DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS			Jason Peevy, Director
ERSKINE COLLEGE					Telephone: 379-8858
DUE WEST, SC					March 4, 1997

SUBJECT: SIMPSONVILLE STUDENT, ERSKINE PROFESSOR STUDY AREA BOX TURTLES

for immediate release

DUE WEST, SC - An Erskine College proposal for a student/faculty research project on box turtles has been awarded funding by the Consortium for Undergraduate Research of the Independent Colleges and Universities of South Carolina, Inc. (ICUSC).

Dr. Mary Lang Edwards of Greenville, Associate Professor of Biology at Erskine College, will be working with Jonathan Roling, a freshman from Simpsonville, on the project, which will study box turtles on a 20-acre tract of woodland in Greenville County.

"Jonathan Roling came out to our site when he was still a high school student and was in the RISE (Research in Science at Erskine) program," Edwards recalls. "He seemed very interested in the turtles, so after RISE was over I asked him to help me out a couple of times. I kept up with him, and then I was glad he decided to come to Erskine."

"This study was started about five years ago," explains Dr. Edwards. "Since then a number of people from the biology department at Erskine have gotten involved. We have 10 turtles with radio transmitters as well as 50 marked turtles."

The box turtles occupy a small "island" habitatÑan island of woodland in the middle of a developed neighborhood. "We study the turtles year in and year out for diet, reproduction, and where they spend their time so that we will know how they survive," says Edwards. "Then when land is being set aside for them, we'll know enough to preserve land that will meet their needs."

Erskine College, known for its strength in the sciences, recently announced plans to construct a new science facilility with increased space and equipment. "Students will have even greater opportunities to be involved in research" once the new science building is completed, Edwards notes.

"We would like to expand our program to include areas of biology that are especially attractive to students even now, areas which are strong in the job market," says Dr. Edwards, reflecting on the development of the biology program at Erskine over the next decade. "These include environmental and wildlife biology and genetics and molecular biology."

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