CV -  Scott Goeppner

Department of Natural Resources, University of Missouri

Email: sg39v@missouri.edu

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Positions held

 

Post-doc (July 2025 - present) – Rick Relyea’s lab, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

 

Post-doc (July 2024 – July 2025) – Rick Relyea’s lab, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Troy NY, USA

 

Post-doc (December 2022-July 2024) – Burt Kotler’s lab, Blaustein Desert Research Institute at Ben-Gurion University, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

 

Adjunct Instructor (August 2022 – December 2022) – Oklahoma State University, Stillwater OK, USA

 

 

Education

 

PhD in Zoology (Advisor: Dr. Barney Luttbeg), Oklahoma State University –May 2022 Dissertation title: Predator induced phenotypic plasticity within and between generations in the pond snail Physa acuta

 

Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (Summa Cum Laude, Commonwealth Honors Scholar) - May 2015

 

 

Publications

 

Goeppner SR and Luttbeg B (2025) Early life, but not late life, exposure to predator cues reduces the life expectancy and reproductive output of freshwater snails, Oecologia

 

Goeppner SR,  Sargunaraj F, Kotler BP, et al. (2024)   - No evidence that Mycoplasma infection causes cognitive impairment during foraging in Allenby’s gerbil (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi), Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1163/22244662-bja10082

 

Goeppner SR, Kirsch DR, Ramos K, Wells AM, and Luttbeg B. (2023) Maternal effects, paternal effects and their interactions in the freshwater snail Physa acuta. Oecologia 201,409-419, DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05311-8

 

Koch R, Goeppner SR, Gustafson K, Bolek M (2022) Seasonal occurrence of Neoechinorhynchus emydis (phylum: Acanthocephala) in the freshwater snail, Planorbella cf. P. Trivolvis, from Oklahoma. Journal of Parasitology, 108(5): 423-434  DOI: 10.1645/21-98

 

Goeppner SR, Pearce ME, Beaty LE, Luttbeg B (2020). Freshwater snail responses to fish predation integrate phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation. Aquatic Ecology DOI: 10.1007/s10452-019-09744-x

 

Beaty LE, Wormington JD, Kensinger B, Bayley K, Goeppner SR, Gustafson K, Luttbeg B. (2016). Shaped by the past acting in the present: transgenerational plasticity of anti-predatory traits. Oikos DOI: 10.1111/oik.03114

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Grants

Robberson Dissertation Fellowship, Oklahoma State University (Summer 2020, $6000)

Burk’s Research Grant, Oklahoma State University (Spring 2019, $850)

McCarley Research Grant, Southwestern Association of Naturalists (Summer 2017, $1000)

Honorable Mention for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP; 2017)

Biological Basis of Behavior at Oklahoma State University: NSF-REU Grant (Summer 2014, $5500)

Undergraduate Research Grant from Office of Undergraduate Research at UMass Dartmouth (Spring 2014, amount: $150)

 

 

Recent Presentations

 

Goeppner S, Le Sage M, and Relyea R (2025) Salt stratification and predator cues:
Impacts on native and invasive freshwater species. Oral presentation at ESA, August 2025

 

Goeppner S, Sargunaraj F, and Kotler B (2023). Mycoplasma infection does not affect equalization of GUDs or micro-patch detection in Allenby’s gerbils (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi). Poster at ESA conference, August 2023

 

Goeppner S & Luttbeg B. (2022) Effect of predator cues on the mating behavior of Physa acuta Virtual oral presentation at the Annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of Naturalists, April 2022

 

Goeppner S & Luttbeg B. (2021) How does body condition affect predator induced within and trans-generational plasticity in Physa snails? Virtual oral presentation at the Central Ecology and Evolution Conference, April 10, 2021

 

 

Presentations by undergraduates (* mentored by me)

Soriano D, Koch R, Goeppner S, & Bolek M. (2018). Energy Allocations and Reproduction in a freshwater snail. Poster Presentation at Karen L. Smith Undergraduate Symposium, April 18, 2018

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Moster B* & Goeppner S. (2017). Effects of predator cues and food distribution on competition between snails. Poster presentation at Karen L. Smith Undergraduate Symposium, April 19, 2017

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Pearce ME*, Goeppner S, Beaty L., & Luttbeg B. (2017). Transgenerational responses of freshwater snails to fish predators. Poster presentation at Karen L. Smith Undergraduate Symposium, April 19, 2017
 

Teaching Experience

 

Guest lecturer for Animal Behavior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Social Behavior and Sociality, November 19, 2025

 

Guest Lecturer for Human Anatomy (BIOL 3214) at Oklahoma State University. Overview of body regions and skeletal system. August 18, 2021

 

Guest Lecturer for Human Anatomy (BIOL 3214) at Oklahoma State University. Introduction to the nervous system, November 13, 2019.

 

Wilhm Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University) – April 2018

 

Teaching Assistant for Human Anatomy (BIOL 3214) at Oklahoma State University (Supervisor: Dr. Mary Towner, January 2017 – May 2022)

-Duties: Assist students with dissections, assess student learning of anatomy structures with in-lab oral quizzes.

 

Teaching Assistant for Introductory Biology (BIOL 1114) at Oklahoma State University (Supervisor: Dr. Donald French, August 2015 – December 2016)

-Duties: Assist students as they develop their own research questions and hypotheses, design experiments and write up their results.

 

Academic Honors

UMass Dartmouth Biology Department Academic Excellence Award - May 2015

Chancellor’s List at UMass Dartmouth 6 semesters: (Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015)

Member of UMass Dartmouth Honors Program (Fall 2012- Spring 2015)

Walking with Jane Scholarship (2011-2015)

EP Charlton Scholarship (Academic Year 2014-2015)

John F. Smith Jr. Presidential Scholarship (Academic years 2014-2015 and 2013-2014)

Fall River Endow Scholarship (Academic year 2012-2013)

University Scholarship (From UMass Dartmouth; Academic Year 2012-2013)

Westport Watershed Alliance Scholarship (Fall 2011)

Luther Bowman Scholarship (Fall 2011)

 

Other Experience

Volunteer intake staff in the Oklahoma State University COVID-19 lab (April – June 2020)

-Duties: Unpack COVID samples in lab and check patient information for accuracy.

 

Research Associate on ODWC project: Assessment of the density and spatial and temporal variation of the American Burying Beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) in Oklahoma. (June 2016 – August 2016).

-Duties: Set up and monitor traps to determine the presence of American Burying Beetles at Oklahoma Wildlife Management areas in Eastern Oklahoma.

 

Research fellow in the Lab of Dr. Guillermo Paz-y-Mino C. at UMass Dartmouth (September 2013-May 2015)

-Duties: Observe and record the social interactions of White winged wood ducks at the Roger Williams Park Zoo using an ethogram and data collection sheets, develop research questions about parent offspring conflict in ducks.

 

-Honors thesis project (Advisor- Dr. Guillermo Paz-y-Mino C.)  - Social interactions between white winged wood ducks (Cairina scutulata) at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

 

Research fellow in the lab of Dr. Barney Luttbeg at Oklahoma State University (June-August 2014)

-Duties: Assist in snail project: maintain lab snail population, develop research questions and experimental design, perform behavioral assays on snails, photograph snail shells and measure aspects of their morphology, and help analyze data and document results

 

Professional Skills

Proficient in performing statistical analysis and creating figures with R and Microsoft Excel

Proficient with Image J, TPS software