Biology News Archive

  • Belle Burnside wins Top Poster prize at Murdock Conference

    Nov 10, 2024

    Congratulations to Belle Burnside (BS Ecology, 2025), who earned Top Poster Presentation honors in the Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity category at the annual Murdock College Science Research Conference. Belle's presentation, "Succession and forest maturation decreases population density of black-tailed deer on Blakely Island, WA", was mentored by Dr. Eric Long, Professor of Biology. Belle was one of 14 students from the Biology and Chemistry & Biochemistry departments who presented their research at the conference, which was attended by over 300 students from universities around the Pacific Northwest. More information on SPU's student presenters is available on the Biology department website.

  • 50 SPU students contributed to salmon mislabeling fraud study

    Nov 6, 2024

    Dr. Tracie Delgado, Professor of Biology, is the senior author of a new study in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. This study, carried out by 50 students in Dr. Delgado's lab and in her Genetics course, provided genetic evidence that "wild-caught" salmon sold in sushi restaurants and grocery stores were often actually farm-raised salmon. Professors of Biology, Dr. Eric Long and Dr. Tim Nelson, also contributed to this study. This study has been reported on by multiple media outlets, including NPR (KUOW), KING-5, the Seattle Times, Newsweek, ABC news, Popular Science and others. More information about the study is available on the Delgado lab website.

  • New study from Dr. Wall-Scheffler examines impact of longer lower limbs on running

    Oct 30, 2024

    Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler, Professor of Biology, and collaborators at Charles University in the Czech Republic (where Dr. Wall-Scheffler was a Fulbright Fellow), published a new study, "Impact of relative lower-limb length on heat loss and body temperature during running" in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. This study found that runners with longer lower limbs relative to overall body size experienced greater heat loss and smaller increases in mean body temperature compared to runners with shorter lower limbs relative to overall body size. Surprisingly, this thermoregulation was not due to increased body surface area, as was previously predicted. This study provides further evidence to the adaptive significance of lower limb length in thermoregulation across a variety of physical activities.

  • The Galapagos Global Seminar is now accepting applications

    Oct 3, 2024

    In June 2025, Professors of Biology, Dr. Eric Long and Dr. Ryan Ferrer, will lead students on a trip to the Galapagos Island, which has played a pivotal role in our understanding of evolutionary biology. Students can earn credit for either BIO 3303 (Evolutionary Ecology in the Galapagos Islands, 5 Credits) or BIO 3304 (Oceanography of the Galapagos Archipelago, 5 Credits). For more information and to apply, please see the Study Abroad program website. The application deadline is January 13, 2025.

  • Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler discusses human evolution in The Conversation article

    May 10, 2024

    In a new post on the science-focused journalism site, The Conversation, Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler, Professor of Biology, argues that the activities of everyday life influence human evolution just as much as “uncommon activities” (such as big-game hunting). The article, "Everyday life and its variability influenced human evolution at least as much as rare activities like big-game hunting", draws from Dr. Wall-Scheffler's own research and the research of other scientists to present a new model for understanding how humans evolve in response to their social and environmental interactions.

  • Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler named 2023 AAAS Fellow

    Apr 19, 2024

    Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler, Professor of Biology, was named to the 2023 AAAS Fellow class in the Section on Anthropology. The AAAS Fellows is a prestigious honor bestowed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recognizing top scientists in their fields. It is highly ususual for faculty from non-research-intensive (R1) universities to be recognized. This recognition is a testament to Dr. Wall-Scheffler's transformative research, and demonstrates that high-quality research with undergraduate students is not only possible, but necessary. More information on the AAAS Fellows honor is available here. Congratulations, Dr. Wall-Scheffler!

  • Biology programs are featured Giving Day 2024 campaigns

    Apr 2, 2024

    SPU's annual Giving Day will be Wednesday, April 3, 2024, and features two core Biology programs. The BioCORE Scholars Program supports students who are underrepresented in STEM and health care fields by providing academic enrichment, research experience, networking and scholarships. If at least ten donors give to the BioCORE Scholars Program, we will receive an additional $100, thanks to a generous donor. Please donate via the BioCORE Scholars Giving Day page!

    Blakely Island Field Station in the San Juan Islands is a beloved site for research and fellowship for both students and faculty. Funds raised will go to restoring aging infrastructure around the field station and to support student research. Please donate via the Blakely Island Giving Day page!

    The campaign with the greatest number of donors will receive an additional $1500, with $1000 going to the campaign with the second-highest number of donors. Giving Day is an important source of financial support for our programs, and we greatly appreciate any contributions!

  • Biology Department is represented at the 2024 American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting

    Apr 2, 2024

    Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler, Professor of Biology, along with current student Eloisa Nguyen (BS Physiology, 2024) and alumna Yu-Jin Youn (BS Physiology, 2023), presented research at the 2024 American Association of Biological Anthropologists conference in Los Angeles. Dr. Wall-Scheffler served as a member of the conference planning committee and symposium organizer, as well.


  • Biology faculty and alumnus publish new deer research study

    Feb 27, 2024

    Professors of Biology Eric Long and Ryan Ferrer, along with alumnus Enoch Tham (BS Ecology, 2019) co-authored a new research article in PLoS ONE (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0298231). The article, “Succession and climatic stochasticity induce long-term decline of a forest browser”, examined the long-term effects of forest regrowth and maturation on the density of black-tailed deer on Blakely Island. Long, Tham and Ferrer found that as timber harvests decreased and forests matured on Blakely Island, black-tailed deer populations decreased. These results are among the first to quantify deer population declines in response to forest regrowth and increased canopy cover, and have long-term implications for island ecosystem recovery and population survival in response to significant events such as climate change and disease.

  • Gum Nau presents research at SICB Conference

    Jan 1, 2024

    Gum Nau (BS Physiology, 2024) will give an oral presentation at the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) conference in Seattle on Friday, January 5. His talk, titled "Trophic tinkle: Predator pee fails to frighten foragers and conifer chemistry depends on deer damage", will report work Nau did in collaboration with biology students Hannah McSwain (BS Ecology, 2024) and Kenzie Garrett (BS Physiology, 2024), and supervised by Professors Ryan Ferrer (Biology), Eric Long (Biology) and Baine Craft (Psychology). It is unusual for undergraduates to be selected for oral presentations at a national conference like SICB - congratulations, Gum!

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