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David Penning Ph.D
Principal Investigator I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Environmental Health at Missouri Southern State University. The students that I work with become active researchers in their fields, strong academics, and professionals. Every project that we collaborate on is a true collaboration; I typically work alongside them to accomplish a larger goal. I am very passionate about research and teaching and believe that a multifaceted approach is the key to advancing critical thinking skills and life-long learning.
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Current Students
Snake Husbandry and Turtle Rehabilitation
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Kylie
Kylie is a pre-vet major at MSSU. She works in the lab mainly to gain exotic animal husbandry experience. She primarily cares for the colony of Carpet Pythons (Morelia spilota) but will help me with any colony that needs more than regular attention. She assists with snakes that require manual feedings and aid with shedding issues. Kylie is a an active member of the MSSU Women in Science group and has a lot of experience working with veterinarians. She is also currently helping me with several Three-toed box turtles (Terrapene carolina) that require special care and attention. |
Stinkpot and Ornate Box Turtle Defensive Performance
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Gina Gina is the graduate student of Day Ligon at Missouri State University. I am one of her committee members and we work together on two different projects. One project involves measuring the bite force of Stinkpot turtles (Sternotherus odoratus). The other project involves evaluating the behavioral and performance differences in captive and wild Ornate Box turtles (Terrapene ornata). Gina is still in the data collection stages on her Stinkpot research but we are currently working on writing her Ornate Box turtle project up for publication! |
Animal Care and Public Outreach
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Hannah Hannah is the newest member of my lab. She is a freshman pre-vet major at MSSU. Right now we are working together primarily to learn proper handling and manipulation of colubrid snakes. Currently, we are working with smaller rat and kingsnakes but will move into larger ratsnakes and boas in the near future. Along with her husbandry work, she also attends local outreach events with the other lab members and is working on reading the primary literature used in the lab to carry out our research. |
Measuring Herpetofaunal Biodiversity of SW Missouri
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Kelsea Kelsea is a Conservation and Wildlife major at MSSU. She is also a biology tutor and one of my lab technicians. She oversees the Borneo Python collection in lab and is the lead author on our lab's effort to quantify and describe the herpetofaunal biodiversity at Kellogg Lake in Carthage, Missouri. We have spent ~300 person-hours trapping, capturing, and measuring all of the reptiles and amphibians we can find. We have also consolidated all of the historical records of the known species of the region in order to create a more comprehensive view of the animals of our area. Together, we have found several previously unreported species in Southwest Missouri in high numbers. We are working together to submit our records for publication soon. |
Field Research and Animal Husbandry Experience
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Alyssa Alyssa is a Wildlife and Conservation major at MSSU. She has already completed her BS in Psychology and has decided to switch her focus to non-humans! She works in my lab to maintain the colony of Amazon Tree Boas (Corallus hortulana) and is a member of the team that performs field research at Kellogg Lake. She has mastered the ability to continuously catch enormous bullfrogs (aka "absolute keggers") while in the field. She has taken three statistics courses but continues to learn and hone her skills and is currently working with me to better understand Research Methods and Statistics using RStudio. |
Field Research in Carthage Missouri
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Thomas Thomas was a pre-vet student who recently converted to a conservation and wildlife emphasis after gaining some field research experience with me in the Summer of 2020. He is an honorary member of my lab but his main research is a collaboration with Dr. Charles Withnell on species delineation using geometric morphometrics on fossilized rodent teeth. Thomas is an avid fisherman and loves the outdoors so it is only fitting that he focus his education on wildlife biology. He is also my lab assistant for my Research Methods and Statistics course where he helps students learn to use RStudio and to better understand experimental design. Thomas is part of the group that measures the biodiversity of reptiles and amphibians at Kellogg Lake in Carthage, Mo. |
Habitat Restoration, Invasive Species Control, and Public Education
