Elder’s expertise is in the field

Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
Mar. 4, 2004, Page 3

The man is grinning from ear to ear. With his bare hands he clutches a live crocodile against his chest, its tender white belly exposed to the air.
Brad Elder began to make connections with Doane biology majors during a visit Feb. 20 in preparation for next fall, when he will begin teaching at Doane.
"I've worked with almost everything larger than a test tube, except for insects," Elder said.
Elder's field research experience is extensive, and it reads more like an adventure story than a resume. Elder is a hands-on person, whether performing sea lion autopsies in the Bering Sea or being kidnapped by poachers while studying the national parks in Africa.
Elder said he liked biology initially because it was one of the classes he could pass, because his first biology teachers didn't deduct points for spelling. Spelling, reading and math are difficult for Elder because he has dyslexia.
As an undergraduate, Elder researched reptiles, amphibians and birds of prey. By the time he was a junior at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan, he testified in court as an expert witness on the behavior of the eastern foxsnake.
When talking to a student also interested in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles, Elder used broad gestures to explain how snakes can be trapped. The design is surprisingly simple: snakes enter a V-shaped trap and are caught, unaware that they can turn around.
"Snakes aren't real bright, as it turns out," Elder said.
His work tracking radio transmitters implanted in snakes prepared him for his first doctoral research project at Kansas State University. Elder was asked to apply to the doctoral program and was accepted in 1992 to study pocket gophers. After the colony drowned in a flood, Elder began a new project, which was aborted when his adviser changed jobs.
His final research study centered on how fire affects the regrowth of forbs - herbs - in the tallgrass prairie.
"I used to see plants as just the things that animals ate," he said.
Elder, a visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma, said he is excited to come to Doane because, in the small school atmosphere, students don't get lost. Elder also said that Doane is similar to Adrian College, but the campus is prettier.