James Van Dyke (Van) 

Post Doc

James (Van) Van Dyke is a postdoctoral researcher in Wildlab, where he is studying the decline of turtles in the Murray River. Van’s research focuses on the physiological and bioenergetic mechanisms underlying reproduction, and he aims to determine how these mechanisms are affected by ecological disturbances to turtles, including water management, pollution, and agricultural nutrient inputs, with subsequent effects on recruitment. He is also interested in how reproductive mechanisms have evolved in animals, especially live birth (viviparity) and placentation. Van received his PhD from the University of Arkansas (2011), and has held postdoctoral research fellowships at Virginia Tech and The University of Sydney before joining  Wildlab.

 

Selected Publications

Van Dyke, J.U. Cues for reproduction in squamate reptiles. In Press in Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Lizards and Tuatara.

 

Beaupre, S.J., J. Agugliaro, J.U. Van Dyke, and F. Zaidan III. Annual energy budgets of the Timber Rattlesnake: advancements, refinements, and open questions. In Press in Biology of the Rattlesnakes, Vol. 2

 

Steen, D.A., J.U. Van Dyke, B.P. Jackson, and W.A. Hopkins. 2015. Reproduction and hatchling performance in freshwater turtles associated with a remediated coal fly-ash spill. Environmental Research 138: 38-48.

 

Van Dyke, J.U., D.A. Steen, B.P. Jackson, and W.A. Hopkins. 2014. Maternal transfer and embryonic assimilation of trace elements in freshwater turtles after remediation of a coal fly-ash spill. Environmental Pollution 194: 38-49.

 

Van Dyke, J.U., O.W. Griffith, and M.B. Thompson. 2014. High food abundance permits the evolution of placentotrophy: evidence from a placental lizard, Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii. American Naturalist 184: 198-210.

 

Van Dyke, J.U., M.C. Brandley, and M.B. Thompson. 2014. The evolution of viviparity: molecular and genomic data from squamate reptiles advance understanding of live birth in amniotes. Reproduction 147: R15-R26.

 

Van Dyke, J.U., M.L. Beck, B.P. Jackson, and W.A. Hopkins. 2013. Interspecific differences in egg production affect egg trace element concentrations after a coal fly ash spill. Environmental Science & Technology 47: 13763-13771.

 

Van Dyke, J.U., W.A. Hopkins, and B.P. Jackson. 2013. Influence of relative trophic position and carbon source on selenium bioaccumulation in turtles from a coal fly-ash spill site. Environmental Pollution. 182: 45-52.

 

Griffith, O.W., J.U. Van Dyke, and M.B. Thompson. 2013. No implantation in an extrauterine pregnancy of a placentotrophic reptile. Placenta. 34(6): 510-511.

 

Van Dyke, J.U. and S.J. Beaupre. 2012. Stable isotope tracer reveals that viviparous snakes transport amino acids to offspring during gestation.  The Journal of Experimental Biology. 215(5): 760-765.