Category: Undergraduate Experiential Learning

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Announcements Research Student Spotlight Undergraduate Experiential Learning

GCC Undergraduate Research Grant Awardees Present at Dennis Dean Research Conference

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May 16, 2022

 

Recipients of Global Change Center Undergraduate Research Grants recently presented their work at the annual Dennis Dean Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Conference held on April 29, 2022.  Each student, under the mentorship of a GCC-affiliated faculty member, showcased their creative and scholarly accomplishments in several diverse research projects.

Please join us in commending these bright students on their exciting research accomplishments!

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Tyler Allen

Biology major
Mentored by Drs. Austin Gray and Bryan Brown

Impact of microplastics on native crayfish ectosymbiosis: Are fitness and growth affected?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]A Hokie Graduate this spring 2022, Tyler will embark on his graduate studies with the Gray Toxicology and Ecology Lab beginning Fall 2022.

Read more…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”62069″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Victorjose Catalan

Wildlife Conservation major, Pathways to Sustainability minor
Mentored by Drs. Meryl Mims and Traci DuBose

Projecting species distribution models across state landscape for conservation

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Hokie Graduate Spring 2022.

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Gabi Dugan and Nicole Gaspari

Gabi: Biological Systems Engineering major, with a minor in Biomedical engineering
Nicole: Biological Sciences major, with a minor in Sociology
Mentored by Dr. Susan Whitehead and IGC Fellow Melissa Burt

Restoring connectivity: impact on ant seed-dispersal mutualisms

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Gabi and Nicole are working to share their project data on the Global Ants Database and publish their findings. Gabi is a Hokie Graduate Spring 2022, and Nicole plans to conduct undergraduate research in microbiology and cell biology projects during her upcoming senior year.

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Amy Fiorellino

Environmental Science major, Geographic Information Systems minor
Mentored by Dr. John Jelesko

Poison Ivy urushiol levels are not correlated with microbe levels nor reproductive metrics

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]After graduating with her BS this spring, Amy will begin a new position working Environmental Health & Safety with a small-plane manufacturer in Kansas.

Read more…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”62066″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Antonia Mendrinos

Clinical neuroscience and biology majors, chemistry minor
Mentored by Dr. Julia Gohlke

Adverse birth outcomes associated with proximity to poultry animal feeding operation in rural Eastern Shore, Virginia

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Antonia also presented her research to the Society of Toxicology conference in San Diego, California this past spring!

Read more…[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][vc_column_text]The Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, is proud to sponsor undergraduate students and their research projects that align with our mission for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to address critical global changes impacting the environment and society. Supported projects address basic and/or applied aspects of global change science, engineering, social science and the humanities and are sponsored by a GCC Faculty mentor.

Read more about the GCC Undergraduate Research Grant program here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Announcements Research Undergraduate Experiential Learning

Three Hollins students will join GCC faculty for undergraduate research in summer 2022

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May 5, 2022

The Hollins Partnership program, initiated in 2017, provides summer research experiences with Global Change Center faculty at Virginia Tech for select Hollins undergraduate students, with the explicit goal of identifying possible mentor-mentee connections/relationships for their future graduate training. Students will gain summer undergraduate research experiences through the Fralin Life Sciences Institute’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program, in conjunction with University-wide activities organized by the Virginia Tech Office of Undergraduate Research. The program has been on hold since 2020 due to the pandemic, and we are excited to resume this unique graduate student recruitment and training opportunity on campus again in 2022.

Join us in welcoming the following Hollins students to Virginia Tech this summer for undergraduate research experiences with GCC faculty Drs. Chloé Lahondère (biochemistry), Lisa Belden (biological sciences) and Ashley Dayer (fish and wildlife conservation)![/vc_column_text][vc_separator style=”dashed”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”61926″ img_size=”800×800″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border” css=”.vc_custom_1651776756245{margin-bottom: 5px !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Aqsa Fazal

Aqsa is a rising senior majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and a minor in biology and physics. She will be working Dr. Chloé Lahondère‘s Lab on a project dealing with mosquito-borne diseases. More specifically, she will focus on Culex territans mosquitoes which feed primarily on amphibians and will study the pathogens they carry and transmit to these animals. Aqsa is excited to grow her research experience and skillset at Virginia Tech this summer to aide in her ambition to pursue graduate studies in the future.

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Olivia Sacci

Olivia is a rising junior, biology major, and chemistry minor on the pre-veterinary track at Hollins University. Building on experience working with amphibians in both a clinical and zoological setting, her  research with Dr. Lisa Belden will focus on the symbiotic microbial communities that reside on amphibian skin as well as the microbiome-parasite interactions in honey bees. With aspirations to enroll in a dual DVM/Ph.D. program after her undergraduate studies, Olivia is excited to grow her skillset to support veterinary-based research.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”61935″ img_size=”800×800″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border” css=”.vc_custom_1651778684980{margin-bottom: 5px !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Jessica Willebeek-LeMair

As a rising senior majoring in Environmental Science, Jessica has recently spent the spring 2022 semester studying abroad in Tanzania through the Hollin’s Field Studies program. She is very excited to work in Dr. Ashley Dayer’s Human Dimensions Lab this summer where she will assist in utilizing data from wildlife viewer surveys to write scientific reports.  In addition to growing data analysis and scientific writing skills, this research opportunity will provide Jessica a different social perspective on environmental conservation issues relevant to the Appalachian region. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Accolades News Undergraduate Experiential Learning

Three GCC Undergraduate Science Policy Fellows will head to D.C. in summer 2022

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February 16, 2022

 

The Global Change Center Science Policy Fellowship program resumes this year to award three undergraduate students a fully-funded opportunity to participate in the Washington Semester Program during summer semester 2022!  To date, the GCC Science Policy Fellowship program has supported ten students’ experiences to learn first-hand how science and research translate to policy action in our nation’s capital.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

Carolina Bell

Biological Sciences

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“The opportunity to gain real-world experience with science policy will help me to develop my career path post-undergrad.”

