Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2002
Office: 331 Biology Building
Phone:(985) 549-3466
Email:cfontenot@selu.edu
Office Hours: by appointment
Teaching Expertise:Human Physiology, Anatomy & Physiology lab
Links:Recent Publications
Research Interests:
I am generally interested in the behavior, conservation, and evolutionary ecology of amphibians and reptiles. I am currently focused on two main areas:
First, is a long-term (2003-present) wetlands snake assemblage study in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, which produces a massive amount of data on body size, assemblage structure, habitat association, seasonal activity, and road mortality. Here, my interests are in species body size scaling, functional patch size of habitats, the effects of flooding, the effect of roads on mortality, and other general aspects of ecology.
Second, is the evolution of vision in snakes. What are the accommodation mechanisms, and how are they distributed phylogenetically? More specifically, how have terrestrial animals that independently evolved eyes in one medium (e.g., air, on land) adapted to the change in refractive index experienced when foraging in another medium (e.g., underwater)?