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Jeremiah Jeremiah is a Biology major at MSSU. He has a lot of field experience and has worked with the Watershed Conservation Corp controlling invasive species at multiple state and national parks. He has also been an interpreter at Roaring River State Park and Prairie State Park. He is also part of my field research team that works on the herpetofaunal inventory of Kellogg Lake. Jeremiah was part of my Mammalogy class where we spent several days at the Biology Pond on campus. He quickly recognized how in need of help the region was and formulated a plan to recover the ecosystem and build an outdoor educational area. He has spent hundreds of hours and organized almost multiple volunteer cleanup days. Through his efforts he has raised almost $4,000 to purchase the necessary tools, equipment, and plants to continue to repair the ecosystem. |
Alligator Snapping Turtle Defensive Performance
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Lexis Lexis is a Wildlife and Conservation major at MSSU. She is involved in several projects and experiments both on and off campus. She is currently working to expand our skeleton and fur collection within our Mammalogy museum. This involves skinning larger mammals and skeletonizing their skulls. She has also helped to expand our collection by getting specimen from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. In addition to this work, Lexis is also part of my field research team that has set out to inventory the herpetofaunal diversity and abundance at Kellogg Lake in Carthage, MO. Lexis is also working with myself, Day Ligon, and Ashley Gagnon at Missouri State. Ashley is quantifying the strike and bite speeds of Alligator Snapping turtles that have been exposed to a series of varying environmental temperatures. |
Pseudoreplication in Clinical Anatomy
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Whitney
Whitney is a Wildlife and Conservation major at MSSU. She is one part of a two person project focusing on proper experimental design and analysis within the biomedical literature. More specifically, they are evaluating the prevalence of pseudoreplication within the human anatomical sciences. Whitney is a member of the student senate, a tutor (for chemistry, biology, and statistics), president of the Pollinator club, and founding member of the MSSU Research Council. She has been able to secured a lot of travel support for her efforts including funding from the Dean of Arts and Sciences, International Studies, The Student Research Committee, and the Student Senate. She is the co-recipient of multiple awards including the best poster presentation (in Education) at the American Association of Clinical Anatomist's annual conference and the runner up for the Cave Young Investigator Prize at the 19th Congress of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists in London. Whitney is now a Mammalian Cell Technician at Charles River Laboratory. |
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Gil
Gil is a Pre-Med major at MSSU. His primary research focus is different from that of many of my other students. He is the other half of the research team with Whitney. He is my lab assistant for Research Methods and Statistics in Biology where he helps students with R. He is also the TA in the human cadaver lab on campus as well as a tutor for Chemistry, Biology, and Statistics. He shares all the funding and accolades that Whitney has received. He is the co-recipient of multiple awards including the best poster presentation (in Education) at the American Association of Clinical Anatomist's annual conference and the runner up for the Cave Young Investigator Prize at the 19th Congress of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists in London. Gil went on to AT Still University's Medical School! |
Bite Force Mechanisms in Alligator Snapping Turtles
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Ashley Ashley received her B.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University. She has a lot of field experience in various locations and has assisted on many different ecological projects. Ashley is currently a Master's student at Missouri State University. Her project involves a collaboration between my lab and Dr. Day Ligon's lab. She is interested in better understanding the biting mechanisms and performance of Alligator Snapping Turtles. She has collected all of her data and we are currently in the analysis stage. |
The Impacts of Temperature on the Strike Performance of Ratsnakes
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Jainee Jainee is a Pre-Vet student at MSSU. She joined the lab for two reasons. She is gaining exotic animal experience and research experience (both are requirements of many Vet schools). Jainee is working with the Ratsnakes within the lab and is processing several data sets I have collected. We are interested in the thermal impacts on strike performance in a slender-bodied snake. Some of my prior research has compared ratsnake strike performance to several heavy-bodied pitvipers at one body temperature. Jainee is expanding upon that research by looking at the changes in strike performance caused by different body temperatures. She has received funding support from the MSSU Undergraduate research grant committee and is the recipient of the Alan H. Kamb grant for research on Kansas Snake from the Kansas Herpetological Society. Jainee was accepted into four vet schools and is currently attending the University of Missouri. |
Testing Muscle-level Trade-offs Using Whole Animal Performance Metrics
