based on the student’s academic performance and financial need. Preference will be given for students planning to enter any of the health care professions.

Frederick R. Gehlbach Endowed Scholarship – Awards are made annually on the basis of merit with need being a secondary consideration.

F. Ray Wilson Scholarship – This endowed scholarship is awarded by the Department of Biology at Baylor University to biology pre-med students on a merit basis.

Beta Beta Beta Endowed Scholarship Fund

To donate to any of the above scholarships, go to http://www.baylor.edu/developmentSelect: Give NowSearch for: Name of scholarship fund