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Hiking With Dakota I in the Uinta Mountains of Utah ~ August 2012 |
Phone: (608)-785-8253 E-Mail: rgillis@uwlax.edu Office Hours ~ Fall 2022
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Hiking With Dakota I in the Uinta Mountains of Utah ~ August 2012 |
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream" - Remember, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” ~ Mark Twain |
Introduction
I am a broadly trained zoologist with an interest in the ecology of whole organisms, particularly amphibians and reptiles. If you would like to see some additional photos of me, my wife Gail (who has retired from the Management Department of the College of Business Administration here at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) and some of our American Eskimo dogs (past and present), click Here.
Over the past 20 years I have the opportunity to lead over a dozen Amazon River tours for a Florida-based tour company called Explorations Inc. In addition to offering both jungle safaris and river boat tours to the Peruvian Amazon, the company also organizes trips to the Cuzco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas, including spectacular Machu Picchu, as well as Costa Rica and some of the most important Mayan sites in Mexico and Central America. You can also visit their newer website at: Adventures Of Discovery.
For more information about these trips, contact Charlie Strader anytime toll free from the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico: (800)-446-9660.
To see some of the photos I have taken while conducting Amazon Tours, click on my Amazon Photo Album.
To see some of my favorite travel photos from other places, click on my Travel Photo Album.
Education
Ph.D. Zoology - Colorado State University, 1975
M.S. Zoology - Colorado State University, 1968
B.A. Spanish - University of Pennsylvania, 1965
Courses Taught FALL 2019
General Biology (BIO 105)
Ecology (BIO 307)
Organismal Biology (BIO 203) Labs
Web Sites
Zoo Lab - A Resource for Animal Biology
A & P Lab - A Resource for the Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory
Ecological Society of America
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Society for the Study of Evolution
Herpetologist's League
Southwestern Association of Naturalists
Hobbies and Personal Interests
Flying: Private Pilot with Single Engine, Land, Seaplane, Glider and Instrument Ratings
SCUBA Diving - SSI Advanced Open Water Diver
Amateur Radio - General Class Operator's License (NØYCM)
Travel and Photography
Hiking and Backpacking
Research Interests
My research interests in the past have centered broadly on such problems as the evolution and use of temperature regulation in ectothermic (cold-blooded) organisms, amphibian water economy and the role of color and pattern in predator avoidance. I am also interested in population ecology and the evolution of life history patterns, particularly of reptiles. More recently, I have become interested in several populations of terrestrial slugs that appear to be living in some local, spring-fed streams. Although my principal target organisms have been amphibians and reptiles, I have also worked with grasshoppers and bats. Recently, I have been working with several colleagues investigating the effects and possible control of the invasive faucet snail (Physa tentaculata) that harbors four species of trematode parasites that have led to the death of thousands of waterfowl annually on the Upper Mississippi River.
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Copyright © 2019, the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse and Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin.
If you have any questions about or additions to this page, please contact: rgillis@uwlax.edu
