Introduction: Given the role of microbiomes in promoting host health and homeostasis, understanding the factors shaping skin microbial communities in wild vertebrates has become increasingly important in conservation. This goal is even more pressing for amphibians, for which the skin has multiple critical functions, and pathogens currently decimating populations are linked to significant changes in skin microbiomes. However, because microbiomes are also...

The Sam Noble Museum Herpetology Department was recently funded by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) and Oklahoma City Zoo Conservation Action Now (CAN) to conduct Oklahoma statewide surveys to test for the presence and prevalence of the amphibian infectious disease Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (also know as Bd or chytrid) over a three year period (2015-2017). Members of the Siler Lab spend August–October of each year extracting DNA from swabs...

Siler Lab students once again participated in the Honors College’s annual Undergraduate Research Day on April 2, 2016.  Three total projects were presented (see titles below), covering the work of 5 students.  We are incredibly proud of all our undergraduate researchers!  See the full program here. Dylan Lindauer and Elyse Ellsworth*, with Dr. Cameron D. Siler, “Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) Detection in Central Oklahoma” Michelle Penrod and Marie Labonte*,...

This past weekend, 15 other OU McNair scholars and I traveled to the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas to present our research from the past year.  The McNair Scholars Program is a federal program to prepare undergraduate underrepresented students for doctoral studies through research and mentorships.  I presented the research that the Siler Lab and I conducted over the presence of Chytrid fungus in Southeast Oklahoma. ...