Join us virtually to recognize the amazing research being done by undergraduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Students have worked incredibly hard to adapt to this challenging time; we are so grateful to still be able to display their work while social distancing.
We would like to thank everyone who helped make the poster fair happen this year! To all of our students, their PI's, the grad students, and supportive family members and mentors: Thank you!
Dr. Bronstein's lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, emerging category
Thermoregulation is the process where a given organism can maintain its internal temperature in order to maintain homeostasis. Each organism possesses an ideal internal temperature that falls within a specific range, and each organism does this differently. An organism’s ability to thermoregulate allows them to occupy multiple ecological niches, therefore increasing their ability to disperse as well. The goal of this project was to show whether there was a correlation between wax production in urban cochineal and thermoregulation, as this system is poorly studied. Broadly, we are asking how thermoregulation in a sessile insect occurs, and specifically how a species’ trait mediates the effects of extreme temperatures in a desert environment. The predictions are that thermoregulatory properties of the scale insect are a function of wax thickness and area of the wax, and that a thermal Allee effect occurs when the scale insects cluster together on their host cactus pad. Based on our pilot data, we were able to show a strong correlation between area, shape, and thickness of the wax with thermoregulatory properties.
Thermoregulation in a sessile scale insect, Dactylopius opuntiae (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae)
Dr. Duckworth's lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, advanced category
By definition, social behaviors are always expressed in the context of other individuals. Because of this, measurements of social behaviors outside the normal social context may not be a reliable measure of typical behavior within it. Moreover, it is difficult to assess the repeatability of social behaviors because, even in the normal social context, behavior may vary in relation to changes in the social context. Here, we assess the importance of social context in the expression of aggression in zebra finches, a social species in which aggression is important in resource acquisition and the maintenance of dominance hierarchies. Aggression was measured repeatedly in a familiar flock and was measured at least once per individual using a mirror test. Birds in a flock were recorded accessing a feeder, and the number and intensity of aggressive interactions, as well as individual dominance rank, were assessed. During the mirror test, aggressive response to the individuals’ reflection was scored to assess their reaction to an unfamiliar but equally matched bird. Aggression and dominance were highly repeatable in the flock context and positively correlated with one another. Mirror test aggression was not correlated with aggression in the flock context for both years of data suggesting that aggressive responses to familiar versus unfamiliar birds were functionally distinct. Moreover, despite the high repeatability of aggression and dominance, dominance was not stable between years, although males were consistently more dominant in general. Changing social environments leads to unpredictability in the expression of aggression and may influence other behaviors.
Influence of Social Context and Age on Expression of Aggression in Zebra Finches
Dr. Bonar's lab, School of Natural Resources & the Environment, advanced category
Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensus) and Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) are both invasive species in the Southwestern region that are causing adverse effects on the native fish populations. The Trojan Y Chromosome strategy is being implemented in this research in order to find an effective way to reduce these populations while maintaining balance within an ecosystem. This strategy produces males that are homozygous for the Y chromosome through estradiol feed. The goal for this sex reversal is to release a population who will only produce male offspring, thus gradually removing these species from the bodies of water they have invaded. During the progress of this strategy, we have been documenting the chronology of their sexual development, administered a variety of estradiol exposure, and calculated the sex ratios of the juvenile fish. We currently have data analysis of Red Shiner. Red Shiner was fed 50 mg E2 kg−1 diet and 100 mg E2 /kg−1 diet for 60 days. There was a significantly lower survival rate for 100 mg E2 treatment group compared to control and 50 mg E2 treatment groups. The E2 treatment groups had a significantly higher proportion (81.1% - 93.5%) of phenotypic females at sexual maturity. The histology reports concluded that the treatment was administered before the males were sexually developed.
Removing Cyprinella lutrensis and Lepomis cyanellus With Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy
Dr. Meredith's lab, School of Natural Resources & the Environment, advanced category
The Biosphere 2 WALD (Water, Atmosphere, and Life Dynamics) campaign is investigating how tropical rainforests, which play a large role in the ecological stability of the Earth, react to drought. Droughts are projected to increase throughout the Earth, so multiple teams of specialists are uniting through WALD to utilize the closed-system tropical rainforest inside Biosphere 2. These teams are introducing a premeditated drought in order to observe and collect data on the response, to piece together a complete picture of the response of the rainforest, particularly in carbon cycling. One of the areas of focus is in the rainforest soil during the experiment. While there are many soil-related teams working to collect data, the Meredith Research Group is focusing on the genetic makeup of the microbial communities within the soil. In order to get all of the teams to work together and get everything necessary for sampling, a specific and organized sampling protocol was implemented for the course of the WALD campaign, as explained in this poster.