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Jillian Jillian is a Pre-Med student at MSSU and is also a member of the Honors Program. She maintains the colony of Rosy Boas and has taken preliminary data on their striking and constriction performance. Initially, Jillians' primary research goal is to identify easy and repeatable ways of identifying potential diseases in within our snake colony. She has recently turned her focus towards better understanding the trade-offs between speed and strength in snakes. She is simultaneously measuring the strike speeds and constriction pressures from Borne Pythons (Python breitensteini). She has received funding from the MSSU Undergraduate Research Grant and has presented her work at multiple conferences. |
Temperature Impacts on Striking and Venom Delivery in Cottonmouths
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Veronica Veronica is a Pre-Dental student at Missouri Southern State University and a member of the Honors Program. Veronica oversees the care and maintenance of the Carpet Python colony in our lab. Veronica is expanding upon our cottonmouth research and is manipulating body temperatures. In our other cottonmouth projects, we are controlling for temperature and testing the impacts of body size. Veronica is controlling body size while manipulating boy temperature. By doing so, she is testing two hypotheses. She is testing for elastic recoil mechanisms in cottonmouths strikes and quantifying the impacts of changing body temperatures on venom delivery. |
Venom Delivery and Strike Kinematics in Cottonmouth Vipers
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Nathan Nathan is a double major (Pre-Med and Chemistry) student at Missouri Southern State University and a member of the Honors Program. We are currently working on a collaboration with Brian Greene at Missouri State University. Nathan's research focuses on the ontogeny of strike performance, the ontogeny of venom delivery, and the relationship between the two traits. He is testing variable hypotheses about how venom is delivered and the impacts of size on the high-speed movements produced by snakes. Nathan also works with the Borneo Pythons in the lab and has collected data on their striking and constriction performance. He has won two competitive awards for his work with pythons. |
Past Students
Impacts of Temperature on Constriction Performance
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Jeff
I met Jeff at the Kansas Herpetological Society Meeting held at Wichita State University in 2017. Jeff is a graduate student at Emporia State University, studying under Lynnette Sievert, and I am serving as his outside committee member. In the Spring of 2018, Jeff visited my lab to train on pressure sensors in order to record constriction pressure and body posture. Jeff is studying the impacts of body temperature variation on constriction performance in Corn Snakes (Pantherophis guttatus). Jeff successfully defended his thesis and graduated in the Spring of 2019. After graduation, Jeff worked as an Animal Technician for the NIH and is currently a Research Technician at an Oncology Research Facility. |
Animal Husbandry and Outreach
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Elva Elva is a wildlife major at Missouri Southern State University. She is interested in working in a zoo setting so we tailored an internship for her in the lab. For the Spring of 2018, Elva monitored, fed, cleaned, and generally cared for the Reptile Physiology Lab (>100 snakes). During this time, Elva helped me at campus events where we communicated the importance of reptiles and amphibians. She also completed a second internship at Wildcat Glades nature center here in Joplin. Elva attended four professional conferences with the lab and presented some preliminary data on Kenyan Sand Boa strike performance. |
Subterranean Feeding Mechanics in Constricting Snakes
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Liz Liz is a graduate student from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is from Brad Moon's lab where I completed my Ph.D. Liz lived on campus at MSSU during the summer of 2018 where she could collect and analyze data for her Master's thesis using kingsnakes. The focus of Liz's work aims to better understand how a spatially limiting environment may constrain how a constricting snake may function. Liz presents her preliminary findings at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New York. Liz graduated in the Fall of 2018 from ULL and is currently a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Biologist. |
Identifying the Mechanisms of Constriction
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Christian
Christian and I focus on better understanding the physiological mechanisms of constriction in several snake species. Christian currently works as the Reptile Physiology Lab Research Technician and helps oversee our live animal collection. In addition to the maintenance in the lab, Christian has been working on two separate projects. Christian has begun to take the initial performance data on the ontogeny of constriction performance in Borneo Pythons. More recently, Christian has been quantifying the movement of fluids in the body that prey experience during constriction. Christian was awarded a $1,200 in research grants from MSSU and has presented portions of both of his projects at several professional meetings. Christian received the Outstanding Research Award from the Biology Department at MSSU and graduated in the Spring of 2019. |
