Noon Lecture: : A Shell-ebration of Mississippi’s Turtle Diversity

Overview

Join Dr. Grover Brown as he discusses how Mississippi is home to over 30 species of freshwater turtles, tortoises and marine turtles, making it one of the most biodiverse areas for turtles in the world. What’s more is there are species still being discovered in the state! In this talk, we explore the diversity of turtles across Mississippi, the recreational opportunities they provide, and the wealth of knowledge we have learned from them.

BIO: Dr. Grover Brown received his B.S. in Ecology from the University of Georgia. During his undergraduate, he worked with rare turtles and salamanders in Georgia, but after graduation, he moved to Vietnam to work for an NGO focused on turtle conservation. When he returned stateside, he attended the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg for his Ph.D. During grad school, Grover enjoyed “turtling,” and observed and photographed all native non-marine species in the state. Currently he is a professor of Biology at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, AL, where he and a small group of graduate students study the conservation and ecology of freshwater turtles.