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Carolina is a junior majoring in Biological Sciences with a minor in Diversity and Community Engagement.  With aspirations to improve equity in the healthcare, STEM fields and public policy, Carolina hopes to partner with a non-profit organization or health agency for her internship in DC this summer.  During her undergraduate career at VT, she’s served as the director of Women’s Advocacy on the Panhellenic Executive Council, as an At-Large Representative of the Student Government Association, and currently as president of the United Feminist Movement.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

Erica Jones

Biological Sciences

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“By participating in the Washington Semester program, I aim to develop new skills within public policy to make the world a better place to live, grow, and prosper for future generations.”

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Erica is a junior majoring in Biological Sciences with minors in Medicine and Society and Interdisciplinary Engineering and Science. Working as a research assistant in the Translational Plant Sciences graduate lab with Dr. David Haak, Erica has gained valuable knowledge in the fields of plant genetics and computational biology.  She is motivated to advance the future of agriculture and genetic engineering capabilities to inform policy decisions that will improve the human condition on earth, and also expand our horizon for agriculture in space. Erica currently serves as a senior mentor within the Orion Learning Community on campus, providing guidance to incoming students and organizing activities for the program.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

Emily Mulcahy

Biological Sciences

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“I’m very enthusiastic about the fellowship and excited to get an inside look on the processes used to develop solutions that aim to preserve the environment now and for future generations.”

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Emily is a sophomore majoring in Biological Sciences on the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior track with two minors in Wetland Science and Green Engineering. She is passionate about the responsible stewardship of ecosystems and natural resources, and eager to learn how research and science can positively impact the environmental policy realm.  She has served as a student leader and mentor within the Meraki Living Learning Community, and is a current activist in Active Minds, demonstrating her commitment to creating a supportive culture and resources to enhance personal well-being for students at VT.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_column_text]The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech offers the Washington Semester Program to all undergraduate students, regardless of major. The program provides a unique 11-week immersion into work experience within the nation’s capital. Students work on challenging science policy issues that shape communities locally and nationally while obtaining academic credit.

The Global Change Center (GCC) offers competitive fellowships to undergraduate students to cover the cost of in-state tuition, housing and fees to attend the Washington Semester Program. You can read more about this program here.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Announcements Research Undergraduate Experiential Learning

GCC Undergraduate Research Grants awarded to eight students for 2021-2022

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November 23, 2021

This year the Global Change Center continued to support the research efforts of our undergraduate students through our Undergraduate Research Grant program. From mosquito control, to a shark identification phone app, to how landowners perceive conservation efforts and more – this year’s GCC undergraduate research grant recipients are conducting impressive work with GCC faculty. This year’s research grants, totaling ~$7,500 in funds, support projects led by eight outstanding undergraduate students spanning seven undergraduate majors.

Congratulations to the following students awarded this year’s GCC undergraduate research grants! Read more about their research projects below.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator style=”dashed”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

The impact of microplastics on crayfish and branchiobdellidan annelids symbiosis

Tyler Allen, Biological Sciences

Working with Drs. Austin Gray and Bryan Brown

[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Although an estimated 80% of coastal plastic debris comes from inland areas…” tab_id=”1612293290617-6f7b2fb9-3309″][vc_column_text]Although an estimated 80% of coastal plastic debris comes from inland areas, work on their adverse effects on freshwater organisms lags behind those reported for marine life. Tyler will work to determine how different microplastics sizes and polymer types impact their ecosymbiotic relationship between crayfish and branchiobdellidan annelids. He hopes that the results will provide information on an aspect of microplastics pollution that remains unexplored.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58939″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border” css=”.vc_custom_1637079675791{margin-bottom: 5px !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Projecting species distribution models under different climate scenarios for conservation

Victorjose Catalan, Wildlife Conservation

Working with Drs. Meryl Mims and Traci DuBose[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Shifts in temperature due to climate change will alter the distribution of species and increase global biodiversity loss…” tab_id=”1612297277623-b2f6f3b6-8c8b”][vc_column_text]Shifts in temperature due to climate change will alter the distribution of species and increase global biodiversity loss, requiring predictions of climate vulnerability for sensitive species. However, the effects of climate change vary spatially and temporally, and vulnerability is not the same for all species. Victorjose will build species distribution models that predict the range of anuran species across space in relation to their environment by using occurrence and climate data to predict responses of individual species to climate change and their vulnerability.  His research will help advance ongoing efforts funded by the U.S. Geological Survey to evaluate the sensitivity of frogs and toads across the United States to climate change.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58938″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Assessing urushiol’s contribution to poison ivy evolutionary fitness

Amy Fiorellino, Environmental Science

Working with Dr. John Jelesko[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Understanding the evolutionary trajectory of chemical defenses is relevant to understanding how plants…” tab_id=”1612297224175-e1b38224-b112″][vc_column_text]Understanding the evolutionary trajectory of chemical defenses is relevant to understanding how plants adapt to the extinction of antagonistic species during the Anthropocene.  Amy’s research will examine whether urushiol levels quantitatively promote the evolutionary fitness of poison ivy.  Amy will pair fitness data (number of offspring and germination rate) from individual plants with their urushiol levels to determine whether these chemical defenses are correlated, as well as whether they are related to environmental factors such as distance to surface water.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58954″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

The effects of engagement in research on landowner perspectives on science and conservation

