Stanley Fox (Emeritus Regents Professor)
Stanley graduated with a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1973, spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Millbrook Field Center of Ecology and Ethology, Rockefeller University, then two years as a temporary Assistant Professor at Boston
University, before joining the Department of Zoology (now Integrative Biology) at Oklahoma State University as an Assistant Professor in 1977. He retired from teaching in the summer of 2013 at the rank of Regents Professor, but remains very active in research and publication. He is interested in a wide range of questions including social behavior of lizards, tail autotomy, sexual selection, and parental care in lizards, as well as diversity and conservation of reptiles and amphibians in and around Oklahoma and in South America, role of disease (Bd fungus and ranavirus) in amphibian declines, and temperature-dependent sex determination in collared lizards. His 
current research predominantly focuses on precocial sexual selection in collared lizards, parental care and group living in Liolaemus leopardinus, and effects of climate change on altitudinal range shifts in Chilean Liolaemus in the altiplano of central Chile.
Stanley's CV
Email: stanley.fox@okstate.edu
Office: 306 LSW
Phone: 405-334-1309
Graduate Students
Taylor Carlson (M.S.)
Taylor received her B.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Louisiana State University in 2015. In Fall 2017, she assisted with studying precocial sexual selection in Collared Lizards in the Fox Lab at OSU. She is interested in many aspects of herpetology research, with an emphasis on conservation and behavioral ecology. Her current Master’s thesis research focuses on learning more about Ringed Salamander populations in eastern Oklahoma using environmental DNA (eDNA), photographic identification of individuals, and habitat suitability analysis. Taylor is co-advised by Drs. Stanley Fox and Elisa Cabrera-Guzmán.
Active projects: Population Distribution and Habitat Selection of the Ringed Salamander (Ambystoma annulatum) in Oklahoma
E-mail: taylor.carlson11@okstate.edu
Office: 434 LSW
Recent Past Graduate Students
Jaina Agan (Ph.D.)
Jaina started at OSU after completing her undergraduate degree at Clayton State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is focused on the field of herpetology and is interested in several topics within the field. These topics include, but are not limited to, behavioral ecology, ecology, evolution, sexual selection, and biodiversity. Jaina joined the Precocial Sexual Selection in Collared Lizards project and her research used field experiments to gauge how male hatchling orange bars play a role in interactions of males with hatchling females and other hatchling males, how the orange bars may help determine the genetic fitness of the bearers, the proximate cause of the bars, and the possible predation costs of the hatchling orange bars. Jaina completed her doctoral degree in the summer of 2021 and is now a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Active projects: Precocial Sexual Selection in Collared Lizards
Personal Website: https://justinagan.wixsite.com/jagan
Jodie Wiggins (Ph.D.)
Jodie's dissertation research focused on a long-term study of the costs and benefits of a conspicuous sexual dichromatism in hatchling collared lizards: bright orange lateral bars in males. She showed Precocial Sexual Selection in these lizards, juvenile-specific male traits that increase fitness once those individuals lose those traits and sexually mature. Jodie graduated in July 2018 with her PhD and before that received her M.S. degree in 2010 from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She was co-advised by departmental collaborator Matt Lovern. She is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor at OSU. Jodie is interested in various aspects of behavioral ecology, but especially genetic components.
E-mail: jodiewiggins18@gmail.com
Personal website: http://jodiewiggins.wix.com/mysite
Enrique Santoyo-Brito (Ph.D.)