Variable Strike Performance in the Western Ratsnake
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Ashley
Ashley is an Honors student at MSSU focusing on wildlife and conservation biology. Ashley currently works as at George Washington Carver National Monument. In the lab, Ashley is studying the impacts of different target types on the strike performance of the Western Ratsnake. Ashley has collected preliminary data on her project and recently presented her work at the Kansas Herpetological Society's annual meeting. Ashley has received a $700 grant from MSSU for her work. She also received the Alan H. Kamb Grant for Research on Kansas Snakes ($300). Additionally, Ashley received the George Toland award for Ecological Research on North American Herpetofauna from the Center for North American Herpetology ($200) for her presentation at the recent KHS meeting. Ashley received 2nd place at the MSSU research symposium and graduated in 2018. She is now a Park Guide at Fort Smith National Historic Site. |
Proximate Determinants of Bite Force in Snapping Turtles
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Teddy
Teddy is a conservation student with a more field oriented focus than many of my other students. Our research focus is also not snake-centered but is still very much in my wheelhouse of functional morphology and biomechanics. Teddy’s research is centered around the common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). Missouri Southern has a large population of snapping turtles on campus and Teddy is trapping, tagging, and taking performance metrics. His work centers on understanding the proximate determinants of bite force as a function of head and body morphoogy. Teddy recently presented some of his preliminary work at the Missouri Academy of Sciences as well as the Undergraduate Research Symposium on campus at MSSU. Data collection for his project is ongoing. More recently, Teddy was awarded a $600 research grant from MSSU and presented more of his work at the Kansas Herpetological Society's annual meeting. Teddy received both the Outstanding Service Award and Outstanding Research Award from the Department of Biology & Environmental Health at MSSU. He was accepted into Graduate School at the University of Central Missouri. |
3-Dimensional Strike Dynamics in an Arboreal Python
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Levi
Levi is my first student that is both a researcher and my lab technician. He graduated in the summer of 2017. During his time in the lab he spent his time rehabilitating and reorganizing our amphibian and reptile museum collection, caring for the live animals in the reptile physiology lab, and working on his own research questions. Levi also received the Excellence in Service award from the Department of Biology & Environmental Health here at MSSU. Levi is an avid climber and has merged his interests with mine. He studied the limitations of strike performance in highly arboreal snakes to understand how behavior and ecological complexity play a role in animal performance. To do this, Levi filmed and quantified the 3-D strike kinematics of Green Tree Pythons striking in both arboreal and terrestrial habitats. |
The Effects of Hunger on Predation Behavior and Performance
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Zadok
Zadok is my first undergraduate research collaborator at Missouri Southern State Univeristy. Zadok graduated from MSSU in the Spring of 2017. Based on my research timeline and transition to MSSU, Zadok got to experience the very beginnings of a research lab being built from the ground up. Together, we came up with a creative solution to our temporary limitation in research space so that we could accomplish his research goals. Zadok was in the Honors program at MSSU and his honors thesis focused on understanding how hunger affects predation performance in kingsnakes. We are finished with data collection and are currently in the writing process. Zadok's work was presented at the MO Academy of Sciences and the MSSU undergraduate research symposium where he won the 1st place poster presentation. Zadok also received the excellence in research award from the Department of Biology and Environmental Health at MSSU and a $750 research grant from MSSU. After graduation, Zadok entered the Marine Corps and is currently stationed at Camp Pendleton. |
Environmental Constraints on Constriction Performance
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Gabriel
Gabriel came to the Moon lab at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for the Summer of 2016. Gabriel is originally from Brazil but before coming to UL Lafayette he had spent quite some time at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. When Gabriel arrived, I was knee deep in data collection on a project involving complex in vivo measurements of muscle physiology in snakes and Gabriel jumped right in. Gabriel also worked shortly with CJ on another project involving quantification of kingsnake predation performance and he also collected high-speed videos of rattlesnake strikes. I had a large sample of kingsnakes available for study and after training him on various pieces of equipment, Gabriel worked with Brad to formulate a very interesting and exciting summer research project. Gabriel's project focused on quantifying and describing the behavior and performance of subterranean feeding in kingsnakes. We have a very narrow view of how many snakes actually feed and Gabriel's project has revealed some very interesting observations and results. He is currently writing the manuscript and hopes to have it ready soon! Gabriel went on to graduate school at the Universidade de Sao Paulo. |