Anna Klewicki, Environmental Conservation and Society

Working with Drs. Ashley Dayer and Bill Hopkins & IGC Fellow Rebecca O’Brien[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Although most United States’ land is privately owned, these areas…” tab_id=”1612294574054-6ff00c84-33d5″][vc_column_text]Although most United States’ land is privately owned, these areas have continually been understudied in the field of conservation. Anna’s project will examine how landowners’ interactions with biologists impact their perceptions of research and will help inform best practices to leverage access to private lands to support conservation outcomes. Through a series of interviews with landowners who interacted with researchers, Anna aims to better understand the role these interactions played in landowners’ subsequent conservation activities and their perceptions of science and an imperiled wildlife species.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58945″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Adverse birth outcomes associated with proximity to poultry animal feeding operation in
rural Eastern Shore, Virginia

Antonia Maria Mendrinos, Clinical Neuroscience

Working with Dr. Julia Gohlke[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Animal feeding operations (AFOs) emit ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds…” tab_id=”1612294975335-ebb3aea2-aaca”][vc_column_text]Animal feeding operations (AFOs) emit ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter into the air. Air pollution from animal feeding operations has been implicated as a contributor to adverse birth outcomes, such as preterm birth and low birth weight.  Using birth records through the Virginia Department of Health and poultry records from the Virginia Department of Environment Quality, Antonia aims to estimate pollution from the poultry farms on the Eastern Shore, Virginia and determine its effect on birth outcomes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58942″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

 Developing a shark identification app for online citizen science 

Lauren Morris, Biological Sciences

Working with Dr. Francesco Ferretti[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”SharkPulse, a crowdsourcing initiative that mines shark sightings from images…” tab_id=”1637077733872-b60d6e91-2940″][vc_column_text]

SharkPulse, a crowdsourcing initiative that mines shark sightings from images shared on social networks, stored in online portals, and submitted through mobile and web apps, uses citizen science to gather data to monitor global shark populations. Lauren will develop an interactive taxonomic identification web app that helps users identify sharks from collected images. The App will make shark identification more accessible for users, increase global shark data for future research, and expand public engagement with the SharkPulse initiative.

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Optimization of an attractive toxic sugar bait trap to control Aedes j. japonicus invasive mosquitoes

Helen Oker, Biochemistry

Working with Dr. Chloé Lahondère[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Aedes j. japonicus is an invasive mosquito in the USA that is a known vector of pathogens…” tab_id=”1612294740181-e03b4626-6707″][vc_column_text]Aedes j. japonicus is an invasive mosquito in the USA that is a known vector of pathogens. Helen plans to optimize Attractive Toxic Sugar Baits (ATSB) for mosquito control by determining factors influencing their attractiveness to the mosquitoes. To do this, she will use a combination of field and laboratory experiments to test the efficacy of various odorant components emitted by the ATSB. Ultimately, this project will provide an efficient alternative and sustainable control method to reduce mosquito populations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58958″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Plant functional and morphological traits impact carbon transport to aquatic ecosystems

Aaron Price, Crop and Soil Environmental Science

Working with Dr. Brian Badgley & IGC Fellow Stephanie Duston[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”How specific plant traits impact the flux of carbon from soil is poorly understood…” tab_id=”1637077846138-b7e9bbb0-d5d8″][vc_column_text]How specific plant traits impact the flux of carbon from soil is poorly understood. In greenhouse experiments, Aaron will test the relationship between root traits of different plants and concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching from the soil system. Aaron will calculate the percentage of carbon transferred between the soil and water and how those relate to plant characteristics and soil carbon cycling. Determining how plant traits drive carbon exchange will improve carbon accounting in existing models of coupled soil and hydrologic systems.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”58940″ img_size=”300×300″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1612284837166{padding-top: 12px !important;padding-right: 12px !important;padding-bottom: 12px !important;padding-left: 12px !important;background-color: #4c89bf !important;}”]The Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, is proud to sponsor undergraduate students and their research projects that align with our mission for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to address critical global changes impacting the environment and society. Supported projects address basic and/or applied aspects of global change science, engineering, social science and the humanities and are sponsored by a GCC Faculty mentor.

Read more about the GCC Undergraduate Research Grant program here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Announcements Research Student Spotlight Undergraduate Experiential Learning

GCC Undergraduate Research Grant Awardees Present at Dennis Dean Research Conference

Panorama of crystal clear mountain lake in Alps

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June 25, 2021

 

In a year complicated by the global pandemic, three recipients of Global Change Center Undergraduate Research Grants succeeded in conducting impactful research and presented their work at a campus conference attended by hundreds of Virginia Tech students and faculty. Omar West, Tess Alexander, and Ash VanWinkle displayed their ability to communicate complex research by presenting at the Dennis Dean Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Conference held in April 2021. Each student, under the mentorship of a GCC-affiliated faculty member, showcased their creative and scholarly accomplishments on three diverse research projects.

Please join us in commending Omar, Tess, and Ash on their remarkable research accomplishments!

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Omar West

double majoring in Biology and Nanomedicine

The effect of pH and symbiont density on a cleaning symbiosis

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”56260″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]“Omar is the glue that holds everyone in the lab together,” commented GCC affiliate Dr. Bryan Brown, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences. “As a freshman he worked at McDonald’s to support himself, but the funding from the GCC allowed him to instead focus on his research.” As a Roanoke native and an accomplished Eagle Scout, Omar West first became fascinated by science at a young age. “Watching science fiction shows and movies opened my eyes to all of the possible technologies that could be created from science,” he commented, noting that the importance of research is that it can ultimately benefit humanity.[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”0″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Read more about Omar’s research project…” tab_id=”1624564233128-8e054a0b-031f”][vc_column_text]Now entering his senior year at Virginia Tech, Omar first joined the Brown lab as a freshman in 2018 as a Biology and Nanomedicine double major. Research conducted in the Brown lab broadly focuses on community ecology in aquatic systems by conducting experimental tests of ecological theory, most notably through field experimentation. Initially contributing to many of the lab’s ongoing projects, Omar developed his independent research project almost two years ago. The research focused on the cleaning symbiosis between crayfish and worms known as ecosymbiotic annelids. Knowing that worms inhabiting the crayfish play a hygienic role for the crayfish that is mutualistic at low and intermediary levels, Omar wanted to investigate whether changes in pH affect the overall health of a crayfish by shifting the worms to high, or parasitic, levels. The results of the study revealed that relatively basic pH of 8 in combination with an intermediary worm count of 6 led to the greatest survivability of the crayfish and the overall fitness. Omar is currently participating in a summer REU program with the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in the lab of Dr. Sandra Loesgen. There, he will conduct assays on microorganisms from jellyfish and bacterial strains from Antarctica. As for Omar’s long-term goals, he plans to enter a graduate program upon completion of his degree next year. “Better keep a close eye on me. Because I’m going to change the world someday.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