Sampling and Allocation Process of Soil from the Biosphere 2 WALD Campaign
Dr. Badyaev's lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, advanced category
During development, morphological change requires interaction between molecular genetic regulators and physical processes, integrating cell proliferation and differentiation. Transcription factors (TFs) are a set of highly conserved genetic regulators expressed across tissue types. The differential co-expression of transcription factors across developmental stages can explain tissue transformation and morphological outcome. Thus, the combinatorial nature of development allows for tissue specificity and morphological diversity despite the conservation of regulators. In this study, we develop a system for the study of transcription factor co-expression in multiple tissue types during avian craniofacial development. Using embryonic tissue samples from common house finch we quantify the expression of eight transcription factors across five stages of development. Here, we present our framework and a progress report of this work.
Changing Co-Expression of Transcription Factors Across Space and Time During Development
Dr. Baltrus' lab, School of Plant Sciences, emerging category
Gram negative bacteria Erwinia sp. and Pantoea sp. are both known plant pathogens. Erwinia, the cause of fire blight disease, has shown to be hugely detrimental to the apple and pear industries. Pantoea is the cause of plant leaf blight as well as an opportunistic human pathogen. Both bacteria are closely related to Escherichia coli, a known human gastrointestinal symbiont. Unfortunately, some E. coli strains can cause severe infection. Novel tailocin mechanisms and their genetics have just begun to be explored and they have an unfulfilled role within the health and agriculture industries. A tailocin derived from Pseudomonas strain 43A has shown activity against three additional bacterial species in this experiment. The activity towards these bacterial species needs further exploration, genetic analysis, and testing to become tools in our arsenal for medical and agricultural applications.
Pseudomonas Strain 43A Tailocin Activity & Analysis (Poster)
Pseudomonas Strain 43A Tailocin Activity & Analysis (Presentation)
Dr. Dornhaus' lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, emerging category
Ants are an important model species to biology because of their colonial nature and plays an important role in our understanding of invertebrate colonies and how they differ from that of other colonial animals. With the antennae of ants playing an important role in communication within the colony as well as the environment, we set out to see if the chemical Zinc Sulfate was effective in chemically ablating the antennae of ants like it does in cricket species, specifically ablating the ability for crickets to detect gender of other crickets by scent. Using CO2 as an anesthetic, we applied 2M Zinc Sulfate in Triton-X solution on an experimental group and placed in the center of test tubes with Quinine Hemisulfate at one end to film their movements and compare to that of the control, which was only exposed to CO2, and the experimental control, which was exposed to CO2 and Triton-X solution without the Zinc Sulfate. Using the Mann-Whitney U test to analyze our data, we found p-values of 0.7903 for near-quinine times between the control and experimental, and 0.5371 for the far from quinine comparing the same two groups. These high p-values do not support our hypothesis of ablation causing a difference in reaction to Quinine Hemisulfate and instead shows that the Zinc Sulfate does not effectively ablate ants, or that there is something else happening that is making the results similar.
Dr. Mandarino's lab, Medicine, advanced category
Von Willebrand Factor A Domain Containing 8 (VWA8) is a gene that was initially identified by the Kazusa cDNA project for identification of unknown human transcripts. VWA8 became a gene of interest after a study using mass spectrometry-based proteomics compared the abundance of proteins in the livers of obese mice on a high fat diet to lean mice on a standard diet. VWA8 had a striking three-fold increase in protein abundance in the livers of the high fat fed obese mice. Subsequent metabolomics studies revealed that VWA8 null AML12 hepatocytes had higher levels of oxidative stress in response to biological fuels. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the deletion of VWA8 using CRISPR/Cas9 in mouse C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. We examined the abundance proteins in mouse C2C12 myoblasts using mass-spectrometry based proteomics and qualified the results using immunoblots. The results of the mass-spectrometry based proteomics suggest that the expression of alpha-actinin-2 (ACTN2) and slow skeletal type troponin T1 (TNNT1) have increased abundance in the wildtype and knockout respectively. Immunoblots for ACTN2 reveal only a nominal difference between the wildtype and knockout. These results suggest that liver and muscle cells have different mechanisms for response to oxidative stress. VWA8 seems to be a mitochondrial chaperon that is more substantial in the AML12 hepatocytes to response to oxidative stress compared to C2C12 myoblasts.