Enrique received his Licenciatura degree in Biology from the Universidad Veracruzana, and a Master's degree in Conservation and Wildlife Management from the Colegio de Postgraduados, Texcoco. Both Academic Institutions are located in Mexico. He is interested in a wide range of topics within herpetology. Topics include parental care, social behavior, sexual selection, evolutionary ecology, climate change and its different effects over reptile communities and populations, egg incubation temperatures and sex ratio in collared lizards, predator escape behavior of Chilean lizards, and herpetological conservation and biodiversity. He has conducted herpetological research in Mexico, United States of America, and Chile. His doctoral dissertation focused on group living and parental care of neonates in Liolaemus leopardinus a high-elevation, social, lizard species of the Andes in Central Chile, South America. Enrique graduated with his PhD in December 2017, held a postdoctoral position in the OSU Collection of Vertebrates after that, and then stayed on at OSU for another year as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He is now a Scientific Specialist in the Biological Collections of the Prairie Research Insitute at the University of Illinois.
Email: enrique.s.brito@okstate.edu
Personal website: http://esantoyobrito.wix.com/enrique
Andrea Acevedo (Ph.D.)
Andrea graduated with her PhD from OSU in July 2015. She is interested in all aspects of animal behavior, evolution, sexual selection, ecological immunology and animal coloration. Her doctoral research focused on sexual selection in hatchlings of the collared lizard, studying how the intensity of orange coloration in male hatchlings relates to testosterone levels, aggression, and ultimately individual fitness.
E-mail: andrea.acevedo@okstate.edu
Matt Anderson (Ph.D.)
Matt finished his PhD from OSU in the spring of 2013. He was Zoology’s Outstanding PhD student in 2012 and won the all-university Marshall Award in 2013, among many other awards. Matt examined the costs associated with tail autotomy, a valuable antipredatory tactic, in the lizard Uta stansburiana. He showed that tail autotomy leads to changes in sprint performance, mating strategy, territorial aggression, and territory size and quality. After tail loss, males adopted an alternate reproductive tactic—they became sneaker males. Matt is now a Teaching Assistant Professor at Florida International University.
Email: matt.anderson@okstate.edu
Eric Johansen (M.S.)
Eric graduated with a M.S. from OSU in December 2011. His thesis showed continued declines in freshwater turtles of eastern Oklahoma, especially northeastern Oklahoma. He recently completed his J.D with a certificate in Environmental Law at the University of Toledo College of Law in Toledo, OH. He is interested in environmental policy, herpological conservation specifically focusing on turtle declines, and land use policy.
Email: eric.johansen@rockets.utoledo.edu
Dan Moore (M.S.)
Dan finished his M.S. degree at OSU in May 2011. His thesis research involved tracking translocated adult and juvenile alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) for two years at a study site where the species no longer existed in Oklahoma. Translocated turtles stayed within the confines of the relocation site and displayed relatively high survivorship and significantly higher growth in mass than juveniles held at a hatchery. Some translocated adult turtles reproduced successfully. Dan is now Instructor of Science at Murray State College in Tishomingo, OK.
Email: danmoore244@hotmail.com
Nikki Cavalieri (M.S.)
Nikki graduated with a B.S. cum laude from OSU in 2006 and completed an Honors Thesis with Stanley Fox. Then she completed her M.S. with Stanley in May 2010. Her thesis was a study of the natural history of three Oklahoma skink species near Stillwater, Oklahoma. She devised a portable reader for non-invasive detection of pit-tagged lizards under cover boards. Nikki received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
Email: cybil.cavalieri@gmail.com
Recent undergraduates and technicians
This is the Collared Lizard field crew of undergraduate volunteers for Spring of 2019. What a fine group! From left to right, Abigael Burch, Kelsey Nelson, Katherine Mahoney, Spencer Jones, Ali Bailey, Alison Corcoran, and AJ Hager. Following blurbs are unfortunately out of date.
Abigael: From Tulsa, OK, she attends OSU in Stillwater, OK, as a Zoology major. She hopes to work in the field of Herpetology in the future, as she found a love for herps from her tortoise, Harley. She wants to work with turtles in some way hoping to add much needed research on the animals. She would also like to say that she only fell twice on the rocks, and is very proud of that.
Kelsey:
Katherine: From Redwood City, CA, Biology Major at OSU, wants to study genetics and continue with research.
