Rebecca A. Pyles
 Interim Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences

Department of Biological Sciences
East Tennessee State University
PO Box 70703
Johnson City, TN 37614-1710
Email: pylesr@mail.etsu.edu
Phone: 423/439-6929

Teaching

Undergraduate:

Biology for Majors Lecture II ("organismic biology"; BIOL 1120)
Great Ideas In Science (University Honors; BIOL 3018, 3028)
Comparative Vertebrate Morphology (BIOL 3220)
Research Orientation for Undergraduates (BIOL 3292)
Evolution (BIOL 4360)

Graduate:

Topics in Systematic Biology (BIOL 5400)

Current Investigations

A model for the evolution of terrestrial feeding in salamanders.

with Anne M. Maglia

Comparisons of thyroid and prolactin hormone levels among metamorphosing and paedogenetic salamanders.
with Rachel Grindstaff

Niche partitioning in a salamander community.

with Christina Morgan

The role of apoptosis in skeletal remodeling during metamorphosis in anurans.

with Cymri Herndon

Developmental effects of acid precipitation on development in frogs.

with Catherine Nicholson and Amy Springate

A new species of desmognathine salamander from northeastern Tennessee.
with Stephen Tilley (Smith College)

Society Affiliations

Graduate Students

Rachel D. Grindstaff, 1994--present, M.S. Candidate

Comparisons of thyroid and prolactin hormone levels among metamorphosing and paedogenetic

salamanders.

Christine Morgan, 1994--present, M.S. Candidate

Feeding ecology in salamanders: Tests of a predictive model of morphology.

Cymri Herndon, 1996--present, M.S. Candidate

The role of apoptosis in skeletal development during metamorphosis.

Anne M. Maglia, 1992--1994; M.S. Biological Sciences, 1994

Skull morphology and feeding ecology in the read-backed salamander, Plethodon cinereus."

Current: Ph.D. candidate, The University of Kansas.

Jeffrey M. Motychak, 1994--present, M.S. Candidate

Correlation of morphological and genetic variation along altitudinal gradients in

plethodontid salamanders.

Current: Ph.D. candidate, Utah State University.

Maria F. Vallejo, 1994--1997, M.S. Biological Sciences, 1997

Department of Zoology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Genetic differentiation within and across a stream in Desmognathus.

UnderGraduate Students

Janet Vaglia, 1992--1993

Comparative development of the osteocranium in desmognathine salamanders.

M.S., Biological Sciences, James Madison University, 1995

Current: Ph.D. candidate, Dalhousie University.

Elizabeth Tipton-Jones, 1993--1995

A test of convergence: Dorsal color pattern in Desmognathus ochrophaeus.

M.S. Biological Sciences, College of Charleston, 1997.

Catherine Nicholson, current

Developmental effects of acidic conditions on two frog species..

Amy Springate, current

Effects of pH on embryo size in Xenopus laevis and Rana sylvatica.

Recent & Pending Publications

1995. Maglia, A.M. and R.A. Pyles. Modulalion of prey-capture behavior in Plethodon cinereus

(Green) (Amphibia: Caudata). J. Exp. Zool.: 272:167--183.

1996. Vallejo, M.F., Stephen Reilly, Rebecca Pyles, and Matthew White. Genetic differentiation

within and across a stream in Desmognathus. Bull. Isozymes, in press.

1996. Morgan, M., P. Scheureman, C.S.Bishop and R.A. Pyles. Teratogenic potential of atrazine

and 2,4D using FETAX. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health 48:151--168.

Pyles, R.A. and J. Vaglia. Comparative development of the cranium of two desmognathine

salamanders (family Plethodontidae). Journal of Morphology.

Pyles, R.A. Palatoquadrate Morphology: Evidence for paedogenesis in the evolution of anurans.

Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas

Tipton-Jones, E. and R.A. Pyles. Analysis of coloration polymorphism in Desmognathus ochrophaeus:

A test of convergence in a salamander community. Journal of Herpetology.

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This page created by Rebecca Pyles and Lois Hyder

Last Update: March 6, 2003 by Lois Hyder