As a direct result of recent work on the community ecology of the Gordon Natural Area, Drs. Greg Turner and Gerry Hertel presented a paper to the USDA Forum on Invasive Species and had another paper published in the PA Academy of Science.

2007 Hertel, G.D. and G.D. Turner. Invasive plants in the Gordon Natural
Area. USDA Interagency Research Forum on Invasive Species 18th Annual
Meeting, Annapolis, MD.

2007 Turner, G., Van Meter, R, and G.D. Hertel. Species composition and
structure of the Gordon Natural Area, an urban forest in southeast
Pennsylvania. Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 81(2).

West Chester, Pennsylvania (Mar 27, 2007 14:51 EST) Other than on television, few of us have ever seen the spectacular spin (and ghastly consequences) of the crocodilian “death roll.” But, in a basement laboratory in the University’s Schmucker’s Science building, a biologist and physicist have been video taping young alligators spinning with the ferocity of their older, larger cousins in the wild.

In doing so, the researchers created a mathematical model that provides the first explanation as to how these long thin reptiles are able to spin with such force in the water.

In a paper entitled, “Death roll of the alligator: mechanics of twist feeding in water,” to be published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, West Chester University biologist Frank Fish and physicist Anthony Nicastro and colleagues Sandra Bostic and John Beneski chronicled the particular spinning movement of juvenile alligators in water after biting into a pliable target. Through the use of high-speed videos, the researchers were able to examine the specific mechanics of the spinning maneuver – detailing the movements of body components and measuring their spinning performance.

See the entire article at Underwatertimes.com

Oné Pagan, Biology, has published the paper “Toxicity and behavioral effects of dimethylsulfoxide in planaria” with Biology students, Amanda Rowlands and Kimberly Urban, in Neuroscience Letters. 407(3):274-8 (2006). 

Professor Pagan gave two invited seminars:  “The forgotten worm: Planaria in neuroscience research” to the Darlington Biological Society of West Chester University on September 19; and “On the search for compounds against cocaine effects in biological systems: Planaria as a model organism” to the Women in Science Association of West Chester University on December 7.

Frank Fish, Biology, presented an invited seminar “Enhanced swimming performance by flow control in marine mammals,” at the Fluid Mechanics Seminar Series at Stanford University on November 7. 

Professor Fish also published the book chapter “Diversity, mechanics and performance of natural aquatic propulsors,” Flow Phenomena in Nature: A Challenge to Engineering Design, Vol. 1, Wessex Institute of Technology, Southampton, UK.

Russell Vreeland (Biology) and Anthony Nicastro (Physics) are the directors of WCU’s Ancient Biomaterials Institute, which seeks to establish at WCU an outstanding combination of natural science laboratories dedicated to the study of ancient biomaterials and their preservation.  This mission is of fundamental importance because increasingly diverse biomaterials are being discovered with greater frequency in an expanding range of locations.  These ancient biomaterials represent our only genetic link to the distant past and provide information on evolution, genetics, and biology, yet they are only of value if they are handled and analyzed properly with minimal modern contamination.