Dr. Alicia Mathis, head of the biology department at Missouri State University, studies swimming and scampering species, specifically the behaviors of tiny amphibians and fish. They’re abundant in Missouri, and she thinks they’re fabulous.

In the field of behavioral ecology, or the study of how animal behavior evolves due to ecological changes, she delves deeply into aggression and territorial behavior, predation responses and pheromones. She brings an interesting study to the surface.