Snake Experts Sssslip Into Northwest Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - It may be the only meeting in the world where snakes are welcome.

The Snake Ecology Group will meet Sept. 22-24 at the Ozark Natural Science Center outside of Huntsville. The event, organized by Steven Beaupre, assistant professor of biological sciences, will bring in about 100 people who study snakes in the wild. Their expertise ranges from physiology and molecular biology to behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.

"I think the thing people value most about such meetings is the opportunity to get together and speak with people from all over the world who have similar interests," Beaupre said. "We get together and discuss the state of our field in hopes of bettering what everyone is doing."

The weekend will feature workshops, posters and presentations, as well as a keynote address by Stevan Arnold of Oregon State University. The participants will take field trips into the Ozarks Sunday afternoon to see the local flora and fauna.

Beaupre studies rattlesnake physiology and its relationship to ecology. He has conducted research projects in three areas looking at three different rattlesnake species: Big Bend, Texas and the mottled rock rattlesnake; Phoenix, Ariz. and the western diamondback rattlesnake; and the Ozark Mountains and the timber rattlesnake. The Ozark Natural Science Center, where the meeting will be held, marks the study site for the last rattlesnake species.

Beaupre follows the rattlesnakes in their forest treks, studying what they eat, when they mate, how far they range and how fast they grow in relationship to temperature, moisture and food availability.

"If we understand how individuals are affected by environmental change, then we can predict what might happen in the future and assess the potential environmental impact of certain changes," Beaupre said.

He integrates ecological and physiological techniques in the laboratory, including radio telemetry, remote sensing, and physiological studies in the lab and field.

Many of the workshops will cover the kinds of field work that Beaupre engages in: getting the most out of radio telemetry, physiological and evolutionary ecology, habitat modeling and habitat utilization, molecular techniques in population structure and behavioral ecology. Each workshop will feature two to three experts who will give 30-minute talks on the state-of-the-art research in their field, after which there will be a 30-minute discussion.

"I never fail to leave such meetings with new ideas, or new ways to look at things," Beaupre said. "In some sense, these meetings are think tanks where lots of interaction goes on, and the course of our science may be altered by them."

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