Tess Alexander

majoring in Biology, with a minor in National Security & Foreign Affairs

Does big data bring opportunity, bias, or both for conservation? Exploring open access species occurrence data

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”56264″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The phrase “community scientist” has become ubiquitous in modern parlance. Whether it’s sampling water from your local reservoir, scanning hours of footage for an elusive endangered species, or simply uploading photos of spring blooms to a plant identification app, the public have become the largest producers of natural history data in history. But do these data have downsides? And how might those downsides affect the ability to use these data to understand the risks of climate change to many different species? These are the questions that Tess Alexander posed as part of a continuing research project in the lab of GCC affiliate Dr. Meryl Mims, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences since 2017.[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”0″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Read more about Tess’s research project…” tab_id=”1624564854200-355d8127-b06c”][vc_column_text]The Mims Lab investigates how biological and environmental factors influence the vulnerability of species to climate change. They use data from diverse sources, from population genetics to publicly collected natural history data. Joining the lab in 2019 as a Biological Sciences major with a minor in National Security & Foreign Affairs, Tess excelled in the lab environment, both as an integral team member and later as an independent researcher. “Tess approached her research with curiosity and initiative much like a graduate student,” says Meryl. Working closely with IGC fellow Chloe Moore, Tess sought to determine whether occurrence data (or a record of a species’ exact location in space and time) used in combination with environmental data to develop species distribution models (SDMs) can be used to predict where a species likely occurs without inherent bias. She used R programming to compare occurrence points of two frog and one toad species in the United States from two publicly sourced databases to examine the quality and potential biases of these data. When asked why this research was significant, she said, “It is crucial because these species play a major role in food webs, consequently impacting humans.” Her results suggested that occurrences derived from these databases are biased towards human collection efforts in areas such as parks and population centers, and SDMs using these data need to account for these biases to better predict distribution of biodiversity. “Being able to evaluate the reliability of large-scale, opportunistically collected species data will allow us to examine questions related to data over- and under-representation across space, the extent and spread of invasive species, and changes in species distributions over time,” says Meryl. The next steps of the project will include exploring other species and occurrence databases and correcting for the biases Tess discovered. And while Tess has graduated this year, she plans to continue using her analytical skills in the public sector, not too far from her hometown of McLean, Virginia. [/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

Ash VanWinkle

majoring in Biochemistry, with a minor in Chemistry

Development of an attractive toxic sugar bait for the control of Aedes j. japonicus

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”56268″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]From trapping the tooth fairy as a young child to trapping mosquitoes for research in order to better understand the impacts of climate change on disease vectors, Ash VanWinkle has always examined the world through the lens of a scientist. Her initial scientific curiosity was sparked many years ago, after receiving a circuit set as a Christmas gift. “I used it to build an alarm to catch my dad being the Tooth Fairy when I lost a tooth, and from then on I was curious about all the things (mischievous and otherwise) science could do,” she recalled. This natural interest in science eventually led her to join the Virginia Tech community as a Biochemistry major with a minor in Chemistry. Ash joined the lab of Dr. Chloé Lahondère in 2020 and began working with graduate student Lauren Fryzlewicz (a previous recipient of a GCC Undergraduate Research Grant), researching how climate change can impact disease vectors such as mosquitoes.[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”0″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Read more about Ash’s research project…” tab_id=”1624565235196-a573edb2-829a”][vc_column_text]“I am really grateful to the GCC for supporting undergraduate research and for supporting Ash’s project in particular,” Chloé remarks. “Ash’s project focuses on an invasive mosquito species for which no control method currently exists.” The invasive species Aedes j. japonicus is a potential vector of West Nile virus, a disease with no approved treatment or vaccine that impacts millions worldwide, and is competent for several other viruses including dengue. “With warming climates,” Ash said, “the active range for mosquitoes is growing, and we hypothesize that drier climates will encourage more mosquito activity.”  Using the GCC grant funds, she has been able to address this problem by creating and testing novel attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSBs) for mosquito control. To test this, boric acid, which is lethal to mosquitoes, was mixed with various solutions of sucrose and various fruit sugars to use in feeding assays. Ash found that survivability was much lower in mosquitoes fed solutions containing boric acid compared to those who weren’t, proving the efficiency of ATSBs in this invasive species. The next steps for this project will be to couple the ATSBs with a suitable trap and test its efficiency in the field during warmer months. Graduating this year with a publication in the works and the Dennis Dean Undergraduate Research Symposium Policy Award in tow, Ash intends to enter VT’s Master’s in Biochemistry program. Ash reflects back on one of her most important influences, “I wouldn’t have had any opportunity to do any of this without my dad. It was his funds received through the Post-9/11 GI-Bill that allowed me to go to college, and he has supported me in more ways than I can count over the past three years.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, is proud to sponsor undergraduate students and their research projects that align with our mission for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to address critical global changes impacting the environment and society. Supported projects address basic and/or applied aspects of global change science, engineering, social science and the humanities and are sponsored by a GCC Faculty mentor.

