Research is integral to the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, the only science museum in North Carolina with a full-time research staff. The Museum's scientists maintain the state’s zoological collections; conduct primary research in the natural sciences; collaborate on research projects with universities, state and federal agencies and international organizations; and interpret natural history to the public. Below is a listing of some of the projects currently being conducted by the Museum’s research staff.
Amphibians & Reptiles
Jeffrey C. Beane, Collection Manager of Amphibians and Reptiles
“Project Simus,” initiated in 1995, is a long-term effort to gather basic information on the natural history, distribution, and status of the Southern Hognose Snake (Heterodon simus) in North Carolina. This snake, apparently declining throughout its range, is state-listed as a species of Special Concern and is a candidate for federal listing. Populations in the North Carolina Sandhills may be among the most viable remaining in the world. Support has been provided by other agencies, organizations, and individuals.
Radio telemetry studies on the Eastern Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys r. reticularia), Southern Hognose Snake (Heterodon simus), Eastern Coachwhip (Masticophis f. flagellum), and Northern Pine Snake (Pituophis m. melanoleucus) in the North Carolina Sandhills have been ongoing since 1998. These species are all poorly known and probably declining throughout their range. Focus is on gathering basic natural history information. Support has been provided by other agencies, organizations, and individuals.
Project Bog Turtle, established in 1995, is an initiative of the North Carolina Herpetological Society, focusing on Bog Turtle (Clemmys [Glyptemys] muhlenbergii) conservation and research in North Carolina and the Southeast. The project includes population surveys and monitoring; mark-recapture and telemetry studies; public and landowner education; habitat management; and habitat protection through purchases, easements, education, and conservation leases. Many organizations, agencies, and individuals have collaborated on this multi-faceted project.
A long-term survey of vertebrate mortality due to vehicles on a short (0.7-mile) section of state-maintained secondary paved road in the North Carolina Sandhills has been ongoing since October 2002.
Birds
John Gerwin, Curator of Birds
The breeding biology of Swainson's Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) at two locations is under investigation. Data on site fidelity, survivorship, habitat use, territory shape/size and nest success are acquired using leg bands, radio telemetry and remote video. Data has been collected at the Pee Dee site since 1996 and at the Roanoke site since 2006. In 2007 a diet study was initiated. At the Roanoke site, blood samples are being collected for a paternity analysis. This project is being conducted in collaboration with students and colleagues at North Carolina State University, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A collaborative study on the breeding biology of the Southern Appalachian race of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is being conducted with colleagues at Mars Hill College and Audubon North Carolina. Extensive surveys have been done for several years and have lead to the generation of a model of species occurrence based on vegetation and slope characteristics. Testing and refinement of this model will take place in the upcoming years. Data for nearly 100 monitored nests is currently being analyzed. Data were collected using radio telemetry on a small subset of birds. A comparison of ND2 and Cytochrome-b genes collected from individuals in the study area and from individuals from Minnesota indicated no differences between the two groups.
Four southeastern states—North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida—are involved in a multi-faceted study of the southeastern population of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris). Please see: http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/point/pabu/. Additional bunting projects are being conducted with colleagues at UNC-Wilmington, Kiawah Island Natural Habitat Conservancy and South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. We are gathering data on site fidelity, survivorship, habitat use, territory shape/size and nest success. A component of this project incorporates "Citizen Science" into the banding efforts - for more info see: http://www.paintedbuntings.org/
A project assessing the status of the endangered Black-capped Petrel (Pterodroma hasitata) is being conducted with various colleagues. The Black-capped Petrel breeds mainly in Haiti and sparingly in the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Many individuals forage off the coast of North Carolina. David S. Lee, former Curator of Birds for this Museum, studied the feeding ecology of this species off the North Carolina coast, but almost nothing is known about its nesting ecology. We are working in coordination with colleagues in Haiti, the DR and Cuba.
H. Douglas Pratt, Research Curator of Birds
A monograph that will revise biological species limits among birds in the tropical Pacific (Micronesia and Polynesia) using an enlightened application of the concept of isolating mechanisms is in the works. The paper will show that many island taxa have been neglected by conservationists because of archaic taxonomy.
Fishes
Wayne Starnes, Curator of Fishes & Director of Research Lab
An investigation of the genetics, morphology, relationships, current distribution and conservation status of a rare and relatively recently discovered species of large sucker, the Carolina Redhorse, is ongoing in collaboration with Robert E. Jenkins of Roanoke College, Virginia, and Morgan E. Raley of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This species, which appears to be now confined to small portions of the Cape Fear and Pee Dee river basins, was not known to science until 1995 and has yet to be formally described as a species pending the acquisition of more complete knowledge in the above areas of investigation. It is symbolic of how imperfectly known is the fauna that once inhabited rivers of the Southeast and a call to action to learn more of that which remains in order to conserve it.
Invertebrates
Arthur Bogan, Curator of Aquatic Invertebrates
A new genus species of Triassic freshwater bivalve from rift lake deposits in North Carolina is being described in collaboration with Trish Weaver, Collections Manager of Paleontology/Geology at the Museum of Natural Sciences.
A project to determine the host fish and juvenile production of four species of endangered freshwater mussels is being conducted in collaboration with North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine staff.
The higher order phylogeny of the order Unioniformes, freshwater bivalves, is being revised in collaboration with Dr. W. R. Hoeh of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
The coordination of the revision of the order Unioniformes for the Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology is a current project as is the revision of a workbook and key to the freshwater mussels of North Carolina.
John Cooper, Curator of Crustaceans
Descriptions of new species of crayfishes of the genus Cambarus from North Carolina and Alabama are being compiled. Other potential new species from Georgia and South Carolina are under investigation.
Two poorly known species of genus Procambarus, whose ranges lie in the Carolinas, are being redescribed.
A book about the crayfishes of North Carolina, co-authored with Suzanne A. Cooper, is in production. The book will include ArcView maps, distribution spreadsheets, species accounts and keys, photographs and line drawings.
Various aspects of the biology of stygobitic (obligate cave-dwelling) crustaceans are being prepared for publication.
A study of intraspecific variation in Cambarus reduncus, a poorly known crayfish about which nothing has been published since its description in 1956, is being undertaken.
A series of illustrated, multi-character identification guides to the crayfishes of each of North Carolina’s major river basins is being compiled.
