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Summer 2007 Student Research
House Wren Reproductive Biology: Ashley Ozelski and Megan Fitzpatrick (FACULTY: Dale Kennedy and Doug White)
ABOVE: Marking the eggs are they are laid.
Medical Expedition to India: Rachel Ransom (FACULTY: Selva Raj, Religious Studies)
Phenotypic Plasticity in North American Cave and Swamp Fish (Amblyosidae): Kapil Mandrekar (FACULTY: Arkansas State University: Aldemaro Romero, Stanley Trauth, and David Hayes) Kapil Mandrekar participated in a NSF-REU (Reseach Experiences for Undergraduates) Program at Arkansas State University where he studied cave-dwelling and swamp fishes. As a part of the Research Internship of the Science of the Environment (R.I.S.E.) Program, Kapil investigated how geological barriers such as the Mississippi River keep fish populations isolated and how fish shape evolves and affects life histories of these fishes.
Temporal and spatial comparison of fecal coliform bacterial populations: Elizabeth Weage
(FACULTY: Ola Olapade) In addition to collecting
water samples to quantify different bacterial populations using standard
microbiological methods, in the lab, Elizabeth also measured physical
and chemical parameters of the local river waters such as temperature,
pH, turbidity, conductivity etc. Additionally, with the help of
colleagues in the chemistry department, she is analyzing the inorganic
components to quantify for sulfate, fluoride, and phosphate, among
others.
Home range, movement patterns, and nesting ecology of Wood Turtles in Nova Scotia, Canada: Megan Lupek and Jeff Stephens
(FACULTY: Dean McCurdy) Megan and
Jeff spent eight weeks working in the field with Dr. McCurdy to study
the ecology of an endangered species of turtle. Their projects included
observing the behavior of nesting female turtles and recording
parameters associated with nesting success (e.g., clutch size, nest
depth, site-choice by females, and test temperature). Movement patterns
of male and female turtles were also measured throughout the summer by
tracking turtles via radio telemetry each day. While in Nova Scotia, the
Albion team worked with local conservation officials from the Nova
Scotia Department of Natural Resources and researchers from two Canadian
universities. Megan returned to Nova Scotia in the Fall to complete her
study by collecting data-loggers she placed in nests to record
temperatures throughout the summer. On the way to their study sites in Canada, Megan and
Jeff stopped in Toronto at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society
for Ecology and Evolution to present research papers on prior projects
done in 2005 and 2006 (one presentation was on pathogens of amphibians
in Michigan and the other was related to reproductive behavior of marine
crustaceans in Nova Scotia). For more information on student projects in Dr.
McCurdy's lab,
click here.
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Megan Ashley LEFT: One of the nest boxes in the Whitehouse Nature Center, the site of much of the study.
BELOW: House wren clutch with temperature data logger (silver "button" at the bottom of the nest) to record changes in nest temperature through incubation and hatching.
BELOW: Wren hatchlings with a temperature logger.
LEFT: A Hindu temple in Sewa Dogri, one of the villages where the medical team provided a one-day clinic bringing advanced health care to villages lacking localized professional medical assistance.
Kapil also presented a poster entitled Chemical cues, 3-D structure, and social experience in contests between similar-sized juvenile black Midas cichlids, Amphilophus sp. 'short' at the 87th annual meetings of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists held in St. Louis, Missouri in July. The poster was based on Kapil's research at the University of Michigan during the summer of 2006.
Megan holds a wood turtle to mark her a few weeks before she travels to a nesting beach (the temporary letter on her will allow her to be identified from a distance when she arrives to nest. She (the turtle, not Megan!) also has a radio and a temperature recorder attached to her shell.
Wood turtle research crew, Summer 2007: Jeff Stephens, Dean McCurdy, and Megan Lupek. |
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Albion College ◦ Albion, Michigan
◦ 517/629-1000
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