Read more about the GCC Undergraduate Research Grant program here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Announcements Undergraduate Experiential Learning

New Global Change Scholars program expands opportunities for undergraduate research

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April 1, 2021

 

In ongoing efforts to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, the Global Change Center is proud to announce a new partnership with the Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program (MAOP).  We have launched the new Global Change Scholars Program, a companion program to MAOP’s Undergraduate Scholars Program. The new partnership provides financial scholarships ($750 – $1,500 per year) to undergraduate students with unmet financial need so that they can participate in undergraduate research with GCC faculty affiliates.

Within the university landscape, economic considerations prevent many students from participating in experiential learning opportunities such as undergraduate research and study abroad programs.  These financial barriers to entry are unevenly distributed across society, limiting opportunities for students from lower and middle income families.  As a result, many incredibly talented undergraduate students never get exposed to potential career paths in research or the other life skills gained under the mentorship of faculty and graduate students.  Unfortunately, these disparities have only gotten worse over the last year due to COVID 19. Importantly, these scholarships are not meant to replace the pay that some students might receive for contributing to faculty research programs. Instead, a Global Change Scholar award is intended to make it possible for students to explore and prioritize research opportunities over other forms of employment often needed to make ends meet.

The Global Change Scholars will be part of a larger community of MAOP students and will engage in professional development workshops and 1:1 mentorship meetings, and be provided with support from the larger MAOP community.  They will also engage in GCC and IGC IGEP activities to experience what it is like to be part of a community of innovative scientists from diverse fields.  Scholarships will be competitively awarded and renewable each year pending satisfactory academic and research performance, and continued research with GCC faculty affiliates.

The deadline for applications is April 30th for awards beginning in fall 2021.

More information and the application details are available on the Global Change Scholars Program webpage.

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Categories
Accolades Announcements Drinking water Global Change Research Undergraduate Experiential Learning Water

GCC Undergraduate Research Grant recipient Dexter Howard leads first-author publication from the Carey Lab

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March 1, 2021

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Dexter Howard, a former undergraduate researcher (B.S. ’20 in Water: Resources, Policy, and Management) and now PhD student with GCC affiliate Dr. Cayelan Carey, has first-authored a publication of his undergraduate thesis research. The paper, “Variability in fluorescent dissolved organic matter concentrations across diel to seasonal time scales is driven by water temperature and meteorology in a eutrophic reservoir”, published in the journal Aquatic Science February 2021. Read the article here.

Beginning in 2018, Dexter collected weekly samples of organic carbon (OC) in a Roanoke drinking water reservoir, thought to be the drivers of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the water column. In 2019, data collection expanded to the sub-hourly level more relevant to the decision-making timescale used by reservoir managers. The team’s analysis and findings of the magnitude and drivers of OC variability in the reservoir are now published in the journal Aquatic Sciences. Dexter’s undergraduate research experience included mentorship by IGC fellow Mary Lofton, GCC faculty in the Reservoir Science Group at VT, and with support from the GCC Undergraduate Research Grant program and the Virginia Water Resource Research Center at VT.

Kudos, Dexter & team![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”54668″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Announcements Research Undergraduate Experiential Learning

GCC Undergraduate Research Grants awarded to 7 students for 2021

Students in laboratory with science experiment research tiny persons concept. Biology, chemistry and physics educational environment vector illustration. Academic knowledge learning in university lab.

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February 2, 2021

COVID-19 may have constrained our ability to invest in new independent projects this year, but we continue to support the research efforts of our existing students. From ant seed dispersal mechanisms, to spawning behavior of Blacknose Dace in our local Toms Creek, to invasive mosquito control and more – this year’s GCC undergraduate research grant recipients are conducting impressive remote work with GCC faculty. The research grant funds awarded for 2021 support 6 projects led by 7 outstanding undergraduate students spanning 5 undergraduate majors.

Congratulations to the following students awarded this year’s GCC undergraduate research grants! Read more about their research projects below.

 

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Investigating quality of occurrence data for conservation 

Tess Alexander, Biological Sciences

Working with Dr. Meryl Mims & IGC Fellow Chloe Moore

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Biodiversity describes the variety of species in a habitat and is important for the development and function of ecosystems. It is studied using species distribution models (SDMs) that use occurrence and environmental data to predict where a species likely occurs. With the GCC grant, Tess will expand upon previous work to compare specific areas containing a high density of occurrences with landscape type, such as urban areas or in proximity to research facilities. She will also investigate patchiness, which is used to quantify the size and number of patches in distribution data. Her findings will contribute to a further understanding of potential biases across datasets to ultimately improve the predictability of SDMs.

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Restoring connectivity: impact on ant seed-dispersal mutualisms

Gabi Dugan, Biological Systems Engineering

& Nicole Gaspari, Biological Sciences

Working with Dr. Susan Whitehead & IGC Fellow Melissa Burt[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Habitat fragmentation – as a result of human development – is a leading threat to biodiversity worldwide…” tab_id=”1612297277623-b2f6f3b6-8c8b”][vc_column_text]

The Savannah River Site (SRS) Corridor Experiment is a long-term ecological experiment to study how corridors function at the landscape scale. Previous work at SRS by IGC fellow, Melissa Burt, has examined how habitat connectivity and edge effects impact a ubiquitous mutualism in temperate forests: seed dispersal by ants. This work has shown that ants tend to move seeds further in habitat patches connected via corridors. Gabi and Nicole’s project will investigate the mechanisms behind that pattern by assessing how long-term manipulation of habitat connectivity has influenced ant functional traits. Analysis of these trait data will allow them to ask if the effects of habitat connectivity on ant seed-dispersal is mediated through landscape-level impacts on ant traits. 

