Harrisonburg native and biology professor comes to 草莓社区 to present a on a common problem for the conservation and management of endangered populations.
She鈥檒l share her research about tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), an endemic and rare reptile of New Zealand, in a seminar Friday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m. in Suter Science Center 106.
鈥淚n many species, offspring sex is not determined by chromosomes but instead develops based on environmental conditions,鈥� explains Grayson, who teaches in the biology department at University of Richmond. 鈥淢y research on tuatara living in islands offshore of New Zealand examined the potential for increased environmental temperature and sex ratio bias to endanger an isolated population.鈥�
Despite that populations may appear numerically stable, the sex ratio in tuatara populations may be 鈥渁n underappreciated threat to long-term viability,鈥� she said.
Professor , who with his wife Kathy has led three to New Zealand in 2010, 2012 and , invited Grayson to speak. The groups he鈥檚 led focus on conservation biology and the effects of invasive species, in addition to work with the indigenous Maori people, and the 2015 summer group met with Grayson鈥檚 colleagues (she was back in the States by that time) and toured the lab where she had worked.
鈥淭uatara are a great case study for the ‘Conservation Biology’ class as well as my first-year ‘Concepts in Biology’ class, as we are currently studying evolutionary biology and will be focusing on invasive species, which is the primary threat to tuatara, later this semester,鈥� he said.
From the Valley to Tuatara-Land
Grayson grew up in Harrisonburg, the daughter of two professors. Her mother, Joann Grayson, is a professor of psychology at James Madison University (JMU) and an expert in the field of child and family abuse. Her father, , is a scenery and lighting expert who retired after 26 years at JMU and is on the adjunct faculty at EMU.
In her youth, Grayson says she thought about studying environmental law, but her love of interacting with animals and the environment won over. She graduated from Davidson College in 2003 and decided to take a year off, unknowingly sowing the seeds of a future post-doctoral fellowship when she attended a conference in Australia on amphibians and reptiles. 鈥淭he head of the tuatara research project mentioned that I should get in touch if I ever wanted to work on tuatara.鈥�
At University of Virginia, she focused her dissertation research on migratory trade-offs of amphibians. But she never forgot the tuatara, and in 2010, six years later, she emailed the director of the project that she had met so many years ago in New Zealand.
That led to a grant proposal with the National Science Foundation, and in 2011, 鈥渨e packed up our family to move to New Zealand for a year and a half.鈥�
Travel and research challenges
Grayson says the experience of living and working in a different country, and best of all for the biologist, 鈥渟eeing different ecosystems,鈥� was rewarding, but also challenging. Based out of Victoria University of Wellington, she had to learn 鈥渁 whole new research system and the logistics of doing research in a totally different place.鈥�
鈥淭uatara are highly protected in New Zealand and the permitting process to conduct research is quite extensive, as well as the logistics of getting to the islands where they live,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his was much different than walking up to a pond in your backyard with a net to catch salamanders!鈥�
Grayson鈥檚 current research also examines the spread potential of gypsy moth, an invasive forest pest, at the southern invasion front.