LEAPIN' LIZARDS A 29-year-old experiment gone awry resulted in an ecological, educational experience for Harding students. F or over 29 years, geckos repopulated and spread throughout Harding's campus. In 1989, Jonathan White, a student at the time, brought a handful of Mediterranean geckos to Harding from Galveston, Texas. White gave the geckos to his herpetology professor, Dr. Michael Plummer. "Dr. Plummer put the geckos in the outdoor animal enclosure on the ease side of the science building," White said. "The enclosure had a metal barrier around [it], designed to keep animals from escaping. Well, as you can see, that didn't work with the geckos." The geckos escaped and started a breeding colony in the attic of the science building, eventually spreading out across the campus. Dr. Nathan Mills, head professor of the ecology lab and associate professor of biology, was also a student when the geckos were brought to campus. In fall 2018, Mills offered his students the opportunity to study the geckos as one of the research options in the senior research lab. Mills explained that they always looked for animals that had a large population and potential for high data quantity. The goal of the research was to determine where the geckos were located on campus and to learn how they were using the environment. "There's always interest in introduced species that do well in a new location that they didn't occur in before," Mills said. "Part of this is the large impact that they can have on the native species." Senior biology major Nathan House was one of four students who elected to research the geckos with Mills. House explained that the first step in the observation process was co research background information on the species ofgeckos and formulate questions they wanted to ask while observing, which would serve as their variables. Over the course of two weeks, the students met five nights to observe 208 geckos across three buildings on campus. After observing the geckos, the students collected their data and wrote research papers based on the results. "My favorite part of the research has been just knowing chat this is a study specifically related co Harding," House said. "If it was a random spot in Arkansas, I don't think I would have been as invested." Mills said the department filed the information gathered from the semester, hoping to build on that data che next time they studied the geckos. He said he tried to rotate amongst different projects for each semester, but over time, he planned to come back to the research project at a later date. "I just like watching the students' responses to the animals," Mills said. "I like watching the development of their writing and learning and watching them go through the process of doing this." story by Alyse Yates Senior biology majors Nathan House and Isabelle Graessle, two ofthe four students who elected to participate in the research project with Dr. Nathan Mills, headprofessor ofthe ecology lab and associate professor ofbiology, huntfor geckos and record relevant data outside the Pryor-England Centerfor Science and Engineering on Nov. 15, 2018. Over a period oftwo weeks and around three buildings on campus, 208 geckos were studied. I photo by Sterling McMichael A gecko, found by students outside the Pryor-England Center for Science and Engineering, freezes in the light while students record data on Oct. 20, 2018. Mediterranean geckosfrom Galveston, Texas, escaped the outdoor animal enclosure in 1989 and repopulated throughout campus. I photo by Sterling McMichael 103 I BIOLOGY, CHEM! TRY & MATH
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