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The effect of urbanization on nest structure and incubation temperature for song sparrows

Charlotte Moore, Wildlife Conservation

Working with Dr. Kendra Sewall & IGC Fellows Sam Lane and Isaac VanDiest[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”As urbanization increases worldwide, changing land use creates new challenges for native bird populations…” tab_id=”1612297224175-e1b38224-b112″][vc_column_text]

Urban areas tend to be warmer than rural areas, and temperature plays a pivotal role in the development of songbird nestlings: increased incubation temperature increases the likelihood of hatching and decreases the incubation time—both leading to an increase in fledging success.Charlotte will analyze habitat differences in song sparrow nest construction and the effect on incubation and brooding temperature. This information can be helpful to wildlife managers and urban planners in the maintenance of more suitable habitat that promotes native bird populations.

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Spatial variability of microbial metabolism in mining-impacted and reference streams

Natalie Murphy, Biochemistry

Working with Dr. Erin Hotchkiss & IGC Fellow Kristen Bretz[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Headwater streams are active players in regional and global carbon cycles…” tab_id=”1612294574054-6ff00c84-33d5″][vc_column_text]

How microbial carbon cycling will respond to climate change-altered flow extremes and legacies of human impact are not well understood. Iron oxidizing bacteria populate mining-impacted streams and are of biogeochemical interest due to their role in stream carbon and nutrient cycling. This project will investigate how former coal extraction patches influence spatial variation in microbial carbon metabolism. 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”54352″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1612297515982{margin-bottom: 3px !important;}”]

Spawning behavior of Blacknose Dace in Toms Creek in relation to temperature and potential nest association

Tal Tomlinson, Fish Conservation

Working with Dr. Emmanuel Frimpong[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”As part of a long-term study to understand the response of stream fish communities and their symbiotic reproductive interactions to climate change…” tab_id=”1612294740181-e03b4626-6707″][vc_column_text]

The objective of this study is to determine the spawning timing, mode, and microhabitat locations of Blacknose Dace in Toms Creek. As part of a long-term study to understand the response of stream fish communities and their symbiotic reproductive interactions to climate change, this information will be crucial to understanding how water temperatures determines the spawning of Blacknose Dace and whether this species participates in nest association with other cyprinid species in Toms Creek. 

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Determine the efficacy of a new baited trap to control invasive mosquitoes

Ashlynn VanWinkle, Biochemistry

Working with Dr. Chloé Lahondère[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Aedes j. japonicus is an invasive mosquito species in the USA and an active vector of West Nile Virus with only limited methods of population control…” tab_id=”1612294975335-ebb3aea2-aaca”][vc_column_text]

Attractive Toxic Sugar Baits (ATSBs) have recently emerged as an efficient mosquito control strategy that targets both male and female mosquitoes by exploiting sugar feeding behaviors. Ashlynn will work to determine the efficacy of existing ATSB against this mosquito species as well as its potential impact on non-target organisms. The data gathered will provide essential insights for the deployment of the ATSB at larger scales to control this invasive species.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_accordion][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”54354″ img_size=”300×300″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator style=”shadow”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1612284837166{padding-top: 12px !important;padding-right: 12px !important;padding-bottom: 12px !important;padding-left: 12px !important;background-color: #4c89bf !important;}”]The Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, is proud to sponsor undergraduate students and their research projects that align with our mission for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to address critical global changes impacting the environment and society. Supported projects address basic and/or applied aspects of global change science, engineering, social science and the humanities and are sponsored by a GCC Faculty mentor.

Read more about the GCC Undergraduate Research Grant program here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Categories
Accolades Blog Drinking water Global Change News Newsletter Student Spotlight Undergraduate Experiential Learning

My Virtual Summer Internship with the EPA, by GCC Science Policy Fellow Kerry Desmond

Clear Water drop with circular waves

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]While Kerry’s participation in the Washington Semester Program with the School of Public and International Affairs was cancelled due to COVID-19, her summer internship with the US Environmental Protection Agency continued remotely. Kudos to Kerry for successfully completing her summer internship and for her resiliency and adjustment to the remote and virtual experience. We wish her the best in her senior year![/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

August 27, 2020

by Kerry Desmond, winner of the Global Change Center’s 2020 Science Policy Fellowship 

After completing the end of my junior year virtually, I was both eager and hesitant to begin a virtual internship with the Environmental Protection Agency. Although I am a civil engineering student with a focus in environmental and water resources engineering, I have always been interested in environmental and public health policy and was so excited to get involved in work that combined both fields. My specific placement within the EPA was in the Water Enforcement Division (WED) of the Office of Civil Enforcement (OCE). The priority of WED is to enforce the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, and the division is divided into two branches: Industrial and Municipal. Through the projects I worked on, I had the opportunity to work with engineers, scientists, and attorneys from both branches (along with EPA personnel in other HQ offices, regional EPA personnel, and consultants). Despite my initial hesitation, my experience working remotely proved to be just as exciting and stimulating as I had hoped it would be.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”51198″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_border”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]The main project I worked on during the summer was helping improve the functionality of an Address Comparison Tool (ACT) for facilities with stormwater permits. Essentially, ACT takes a known permittee list from EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database and compares it to a list of facilities that should theoretically have a stormwater permit (typically provided by a state or an outside database). The goal is to find disparities among the two lists and discover facilities that don’t have permits so that they can be targeted and become candidates for federal enforcement. Since ACT compares two facilities at a time and determines a score for them, I was tasked with conducting analysis to determine a numerical threshold for the scoring system. This threshold would be used to differentiate duplicate addresses from unique addresses. This required a lot of deliberation with my mentor and an outside consultant, as well as a lot of analysis within ACT and Excel, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of trying to figure out the complexities of ACT and its scoring system.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Along with this project, I had the opportunity to conduct a research project with another intern for a National Compliance Initiative (NCI) under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Specifically, we were tasked with coming up with a recommendation as to whether there is a need for public water system-specific inspector training for risk communication and community involvement. This project was especially interesting because we had the chance to interview EPA personnel from all across the Agency and hear about current and past projects that necessitated this type of communication and involvement. I also had the chance to work on another NCI, which focused on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Significant Noncompliance (SNC) facility targeting. SNC encompasses the highest priority NPDES permit violations such as significantly exceeding pollutant effluent limits, or not submitting a discharge monitoring report for multiple quarters. The goals of the targeting plan were to determine the highest priority corporations with multiple facilities in various states and the highest priority individual facilities in any state. I conducted the analysis by looking at criteria within ECHO to evaluate these target facilities and characterize the type of violations and scope of enforcement actions already taken.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

