Faculty/Staff Detail

Pete Ducey, Biological Sciences Department, is a coauthor on the manuscript “Is there more than one way to skin a newt? Convergent toxin resistance in snakes is not due to a common genetic mechanism” that has been accepted for publication in Heredity. The paper documents the genetic underpinnings of a novel strategy that evolved in a predator allowing for consumption of highly toxic prey. The research team, led by Chris Feldman of University of Nevada, includes researchers from seven universities and government agencies. The project’s findings add a new component to one of the most thoroughly studied evolutionary arms races in nature, that between newts with potent skin toxins and their snake predators.

Also, Ducey was recently appointed to the Board of Editors for the journal The Northeastern Naturalist.