Jon Davenport, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Department of Biology
Appalachian State University
Researchers in the Davenport Lab
Below you can find out about the research being conducted by students in my lab. We are interested in a variety of ecological topics from dispersal to species interactions. We focus primarily on amphibians and reptiles as study organisms, but do also dabble with other taxa (e.g., fish, carnivorous plants, and aquatic invertebrates).
Please feel free to contact me or one of the folks below if you are interested in our research. We are always excited to talk about science.
Graduate Students
Kara Bensel - MS student
B.S. High Point University
Bailey enlisted in the lab in August 2025. She is interested in how newt predators affect larval amphibian communities based on sex ratios and phenology.
Rhiannon Bostian - MS student
B.S. UNC-Asheville
Rhiannon started in the lab in August 2025. She will be investigating how warming affects predator-prey interactions in pond communities.
Jacob Twersky - MS student
B.S. Colorado College
Jacob started in the lab in August 2024. He is interested in how Hurricane Helene affected local stream salamander assemblages.
Undergraduate Students
Laney Edwards - Senior in Biology
Laney has been helping in the lab since 2024. She has been instrumental in both our invertebrate counting/sorting and our field sampling of local plethodon salamanders.
Max Ramey - Junior in Biology
Max has also been helping in the lab since his high school days. He is a birder but is also interested in all things salamanders. He is focusing on dietary niche partitioning of Plethodon salamanders
Nicolas Pennacchio - Junior in Biology
Nick is interested in stream salamanders and how they differ in diets and habitat use.
Ryley O'Quinn- Junior in Biology
Ryley has been helping in the lab since 2024. He has been instrumental in both our invertebrate counting/sorting and our field sampling of local plethodon salamanders.
Candice Kennelly- Senior in Biology
Candice likes salamanders
Psalter Benbow - Junior in Biology
Psalter is interested in how drought affects forest floor food webs
Mady Helt- Senior in Biology
Mady likes all creatures and has been helping in the lab for years with our forest floor invertebrate data.
Aly Lee- Junior in Biology
Aly has come to Biology after a previous life in Art. She's leading a mark-recapture project on high elevation salamanders in the region.
Ziva Dowd- Freshman in Biology
Ziva is interested in snakes but is willing to tolerate our salamander centric lab research.