I had a bit of time to get adjusted to a remote environment, but I knew it would be different to work in a virtual office setting rather than a virtual class setting. I was especially weary because, as an intern or new hire, you’re often filled with questions and need assistance with the little nuances of a new company. I was really lucky to have two engineering mentors that were always willing to talk over the phone, video call, or even answer a quick IM or email that I would send. Along with the ease of contacting people, it was also easy to hop onto virtual meetings, which allowed me to quickly get a feel for the type of work WED does.

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Categories
Accolades News Research Undergraduate Experiential Learning

8 undergraduate students awarded GCC research grants for 2020

Microscope and partings on the table in the laboratory. Study on GMOs in greens.

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January 28, 2020

The Global Change Center at Virginia Tech, with support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, is proud to sponsor undergraduate students and their research projects that align with our mission for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to address critical global changes impacting the environment and society. Supported projects address basic and/or applied aspects of global change science, engineering, social science and the humanities and are sponsored by a GCC Faculty mentor.

This year’s research grant funds total $5,432, spanning 8 projects across 3 departments. Students will present their research findings as a poster at either the VT Experiential Learning Conference (April 2020 or 2021) or the VT Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium (July 2020).

Congratulations to the following students awarded this year’s GCC undergraduate research grants!

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Project Title: Effects of temperature and humidity on the metabolism of nectar in Aedes albopictus and Ae. aegypti mosquitoes

Mosquitoes transmit several pathogens to humans and other animals killing about a million people every year. If females need blood to produce eggs, both females and males feed on plant nectar which enhances their survival and longevity. For this project, we will focus on two invasive mosquito species, Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus. These mosquitoes are originally indigenous to the tropics but have now spread around the world (including the US). Global warming has been shown to increase the habitable range of these mosquitoes in part due to raising temperatures. As their geographical range expands it increases their threat to public health. Surprisingly, how environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, in combination with access to nectar sources, affect mosquito population dynamics remain unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we will first conduct studies on laboratory strains of mosquitoes and quantify their metabolism and digestion on nectar under different environmental conditions using calorimetric assays. Then field work will be conducted in Virginia to assess sugar feeding prevalence in these invasive species. Altogether, these data will shed light on how mosquitoes are utilizing nectar in the field and will inform on the development of new traps to control mosquito populations.

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Project Title: From water chemistry to growth: making sense of the abiotic world of frogs

Many organisms rely on environmental cues to signal when to grow and develop to maximize chances of survival. However, anthropogenic threats, such as climate change, habitat alteration, and water pollution, pose a challenge to many species as it alters their environment. In Spring 2019, we conducted an artificial pond experiment to explore the effects of water temperatures, increased drying rates, and the combination of both on wood frog, ​Lithobates sylvaticus, a​ nd spring peeper, ​Pseudacris crucifer ​tadpoles. We examined how these environmental changes – anticipated to be an effect of climate change – influenced tadpole growth and survival. Analyzing how temperature and drying influence water quality parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and conductivity may also lead us to a deeper understanding of the mechanistic pathways through which these environmental changes influence tadpole growth and overall survival. This past semester, I examined the significant differences of these parameters between treatments; however, we have yet to analyze chlorophyll-a to determine how algae, the tadpoles food source, is affected. I propose to expand this project by extracting chlorophyll-a from algae samples collected during the experiment. Analyzing this information along with the other water chemistry parameters will provide a detailed understanding of the tadpoles’ abiotic environment under warming and drying conditions and how this ultimately affects their growth and survival.

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Project Title: Wetlands in a Warming World: The Importance of Wetlands in Headwater Carbon Cycling

Wetlands are productive ecosystems that play an important role in carbon cycling. However, wetland contributions to landscape CO2 and CH4 emissions are often overlooked and the role of wetlands in producing carbon emissions remains a critical gap in carbon budgets. To estimate current and future emissions from wetlands at Coweeta, NC and Jefferson National Forest, VA, I will measure CH4 and CO2 emitted from each wetland to the atmosphere and conduct laboratory warming experiments to calculate microbial organic carbon (OC) uptake and CO2 production. I will use a flux chamber attached to a portable greenhouse gas analyzer to get real-time estimates of CO2 and CH4 fluxes across each wetland. I will develop and test an improved flux chamber design to allow for more accurate and abundant flux measurements. To test how microbial uptake of OC (and subsequent CO2 and CH4 production) may change with increasing temperature, I will incubate filtered and microbially-inoculated wetland water at ambient and +3°C in triplicate bioassays with ambient and amended (+CNP) nutrients. I predict that increased temperature increases OC uptake and CH4 and CO2 production. This experiment will provide insight into the current and future role of wetlands in carbon cycling with changes in temperature.

