Dr. Jerry Johnson, Department of Biology
This mentoring environment grant was awarded in 2010 and was intended to spent over a two year period. The purpose of the project was to provide up to six students with an opportunity to participate in three different research aspects of a single research problem related to understanding speciation. Here I report on the outcomes of this project, specifically addressing the five points requested by the ORCA for MEG final reports.
Evaluation of how well the academic objectives of this proposal were met
The academic research to come out of the MEG has been very solid. I currently have two graduate students working on speciation questions, both in Central American fishes. Each of these graduate students has been able to work closely with undergraduates in my lab and with me on different aspects of the project. Although the larger research program is still not complete, this MEG has provided several opportunities to students to participate in mentored research and I am confident that this will result in several important publications, most of which will be authored or co-authored by students.
Evaluation of mentoring environment
My lab provides an excellent mentoring environment. All students in my laboratory met regularly with me. Undergraduate students recruited into the lab were first given an extensive interview with me to determine if the lab would be a good fit for them. Upon being accepted into the lab, undergraduates spent their first semester working directly with me in the lab and rotating through small research modules with my graduate students and my advanced undergraduates. During this time I helped students begin shaping their own research questions; we met weekly during lab meeting and at least once a week to go over their progress. During this time undergraduates were also assigned to meet several times a week with graduate students and/or postdocs in the lab with particular expertise in the areas that they are studying. By the end of one semester, students had identified a research problem and have developed an appropriate set of methods to answer that problem. Students then worked on data collection and further reading related to the research. Typically, students presented their research progress in lab meetings during this time, and on occasion presented their preliminary work out our department brown bag, Ecolunch. Finally, once students had completed their data collection, I spent several weeks meeting with students one on one to help them complete their data analyses and to generate figures and tables of their findings and working their results up toward publication. Students at this point were also invited and prepared to begin helping new recruits to the lab, this giving these students an opportunity to help mentor others.
List of students who participated and what academic deliverables they have produced or it is anticipated that they will produce
Table 1. Students mentored with 2010 MEG support.
Student name | Deliverables |
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Spencer Ingley | Spencer is a PhD student in my laboratory. The MEG funded Spencer’s participation on two research trips to Panama in 2010/2011. This MEG support has provided preliminary data on life history evolution and genetics for Spencer that he used to successfully earn a National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Award. This grant is worth about $120,000 and covers all of Spencer’s tuition, stipend, and an annual research allotment of $5,000 over three years. Spencer was also able to use these data to secure about $4,000 in support from the National Geographic Society. Spencer has presented these results in our department Ecolunch. He has also prepared two manuscripts for publication that should be submitted within the next couple of months. These are as follows:
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Preston Johnson | Preston was an undergraduate researcher in my laboratory who had initially planned to join my group as a Master’s student. However, he changed his plans upon graduation and is currently employed as a science educator for a nature program in Arizona. The MEG supported Preston’s participation on two field trips to Panama. Preston also started a research project looking at the link between fish behavior and reproductive morphology. It also provided Preston with wages while he worked in the lab. Preston was part of a trio with Spencer (above) and Mike (below) combining life history, morphology, and behavior. Although Preston left earlier than anticipated, the data he collected will certainly be helpful in eventually generating a manuscript. However, it will likely require another student to come into the project to complete it. |
Michael McEntyre | Mike is a current undergraduate researcher in my lab. He is working on an Honor’s thesis looking for a link between color expression and dominance behavior in the fish Poecilia gillii. He is part of the team with Spencer and Preston. The MEG supported Mike to make two field trips to Panama with Spencer and Preston. He is still in the data collection phase of his research, but his study does a nice job of blending behavior, color, and life history (collected previously in the lab). His work is probably still a year from publication, but he is on track given that he is only a junior. |
Justin Bagley | Justin is a PhD student in may laboratory. The MEG supported Justin’s participation on a field trip to Nicaragua to collect livebearing fishes from the Lake Nicaragua region and southeastern Nicaragua. The data collected from this trip, as well as the live fishes brought back to the lab, serve as the basis of Justin’s research focused on the comparative phylogeography of Central America. To date, Justin has helped generate three papers: one published, one in review, and one near submission. These are as follows:
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Joey Nelson | Joey was an undergraduate student in my laboratory that graduated in 2011. Funding from this MEG provided Joey with support to participate on a field trip to Nicaragua accompanied by me and Justin Bagley. Joey’s research in the laboratory focused on the effects of predators on boldness/shyness behavior in tropical fish. These data are currently being analyzed. Joey graduated prior to completing this work. However, I am confident that we will be able to publish a paper in a journal like Animal Behavior. Joey is currently in medical school in Arizona. |
Description of results/findings of the project
Several major outcomes have resulted from this project so far. In the Brachyrhaphis system we have found that predator environment is an important predictor of several traits including life history, morphology, and behavior. Spencer’s dissertation research will tie several of these ideas together to determine the extent to which these traits contribute to reproductive isolation. So far we know that Brachyrhaphis have independently evolved life history and morphological traits. We are actively working on the behavioral aspects. In the comparative phylogeography work, we are finding that of the three species of livebearing fish examined, each has responded uniquely to common historical events. Here our work is now focused on trying to understand how life history and morphological traits have diverged, and to determine if these adaptations have contributed to different histories.
Description of how the budget was spent
The total budget was $20,000. We ended up partially funding three research expeditions from this money, which totaled about $15,000. This paid for student airline tickets, room and board in the field, etc. An additional $6,000 from other sources was used to cover the balance on these trips. A steep rise in airfare contributed to more money being spent on travel than I originally anticipated in our budget. An additional $3,000 of MEG money was spent for undergraduate wages, and approximately $2,000 was spent on supplies. I was able to augment student wages from an outside NSF grant and to cover student participation at scientific meetings from department sources. So I still accomplished all that I planned with these students as originally outlined in the proposal, but I used alternatively funding sources to cover expenses.