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Click here for a "Portrait of the Biologist as a Young Man." (My apologies to the estate of James Joyce.)
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Zoology,
Major Advisor: Dr. Michele G. Wheatly
Dissertation Title: Host distribution and physiological effects of
ectocommensal gill barnacle (Octolasmis muelleri) infestation on blue
crabs (Callinectes sapidus).
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M.S. Zoology,
Major Advisor: Dr. Pauline O. Lawrence
Thesis Title: Oviposition site selection by the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis
vanillae nigrior (Michener).
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B.A. Zoology,
TEACHING
Here are some of the courses I teach:
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Biology 115. ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY. Fall 2007. Click here for syllabus, bulletin board and other links. |
Here are some of the Interim Projects I teach:
You can access the Interactive Physiology Lab Web Pages for Data-handling, Statistical and Graphing help . These were sponsored by an Associated Colleges of the South-Mellon Technology Fellowship.
RESEARCH
There are opportunities for BSC students
to conduct undergraduate research projects in my lab. Please contact Dr. Gannon by e-mail if you are interested. Click
for a list of completed and ongoing research projects done by undergraduate
students working with me. These projects have focused primarily on crab and
crayfish physiology, ecology, and behavior and wetland and stream ecology, but
there are 
opportunities for students to do
undergraduate research projects in entirely different fields with other BSC Science faculty.
CRABS
Semi-terrestrial crabs. For several years I have been collaborating
with Dr. Ray Henry of
Hemocyanin. During the summer of 2003 and 2004 my
students and I have collaborated with Dr. Scott Dorman of the BSC Chemistry
Department to study the oxygen affinity and formal reduction potential of
hemocyanin (the oxygen carrying pigment) in land crabs and blue crabs. Thanks mostly to Scott’s expertise in
spectroelectrochemistry a grant from the Merck corporation to facilitate
interdisciplinary research between Biology and Chemistry (Thanks, Dave
Schedler!), we have successfully measured formal reduction potentials in
hemocyanin of land crabs adapted to breathing air and water. Research student
Eduardo Ramos presented a poster based on the summer 2003 work to the
SouthEastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society Conference in
Atlanta in Fall of 2003 (Ramos, E. A., T. Johnson, M. Martin, A. Gannon, and S.
Dorman. 2003 Formal Reduction Potentials of Oxygen Binding Proteins). This work was also published in the journal,
Spectroscopy Letters (McKinley, B.A., C.F. Kenny, M.S. Martin, E. Ramos, A.T.
Gannon, T.V. Johnson and S.C. Dorman. 2004. Applications of Absorption
Spectroelectrochemistry in Artificial Blood Research. Spectroscopy Letters. 37(3):275-287). Scott presented the summer 2004 work to a
Symposium on New Methods for Teaching Bioanalytical Chemistry sponsored by 31st
Annual Meeting of The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy
Societies in
Blue Crabs. Another crab research project has focused on the physiology and ecology of the interaction between blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, and a barnacle, Octolasmis muelleri, that lives on the crabs' gills. This research was presented to the Blue Crab Mortality symposium at The Crustacean Society Summer meeting (May, 1999) and has been published (click for abstract) by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission as part of the symposium proceedings.
Would you like to see the largest crab I have ever seen?
CRAYFISH
I also have worked with crayfish physiology,
primarily with Dr. Michele Wheatly, currently of
WETLANDS and STREAM ECOLOGY
Another
research area has been the ecology of wetlands. Francesca Gross, an adjunct professor in the
BSC Biology Department, undergraduate research students (Jennifer Heaven, '99,
Josh Peck, '00, Adam Isbell, '01, Brett Earley '01), and I have compared
characteristics of a created wetland in Tuscaloosa (seen on the right) with an
adjacent natural wetland. Jennifer's work on the vegetation (click for the abstract) was presented
to the Society of Wetland Scientists annual meeting in Norfolk, VA, June, 1999
and has been published in the journal Southeastern Naturalist (Vegetation
Comparison of a Natural and a Created Emergent Marsh Wetland.Southeastern
Naturalist. 2(2):195-206..Heaven, J., F.E. Gross and A.T. Gannon. (2003).
Josh's work comparing soil characteristics (click for the abstract) was presented
to the Society of Wetland Scientists annual meeting in
We also made a presentation to the Society of Wetland
Scientists annual meeting in
(click for the abstract).
We are currently using GIS (Geographical Information Systems) to study the Shades Creek watershed. Erin Brown is currently working on the link between freshwater sponge diversity and water chemistry. She has used our GIS Shades Creek database to predict what parts of the creek would likely be contaminated by fecal coliform bacteria in runoff from livestock pastures
INSECT ECOLOGY
Another area for research has been
the coevolutionary relationship between passionvines (plants of the family
Passifloraceae) and passionvine butterflies (the subfamily Heliconinae). I have
studied how one type of passionvine butterfly, the Gulf Fritillary, avoids
predaceous ants when it lays its eggs away from passionvines. Click for a draft describing that
research. It is being prepared for submission to American Butterflies magazine.
This photo of the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) was taken by Dr.
Peter May of
There are opportunities for BSC students to work on these continuing research
projects, helping Dr. Gannon, or on related projects of the students own
design. Contact Dr. Gannon now to discuss your interests and options.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
An
excellent source of information about crayfish, including a searchable
bibliography, is the Crayfish Homepage.
I am a member of The Crustacean
Society (TCS). Their goal is to promote the study of crustaceans such as
crabs, crayfish, lobster, shrimp and a bunch more multi-legged critters that
you probably never heard of. I am also a member of the Society
for Intergrative and Comparative Biology which has some great links. I have
been selected as one of the "Faculty
for the 21st Century" by Project Kaleidoscope. PKAL
is an organization dedicated to the reform of undergraduate education in
science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
ADVISING
I am the faculty advisor for about 20 students. Although I try to help them all personally, for their convenience, I have links for questions about the schedule of classes for the next semester, as well as the Summer schedule. For biology majors, the requirements for the biology major and the courses offered by the Biology Department might be useful. The chair of the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC), Dr. Runquist, and I have created an HPAC web page that contains information useful to students with an interest in Pre-health Careers or Professional Schools. I am happy to write letters of recommendation for my advisees and students. Those who might like to request an HPAC recommendation or letter of recommendation should first check out the "Memo to students requesting a recommendation." This will give you some tips that will enable me, or any other professor to give you the best recommendation possible. The entire BSC catalog is available on the Web.
In the past I was the faculty advisor for the Birmingham-Southern Conservancy, a student group dedicated to increasing environmental awareness among the campus community, and the faculty advisor for Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, a student group dedicated to ???. I am currently the faculty advisor and instructor for the BSC Martial Arts Club. The style I teach is called Cuong Nhu. Here is a link to the Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts Association Home Page
WELLNESS
I am committed to increasing awareness about wellness and healthy lifestyles in the BSC college community. For Interim 2000 and 2001, I have lead an interim project (with Mike Robinson and Allen Gilbert) that focused on wellness, The Wellness Perspective. If you want information about wellness at BSC, the BSC Wellness Web page is now on line. The Wellness Committee has also produced the "Wellness Resource Journal" and made it available to the entire college community. Please contact me if you did not get a copy. The National Wellness Association Web Site is a great resource for information about wellness.
Copyright ©2004, Andrew T. Gannon. This file may be copied
on the condition that the entire contents, including this copyright notice, remain
intact. These pages do not constitute official
