The Kepas Lab at Utah Tech University

Community Science Data Exploration for Species of Greatest Conservation Need

This project uses community science data to evaluate herpetological Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in Utah by integrating public observations with spatial and ecological analyses. By leveraging large, publicly available datasets, we can assess species distributions, improve population estimates, and form habitat associations. Community science data is a powerful resource for augmenting traditional survey efforts, improving data coverage for under-sampled taxa, and informing conservation planning for reptiles and amphibians in data-limited systems.

This project began in 2018 and is an ongoing collaboration with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Sageland Collaborative. Through this Data-scraping effort we have added hundreds of SGCN records to the state database. The addition of these point location records has influenced SGCN listing decisions in the state of Utah.

Egg Tooth Retention in Snakes with Live Birth

Vestigial structures are remnants of features that were functional in an organism’s ancestors but have lost their original purpose over time. Because they are observable, vestigial structures offer tangible evidence of evolutionary change, offering a clear and compelling demonstration of how species adapt over time. We have documented vestigial egg tooth retention in The Western Terrestrial Gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans). This species belongs to the subfamily Natricinae which originated in Asia. While the common ancestor of all natricines was oviparous (egg-laying), all extant North American natricines are viviparous (live-bearing), but still develop with a large yolk. In oviparous snakes, the egg tooth is a single structure that arises from the oral epithelium to assist with breaking out of the egg. The egg tooth is an ancestral feature of oviparous squamates, and it has been thought that loss of a macroscopic egg tooth accompanies the evolution of viviparity.

Our initial project documented egg-tooth persistence in one live-bearing species using paraffin histology, micro-CT, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). We hope to expand the project by including additional species. Our collaborators include the Savitzky lab and micro-CT facility at USU and Dr. Helen-Bond Plylar at the University of Florida.

Disease Testing and Genotyping

The Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is Utah’s only federally listed reptile. Desert tortoises are susceptible to two major infectious diseases, Upper Respiratory Tract Disease (URTD) and Testudinid Herpesvirus 3 (TeHV-3). Tortoises with significant physical symptoms of disease are held by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and may remain in captivity if physical manifestations of active disease persist. In 2023, we obtained oral swabs from captive individuals and used molecular diagnostics to screen for these two diseases. We are now using samples from those same individuals to map them to their population of origin. This project will help the state to validate non-invasive health screening, identify active pathogens in samples from the Utah population, and highlight populations that may be carrying these diseases.

Hatchling Predation

Desert tortoises living near urban boundaries are thought to be at a greater risk of predation from scavenger and generalist predators. Hatchlings are at the greatest risk due to their small size. Working with with Parks Pass and Snow Canyon State park, we set up three camera trap stations facing clay models of desert tortoise hatchlings. We identified predation attempts using the camera data, and collected surface scrapings from the models that had been attacked. In our current phase of the project, we are extracting eDNA from the surface scrapings and sequencing them to determine how well we can detect predators based on the DNA that they leave behind (from clawing, biting, etc.).

Digitizing Reptile Natural History Vouchers

The Barnum Museum of Natural History contains many historical vouchers of reptiles that only occur in the Southwestern portion of the state of Utah. The vouchers in this collection go back as far as the late 1800’s. Through collaboration with the Utah Tech Department of Computer Science, we are creating an online database of the vertebrate collection. These records will be searchable online, and will be shared with the State of Utah Natural Heritage program database to help conservation biologists better understand historic species distributions.