Spencer: From San Diego, CA, he attends OSU in Stillwater, OK, as a biological science and secondary education major. In the future he plans to work as a middle school science teacher in Arkansas, where he can share his passion for reptiles and other animals with his students.
Ali:
Alison: From Panola, OK, a Zoology major, will graduate in 2021, and wants to work in a zoo or reserve in animal care or in animal education programs.
AJ: From Enid, OK, a Biological Science major with a focus on Environmental Biology, will graduate in 2021, and wants to study evolution on a long term scale.
Recent past undergraduates and technicians (blurbs unfortunately out of date)
Taylor Carlson (2017)
Taylor received her B.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Louisiana State University in Fall 2015. While at LSU, she worked as an undergraduate research associate, garnering experience in a wide variety of field and laboratory techniques - ranging from field based radio-telemetric studies on avifauna and large mammals to laboratory based nutrient cycle research. Additionally, she was fortunate enough to study with faculty and graduate students from the University of Swaziland during a study abroad course in Swaziland and South Africa. After graduation, she worked a variety of field technician jobs across the United States from California to Louisiana, working mostly with herpetofauna and upland game species. In Fall 2017, she assisted with studying precocial sexual behavior in collared lizards at OSU. She plans to pursue a Masters and/or PhD somewhere in the realm of herpetology, conservation, and/or ethology.
Audrey Vaughn (2017)
Audrey received her B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Wildlife Sciences from the University of Georgia in May of 2017. During her time at UGA, she worked in both the Herpetology and Aquatic Biotechnology and Environmental Labs. For her undergraduate capstone project, she conducted research and wrote a thesis on the sensitivity of northern and banded watersnakes (Nerodia sipedon, N. fasciata) to a neurotoxin-producing cyanobacteria (Aetokthonos hydrillicola) that has been shown to grow on invasive hydrilla in freshwater systems and cause vacuolar myelinopathy in a variety of vertebrate species when it is consumed. Snakes were exposed to the toxin experimentally via trophic transfer from gut-loaded fish. Not long after graduating in May, she took a position at OSU assisting with research on precocial sexual behavior in collared lizards. She is interested in the physiology, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology of squamates and intends to pursue a Masters or PhD in the near future.
Jessica Harper (2017)
Jessica is a Zoology Pre-Veterinary major. She is a senior and plans to attend a graduate program for Veterinary Medicine after graduation in May 2018, and has many schools in mind. Jessica worked during the summer as a field assistant on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. She hopes to continue assisting with research in Fall of 2017. She is interested in working with large animals and exotics. She hopes to work in a zoo, a wildlife rescue or even work abroad.
Megan Coleman (2016)
Megan is a Zoology, Pre-Veterinary major. She is a junior by year and plans to attend a graduate program for Veterinary Medicine after graduation in May 2019, preferably at OSU. Megan has worked the summer as a field assistant at the Sooner Lake Dam sites on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards.She would love to get even more involved in research. She is interested in working with large and small animals, as well as exotics, and hopes to open her own practice or work at a zoo.
Jamie Landers (2015-16)
Jamie started in the Fox lab in her freshman year as a Life Sciences Freshman Research Scholar with Dr. Stanley Fox as her mentor. She is conducting her research on sexual maturation in hatchling and yearling collared lizards. She plans to relate this information to body size, sex, and season. Jamie is now a sophomore in Zoology at OSU and has worked the summer as a field assistant at the Sooner Lake Dam sites on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. In past years, Jamie has worked as a veterinary technician in the Tulsa area. After graduation with a B.S. degree in Zoology, Jamie was accepted to veterinary school at OSU. She is looking into exotic animal medicine to continue working with reptiles and other special needs species.