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Project Title: Development of Poison Ivy Clonal Lines Differentiated for High or Low Urushiol Levels: Genetic Resources for Ecological Studies in Urushiol Chemical Ecology

Poison ivy seedlings grown in vitro produce markedly different steady state urushiol accumulation levels, apparently due to underlying genetic factors. I will leverage these findings to develop poison ivy clonal lines with varying urushiol levels. I have developed an experiment to germinate 50 poison ivy seeds collected from each of four states: Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, and Texas. I will harvest the first true leaf pair from each seedling and assay total-urushiol levels by Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometry. From these results, I will choose from each accession the four plants with the highest urushiol levels and the four with the lowest urushiol levels. This subset of plants from each state will be transplanted to pots with potting mix and grown in a Washington Street greenhouse with supplemental lighting and automated watering. There, they will produce stolons with genetically-identical daughter plants. These clones will again be assayed for total urushiol levels to confirm the stability of the high and low urushiol accumulation traits. The long term goal of this experiment is to transfer these plants to Kentland Farm this summer and quantify whether urushiol actually reduces herbivory by extant native fauna.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_position=”right” i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-exchange” add_icon=”true” title=”Ryan Shaw, Biology” tab_id=”1580156975350-968b0472-d023″][vc_column_text]

Project Title: In Cold Blood: Understanding The Role Mosquitoes Play in Pathogen Transmission to Frogs

Amphibian extinction is now happening at an unprecedented rate in part due to alteration of local ecosystems, climate change and diseases. Among diseases, emerging viral pathogens, Ranaviruses, as well as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a fungus that infects the skin, are greatly affecting amphibian populations, most notably frogs. This combination of habitat loss, rising temperatures and diseases has made this issue complicated and multifaceted. This project focuses on the role that Culex territans, a mosquito that feeds primarily on cold-blooded animals including frogs and snakes, plays in disease transmission in amphibians in Virginia. Cx. territans is a known pathogenic transmission vector, capable of spreading parasitic trypanosomes to various species of amphibians. We hypothesized that Cx. territans may also be capable of spreading the aforementioned viral and fungal diseases. To test for this hypothesis, we will screen blood fed Cx. territans from local areas for pathogens during plaque assays and PCR with specific primers. Data emerging from this project will help us better understand the complex dynamics seen between amphibian extinction, transmission of pathogens, and host-vector relationships.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section i_position=”right” i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-pagelines” add_icon=”true” title=”Kyla Thompson, Environmental Science” tab_id=”1580157082843-fe75108a-fe8f”][vc_column_text]

Project Title: CRISPR Genome Editing of Hairy Roots to Identify and Confirm Poison Ivy Urushiol Biosynthetic Genes

Urushiol is produced in poison ivy and causes allergic dermatitis in humans. Poison ivy is projected to become more allergenic with higher atmospheric CO2 levels associated with climate change. Urushiol’s primary ecological purpose is currently unknown because it is uninvestigated. Moreover, none of the urushiol biosynthetic genes and enzymes have been previously validated. A previous Jelesko Lab GCC UG Research Awardee Nye Lott successfully developed an Agrobacterium rhizogenes-based poison ivy stable transformation system to produce transgenic poison ivy hairy roots containing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing plasmids that target poison ivy PolyKetide Sythase-like (PKS-like) genes proposed to be involved in the first step in urushiol biosynthesis. My research project will follow on Nye’s A. rhizogenes strains containing PKS-specific CRISPR-Cas9 T-DNA binary plasmids to produce transgenic poison ivy hairy root lines with mutated PKS genes. The resulting transgenic hairy root lines will be evaluated for urushiol levels using GC-MS. If they show a decrease in urushiol levels, then the hairy roots lines will be sequenced for mutations in the targeted PKS genes. Hairy root lines with mutated specific PKS genes that result in dramatically less urushiol levels will be strong evidence that a specific PKS gene is necessary for urushiol biosynthesis.

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Project Title: Identification of Urushiol Biosynthetic Genes by Differential Gene Expression in Tissues with Different Urushiol Accumulation Levels

Poison Ivy plants produce urushiol, the compound that causes the characteristic allergic contact dermatitis symptoms in humans. The main goal of this project is to identify genes that are likely responsible for producing urushiol in poison ivy. In order to accomplish this goal, we will use a comparative transcriptomics approach between poison ivy tissues that accumulate markedly different amounts of urushiol. Preliminary work by a former GCC Undergraduate Awardee Nye Lott, suggested that poison ivy drupes accumulated between 8 to 45-fold more urushiol than the adjacent leaves. The lab has 20 matched pairs of poison ivy drupes with adjacent leaf material available for my experiments. I will extract total RNA from five pairs of matched poison ivy drupes and their corresponding adjacent leaves showing maximum differential urushiol accumulation levels. These 10 total RNA samples will be sent to NovoGene for library preparation and Illumina NextGen sequencing (RNA-seq). The collaborating Haak laboratory will perform the RNAseq analyses using their unpublished draft poison ivy whole genome to quantify and identify differentially expressed genes. I will subsequently sort through the differentially expressed poison ivy genes to identify specific predicted enzymatic activities involved in urushiol biosynthesis. This informatic resource will be used for many studies.

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Project Title: The Effect of pH and symbiont density on outcomes in a cleaning symbiosis

For over 20 years, the Brown Lab has studied the context-dependent cleaning symbiosis between crayfish and ecosymbiotic branchiobdellidan annelids. These worms act as cleaners for the crayfish, increasing the hosts’ fitness. However, the benefits from the symbiosis for the host are context dependent, and can shift from mutualism to parasitism under some conditions including high symbiont densities. However, what isn’t currently known is whether the symbiotic outcome will change under conditions of host stress. Given that changes in pH are common stressors in aquatic systems, it makes sense to examine how the outcomes of the symbiosis will change with this change in context. I will use varying levels of the branchiobdellidan, Cambarincola ingens crossed with a pH gradient in an aquarium experiment using previously successful methodologies. Response variables will be growth and survivorship of the host crayfish. We have already run preliminary versions of this experiment and produced results that suggest that intermediate densities of C. ingens will increase growth and survivorship at pH levels that depart from known norms. Lessons learned from that preliminary experiment will increase our probability of success with the proposed experiment.

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