Outdoor Biology with Dr. Tom Lee

Significance of Research Publications

The significance of my research outside of ACU can be demonstrated in several ways. First, I have published my work at state, regional, national, and international venues. All the publications that are enclosed with this application were peer reviewed. I have provided the committee a section (Work Cited) on where my work has been referenced. These references demonstrate that my work has been utilized in a variety of scientific books and journal articles.  My work has been sited in books produced by the Smithsonian Institute, which is the most prestigious institute of systematic biology in the world. I have provided another section (Reprint Requests) showing reprint requests. I receive reprint requests on a regular basis. I have selected some requests to show that scientists from almost every continent and a wide area of the United States have requested copies of my work.

With regard to publications at the state level (Texas Journal of Science and Herpetological Review) I have tried to document the terrestrial fauna of the Southern Rolling Plains of Texas (which includes Taylor County). ACU students are on the author lines of almost all of these publications. The documentation of the presence of these animals is important in teaching local ecology and as a historic reference of current fauna.

In the publications at the regional level (Southwestern Naturalist), I have presented work that is significant in the southwestern United States. These works present studies done on the genetic variation in species of pocket mice and pronghorn antelope. A collaboration study with Dr. Dan Brannan will present a behavior analysis of pupfish scheduled to be published in 2003.

Mammalian Species accounts are nationally peer reviewed publications that incorporate all the known literature of one species of a mammal into one publication. Writing a Mammalian Species article is a class term paper assignment in Mammalogy. Students who do an outstanding job on their paper and are willing to work on it after the semester ends have their work published. This assignment teaches students how to conduct library research and how to write in publication format. For those disciplined enough to work beyond the semester, they get the satisfaction of their publication and seeing their name sited by famous mammalogists.

My national publications (Journal of Mammalogy, Journal of Wildlife Management, and Copeia) present work of long term studies. These studies were conducted in collaboration with researchers from other universities and museums. These publications are disseminated to national and international audiences.

The papers I published (mostly published in the Journal of Mammalogy) in which the name of a mammal was changed are not only read and sited around the world they are also time travelers. In those papers I have cited works from the 1800's and when a new revision of those species names is published in the future they will cite my work. In one of my current works we have change the name of a genus of bat. This means that not only was the species name changed, but the name of a species complex was changed.

Many of the students who have published with me are currently attending graduate schools. These publications were instrumental in helping them get into good schools and granting them scholarships. These students include: John Hanson; Ph.D. student Texas Tech University, Joel Brant; Ph.D. student Texas Tech University, Colin Peden; M.S. student Oregon State University, Rebecca Belcher; M.S. student Texas A&M University, and Sarah Weyandt; M.S. student Oklahoma State University.