Jackelynn Gutierrez (2016)
Jackelynn began her sophomore year at OSU and will graduate in May 2018 with a degree in Zoology. She began working with Dr. Fox in the summer of 2016 as a field technician for the research on precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. Jackelynn's research interests include behavior and cognitive ability. In the summer of 2017 she will begin assisting with a research project at the Oklahoma City Zoo on the personality and cognitive ability of Asian elephants. She hopes to attend a graduate program at OSU and continue her research in this area.
Britton Lilly (2016)
Britton graduated from OSU in December 2016, receiving a B.U.S degree with Zoology and Wildlife Ecology concentrations. He began working with the Fox Lab as a student researcher / field assistant in the fall of 2016. While researching precocial sexual selection in collared lizards, he conducted female choice trials of captive individuals as well as predatory trials with snakes to better understand the relationship between predation and the bright orange bars the hatchling males exhibit. He is interested in behavioral ecology as well as conservation and plans to become a Wildlife Biologist.
Megan Wohltjen (2014-16)
Megan recently graduated from OSU, majoring in Zoology. After two years as an undergraduate volunteer working on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards, she came back on the project as a paid research technician. Megan is presently working as a Parasitology Technician at the Oklahoma Animal Disease and Diagnostics Lab and helping with some research studies for the OSU Veterinary college. She plans to pursue a master's degree in Veterinary Biomedical Science while continuing to work over the next few years.
Angela Riley (2016)
Angela received her B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from Arizona State University in May 2016. She spent her undergraduate career participating in lab and field research testing the thermal and oxygen tolerance of the lizard species Sceloporus tristichus and Undulatus ornatus, in addition to various projects with the snake species Crotalus atrox, Antaresia childreni, and house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). She joined the Fox lab in August 2016 and worked as a field technician on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. Just recently, she joined Dr. Grindstaff's lab at OSU as a Master's student in the fall of 2017.
Cassie Thompson (2016)
Cassie received her BS in Wildlife Biology and Conservation with a certificate in Environmental Studies from Ohio University in May 2015, where she completed her honors thesis on the reproductive ecology of the hooded warbler (Setophaga citrina). Upon graduation she spent 8 weeks in southeastern Arizona working with the lizard Urosaurus ornatus among other southwestern species, and also has experience working with the salamander Plethodon cinereus. In early 2016 she joined Dr. Fox and his team in central Chile to study the effects of climate-induced upward range shifts of Liolaemus lizard species. She is pursuing her Masters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Ohio University, with a focus on vernal pool species. She plans to eventually pursue a Doctoral degree in the area of herpetology.
Allison Sewart (2015-16)
Allison received her B.S. in Zoology with a concentration in Ecology from the University of Maine in May 2015. She began working with Dr. Fox on precocial sexual selection in collared lizards in the fall of 2015. She has always had a fondness for reptiles and amphibians, and in early summer 2015 spent six weeks working in the Great Basin Desert with Phrynosoma platyrhinos and Gambelia wislizenii. In early 2016 she joined Dr. Fox and his team in Chile studying the effects of climate change on altitudinal range shifts in Chilean Liolaemus. She plans to continue gaining experience through internships and temporary research technician jobs before pursuing a Master’s and maybe Doctoral degree in herpetology.
Elizabeth Mendoza (2015)
Elizabeth graduated from UC Riverside with a BS in Biology in the spring of 2015. Immediately after graduating she took part in a field research project that focused on predatory-prey interactions between Mojave diamondback rattlesnakes, Banner-tailed Kangaroo rats, and Merriam’s Kangaroo rats. Shortly after, she joined the Fox lab where she worked as a field technician assisting with the project on precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. Her research interests include whole-organism performance, morphology, kinematics, predator-prey interactions, agonistic behavior, and communication. She joined OSU's graduate program as a Master's student under Dr. Dan Moen in the spring of 2016.
