(Environmental Stressors, Wildlife Toxicology, Animal Behavior)

Specific Interests

My research interests center on how stressors in the environment influence wildlife. I view stressors broadly to include environmental contaminants, habitat alteration, climate, and others. Most of my projects include both a field and laboratory component. Over the past several years I have been fortunate enough to work with a variety of wildlife species in numerous terrestrial and aquatic systems throughout North America and Central America. Recently, the bulk of my work has focused on the influence of anthropogenic stressors (pollutants and sediments) on amphibians in playa wetlands, particularly how agricultural activities effect amphibian community composition, amphibian immunity, exposure to chemicals, and chemical effects on behavior. This work is in collaboration with other members of the department and we continue with many of these studies at sites ranging from Texas to Nebraska.

I am always happy to discuss graduate school opportunities with interested students. Most of my projects support Research Assistantships, and Teaching Assistantships are usually available as well. If you are interested in working in my lab, please feel free to contact me.

Venne, L. S., G. P. Cobb, G. Coimbatore, L. M. Smith, and S. T. McMurry. 2006. Influence of Land Use on Metal Concentrations in Playa Sediments and Amphibians in the Southern High Plains. Environmental Pollution, 144:112-118.

Wu, T. H., J. E. Cañas, T. R. Rainwater, S. G. Platt, S. T. McMurry, and T. A. Anderson. 2006. Organochlorine contaminants in complete clutches of Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) eggs from Belize. Environmental Pollution, 144:151-157.

Selcer, K. W., L. M. Nespoli, T. R. Rainwater, A. G. Finger, D. A. Ray, S. G. Platt, P. N. Smith, L. D. Densmore, S. T. McMurry. 2006. Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for vitellogenin of Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, C – Toxicology and Pharmacology, 143:50-58.

Reynolds, K. D., M. S. Schwarz, C. A. McFarland, T. McBride, B. Adair, R. E. Strauss, G. P. Cobb, M. J. Hooper, S. T. McMurry. 2006. Northern pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides) as biomonitors of environmental metal contamination. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 25:458-469.

Platt, S. G., T. R. Rainwater, A. G. Finger, J. B. Thorbjarnarson, S. T. McMurry, and T. A. Anderson. 2006. Food habits, ontogenetic dietary partitioning, and observations of foraging behaviour of Morelet’s crocodile Crocodylus moreletii in northern Belize. Herpetological Journal, 16:281-290.

Smith, P. N., G. P. Cobb, C. Godard-Codding, D. Hoff, S. T. McMurry, T. R. Rainwater, and K. D. Reynolds. 2007. Contaminant exposure in terrestrial vertebrates (review article). Environmental Pollution, 150:41-64.

Rainwater, T.R., T.H. Wu, A.G. Finger, J.E. Cañas, L. Yu, K.D. Reynolds, G. Coimbatore, B. Barr, S.G. Platt, G.P. Cobb, T.A. Anderson and S.T. McMurry. 2007. Metals and organochlorine pesticides in caudal scutes of crocodiles from Belize and Costa Rica. Science of the Total Environment, 373:146-156.

Yu, L., G. P. Cobb, W. A. Jackson, S. T. McMurry, P. N. Smith, and T. A. Anderson. 2007. Evaluation of passive sampling devices as potential surrogates of perchlorate uptake into soybean. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 182:107-116.

Brunjes K. J., S. A. Severt, J. Liu, X. Pan, J. Brausch, S. A. Cox, G. P. Cobb, S. T. McMurry, R. J. Kendall, P. N. Smith. In Press. Effects of HMX exposure on reproduction and hatchling development in Northern Bobwhite quail. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.

Moore A. B., K. T. Rummel, B. M. Adair, M. J. Hooper, S. T. McMurry, G. P. Cobb. In Press. Excretion of mercury and methyl mercury from prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) receiving chronic doses of methlymercury. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

Liu, J., S. A. Severt, X. Pan, P. N. Smith, S. T. McMurry, G. P. Cobb. In Press. Development of an extraction and cleanup procedure for a liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric method to analyze HMX in eggs. Talanta.