Deletion of VWA8 in Mouse C2C12 Skeletal Muscle Cells Alters the Proteome (Presentation)
Deletion of VWA8 in Mouse C2C12 Skeletal Muscle Cells Alters the Proteome (Poster)
Dr. Duckworth's lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, advanced category
Building a broad body of field and laboratory skills for ecological research is an important step for undergraduate students pursuing a career in research. This project sought to offer an exploration of a variety of skills in and out of the lab. Methods included various wet and dry lab techniques, as well as multiple field observation skills. We hope that this project will spur further examination of research skills and ultimately lead to application in upcoming studies in the near future.
An Exploration of Wet and Dry Lab Techniques for Behavioral Ecology
Dr. Chesson's lab, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, advanced category
Our work focused on observing the growth of Selaginella arizonica, a plant that lives primarily in desert climates. Through the understanding of the growth and development of desert plants, we can study the impact of the growth and development of desert plants on local climate change. In the experiment, we will simulate the growth environment of Selaginella to create and explore its optimal growth conditions. By changing the environmental conditions and analyzing the data, the environmental factors affecting Selaginella are observed, and the laws of natural ecology in Arizona are predicted.
Dr. Buchan's lab, Molecular & Cellular Biology, advanced category
Dr. Ross Buchan's lab studies stress granules and P-bodies; a dynamic duo of gel-like bodies that affect the function of mRNAs, the templates of protein synthesis.
Are stress granules essential for TDP-43 aggregation/toxicity?
Dr. Walker's lab, Entomology, advanced category
A few mosquito species in the genus Culex are an important vector of arbovirus infections (specifically, West Nile Virus, St. Louis Encephalitis) to humans. Due to this, their presence in heavily populated areas, such as Maricopa County, is a concern for potential future outbreaks. Controlling and reducing their presence is a large focus of vector control programs run through the County. Currently, pesticide sprays in residential areas are used as the main tool of mosquito control and reduction. However, previous examinations have shown that these spray events are not actually working as designed. This thesis will build off of this knowledge to further assess if the spray events are at all effective.
Using Age Structure to Assess Adulticide Efficacy on Culex Mosquitoes in Maricopa County
Dr. Tax's lab, Molecular & Cellular Biology, emerging category
Plants have a long-range signaling system in which roots that are not getting enough nitrogen can send a signal to the shoot, and the shoot regulates new root growth in areas of soil with the most nitrogen. The XIP1 receptor regulates this long-range signaling mechanism. The BLH6 gene binds to the promoter region of the XIP1 receptor, and overexpression of BLH6 leads to smaller plant organs. By looking at the expression of XIP1 in blh6 mutants, we are testing if BLH6 regulates XIP1. We are testing whether BLH6 activates XIP1 expression in the phloem, or if it represses XIP1 in other cell types that it is not normally expressed in. We will continue to breed plants so that we identify plants homozygous for the mutation and for the XIP1:promoter reporter gene, so that we can distinguish between these models.
Dr. Bailey's lab, Physiology, advanced category
Previous work has shown that inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) increases respiratory muscle strength after merely 6 weeks. Respiratory muscle strength has been shown to correlate with handgrip strength. Grip strength has been found to be at least a moderate indicator of overall strength, or functional capacity. Here, we explore the effects of IMST on functional capacity via the assessment of handgrip strength in recreationally active men and women. Pre- and post-training measures included maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal grip pressure, respiratory endurance and grip endurance. Male and female subjects showed an increase in respiratory muscle strength (P < 0.001) and an increase in respiratory endurance (P = 0.01) at week 6. There was no effect of IMST on maximal grip strength (P = 0.08) or grip endurance (P = 0.13) by study end. Based on these results, we suggest that a short course of IMST confers significant respiratory improvements but does not significantly affect functional capacity in healthy men and women.