Jake Richmond (2015-16)
Jake began his freshman year at OSU as a Life Sciences Freshman Research Scholar with Dr. Stanley Fox as his mentor. He conducted experiments with hatchling female collared lizards and their possible preference for hatchling males with bright orange lateral bars vs. hatchling males without such coloration and is currently helping with the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. Jake was a Zoology major hoping to specialize in herpetology, primarily with snakes, but he changed his major to Education in 2016. He grew up observing and catching reptiles since he was a child. He hopes to travel the world seeing the different species of snakes.
Kendall Henson (2015-16)
Kendall is an OSU undergraduate who fell in love with animals at an early age. She started college as a zoology major, but has recently changed to sociology. Kendall mainly focused on the project with predation by native coachwhip snakes on collared lizard juveniles. She was part of a team that is running trials on predation preferences of coachwhips when given the option between a bright male juvenile with orange bars and a drab male juvenile with no orange bars (the trials do not permit the actual predation to take place, just the snake's choice). This project is measuring the cost of a dichromatic signal that the lab is investigating for its role in precocial sexual selection in collared lizards.
Cameron Hodges (2011-2015)
Cameron Hodges received his B.S. in Zoology from Oklahoma State University in May 2015. He is primarily interested in evolutionary and behavioural ecology in a broad variety of herpetofauna. . During his time at OSU he worked closely with graduate students in the Fox lab on various research projects on Collared Lizards, Side-blotched Lizards, freshwater turtles, and bats. Cameron also worked in the museum collection of vertebrates during his senior year at OSU, he was the caretaker of the live, venomous snakes on display at OSU for three years, and he was Co-President and Co-Founder of the OSU Herpetology Club. After graduation from OSU, Cameron worked as a research assistant on the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard project through Texas A&M University in west Texas, as an intern at the Sakaerat Ecology and Snake Education team in Thailand, and later as field manager of the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station King Cobra Tracking Project. Cameron is now in graduate school for his M.S. at Suranaree University of Technology, where he is studying the spatial ecology of king cobras in human dominated landscapes of suburban Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He also leads venomous snake handling training programs for the local rescue response teams so they can remove snakes from houses safely without hurting the snakes.
Roy Cruz (2015)
Roy graduated in Zoology at OSU and as an undergrad helped with the precocial sexual selection in collared lizards project. One semester he helped with studies of microhabitat use of frogs in Dr. Dan Moen's lab at OSU. With this research and more from various summers, he will search out internships to continue to gain experience in several topics of zoology such as field herpetology, field ornithology, population ecology, behavioral ecology, biodiversity, conservation biology, and wildlife photography. After gaining experience in the field, he will seek to earn his Master’s degree within herpetology or ornithology and will then pursue a career as a wildlife biologist with the ODWC or USFWS.
Giana Williams (2015)
Giana graduated in Zoology and Entrepreneurship at OSU. She began working with Dr. Fox on the precocial sexual selection in collared lizards project in the summer of 2015. Giana hopes to use the gained herpetology and research experience to begin working or interning. After acquiring enough experience, she plans to implement future endeavors in animal rehabilitation.
Kay Scribner (2015)
Kay joined the Fox lab in her senior year. She helped with the precocial sexual selection in collared lizards project. Now after graduating in Zoology, she hopes to intern at a zoo and learn more about herpetology. She also hopes to do more work as a research assistant for more experience before continuing on with graduate school for a Master’s degree in herpetology. Her areas of interest include herpetology, population ecology, behavioral ecology, and evolution. Animals have always been a part of her life and she intends to continue working with them for the foreseeable future.
Joe Webber (2012- 2016)
Joe started in the Fox lab as a Freshman Research Scholar and continued his research into all of his undergraduate career. He conducted histology on the hatchlings from the study of temperature-dependent sex determination in collared lizards. Joe was also a field assistant on the project of precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. In a past summer, Joe worked with graduate student Brent Fetting on a herp project in the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma. In another summer he was an Intern at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Now after graduating from OSU, Joe is considering graduate school and possibly continuing to do research either at a university or as a wildlife biologist. He is also considering working either at a zoo or as a biological illustrator.