Ecophysiology of Snake Strikes: Thermal Effects on Muscle Function
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CJ
CJ and I have been working together for several years now. We are currently working together to investigate the functional limitations of snake strike performance across their known thermal environment. We just finished this project and hope to publish our new insights into elastic recoil mechanisms very soon. We are currently working together on several additional projects involving strike kinematics and variation in constriction performance. CJ is a an undergraduate at UL Lafayette. CJ recently received a $2,000 competitive scholarship from the Mississippi valley Trade and Transport Council and presented a portion of his work at the 2016 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans and the 2017 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Meeting. CJ is currently attending graduate school at UL at Lafayette. |
Ontogeny and Comparative Biomechanics of Snake Strike Kinematics
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Baxter
Baxter and I met in 2013 and started working together on the behavioral modulation of strike kinematics. We have continued to work together on several other projects investigating changes in muscle anatomy and performance changes through ontogeny. Our third collaboration is ongoing and focuses on the comparative performance differences among several different snake species. We have presented our work (2 oral presentations and 3 posters) at both regional and national conferences. Our work together has resulted in competitive awards totaling $1,200 so far. Two of our three collaborations are currently undergoing peer-review. Baxter graduated with his B.S. in 2014. He went on to work on his Master's degree at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Using electron microscopy, Baxter's work focuses on arachnid ultrastructure and functional morphology. |
Thermal Ecology and Prey-Base Energetics in Colubrid Snakes
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Eva
Eva and I spent three years working together on several interesting projects. Our first project together focused on tracking the movements of overwintering snakes within a cave hibernacula. Even though snakes had limited thermal opportunities, they all regulated their body temperatures just above freezing. Snakes were not dormant, their activity was reduced but controlled. Thermal opportunities ranged from 0–8°C but all snakes maintained their body temperature around 4°C. We also worked together on projects investigating the efficacy of snake measurement techniques and the differential growth of snakes feeding on different prey. Our work together has resulted in one peer-reviewed publication so far and Eva has presented our collaborative work at several Herpetology conferences. Eva received $2,500 in grant support for our work together. She graduated with her B.S. (with honors) in 2013. She spent a year gaining research experience studying the demography of alligator snapping turtles at Missouri State University, and finished her M.S. studying box turtle ecology at the University of Central Missouri. |
Striking, Sweeping, and Feeding in Ribbon Snakes at an Aquatic Interface
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William
I met William while I was teaching at the University of Central Missouri. Early on, it was clear that he was interested in research outside of the classroom and he was an eager self-starter. I helped William design and implement a project evaluating the behavioral plasticity of ribbon snakes (Thamnophis sauritus) when feeding at a land/water interface. He received $700 in grant funding from the University of Central Missouri for the project and we co-authored a paper together. William's work showed that T. sauritus (feeding on small frogs) hunt primarily from terrestrial habitats. Regardless of the foraging location, the snakes worked to drag prey back to the land to complete ingestion. William graduated with his B.S. in 2013. After his B.S., he focused on amphibian evolution and is in the final stages of his Master's work at UCM. While at UCM William helped teach Comparative Morphology and took an Instructor position at State Fair Community College teaching Anatomy and Physiology. |
Prey-Handling Behavior and Growth in Boas
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Tyler
Tyler got in touch with me through an instructor at UCM. He was looking to gain some research experience before he graduated. We worked together, and with two other undergraduates on several projects. He was dedicated to a project evaluating how Boas handle distinctly different prey types. Tyler wanted to describe the differences between the prey-handling behaviors used on endothermic prey compared to ectothermic prey. Additionally, Tyler tracked the growth rates of these snakes to better understand the energetic consequences of different prey-bases. Tyler received $700 in grant funding from the University of Central Missouri and we are coauthors on one paper. Tyler went on to work for Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department. |