Ariel Richter (2011-2013)
Ariel received her B.S. from OSU in December 2013 in Natural Resource Ecology and Management major with an option in Wildlife Ecology and Management and a minor in Entomology. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Central Oklahoma. She is interested in ecology and biodiversity conservation and is investigating growth and color development in hatchling Terrapene carolina as well as the quantification of sexually dimorphic characters and the influence of coloration on mate selection in T. carolina and T. ornata. Past projects have included a road mortality study and its effects on T. carolina as well as helping the Fox lab use remote query of PIT-tagged Trachemys scripta to determine trapping dynamics via conventional hoop traps. Ariel has also worked closely with graduate students on their projects involving other species of freshwater turtles, collared lizards, small mammals, ants, and American Burying Beetles.
Andrew West (2013)
Andrew was a M.S. student in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at OSU and primarily working on a joint fire project looking at dynamic fuel loads. He helped the Fox lab on projects with collared lizards, and also aids research with lesser prairie chickens.
Gus Reely (2013)
Gus graduated with a B.S. in Forest Ecology and Wildlife Management from OSU. He helped the Fox lab with collared lizard projects. Gus is now in graduate school purseing a Master's degree in the Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences at the University of Idaho.
Juliana Masseloux (2013)
Juliana Masseloux is an undergraduate student at Oregon State University studying Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences (and maybe graduated by now). She spent three months studying abroad in Chile during the winter (austral summer) of 2014, and joined Stanley Fox and Enrique Santoyo-Brito for a two-week internship in the Andes above Santiago, where she aided in their field research of Liolaemus leopardinus. Juliana wants to find a career in which she can combine here talents as an artist with wildlife ecology.
Erin Nally (2012-13)
Erin graduated with honors in zoology at OSU in May 2013 (completed her Honors Thesis with Stanley Fox) and wants to become a medical physician. She helped the Fox lab and in particular graduate student Andrea Acevedo with part of the project on precocial sexual selection in collared lizards. Erin is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was named one of the Top Ten Seniors in Arts and Sciences at OSU, among many other awards and scholarships.
Damien Esquerre (2012)
Damien Esquerré is a PhD student at The Australian National University. His research is on the molecular and morphological evolution of pythons, and in systematics of Liolaemus lizards. He worked as a research assistant for the Fox lab in Chile with the project on group living and parental care of Liolaemus leopardinus, and is currenlty collaborating on the project of predator escape ecology in Liolaemus.
Macarena Palma (2012)
Macarena is a biologist from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and does environmental consulting in Chile. Before that she worked for almost two years in behavioral research on rodents and lizards. Macarena was a research assistant for the Fox lab in Chile with the project on group living and parental care of Liolaemus leopardinus, and is currenlty collaborating on the project of predator escape ecology in Liolaemus.
Adam Simpson (2008-12)
Adam is currently a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology at OSU. As an undergraduate in the Fox lab, Adam worked for four years investigating behavioral ecology of collared lizards; specifically, evaluating the factors that influence survivorship and territory quality in hatchlings. He received the Lew Wentz Research Award for his work in 2011. Adam's current research includes evolutionary biology and ecotoxicology. His dissertation focuses on how selection driven by rapid environmental change influences the evolution of pesticide resistance. He has future plans to use genomics and transcriptomics to identify the loci responsible for resistance to specific anthropogenic stressors.
Lauren White (2007-12)
Lauren graduated from OSU in 2012 with an Honors Degree in Environmental Science with an International Research emphasis. During her time at OSU, she was introduced to the Fox lab by helping with field work on collared lizards, and later received an Niblack Research Scholarship to collaborate with the Fox lab on Uta stansburiana research. She also represented OSU and the Fox lab in two of NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduates projects where she did herpetological field research in Dominica, Lesser Antilles and Namibia, Africa. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington, and works in the Office of Research at the University of Washington.