MOUNTAIN LAKE BIOLOGICAL STATION	Department of Biology
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Mentors are recruited throughout the winter and spring. Check back for updates.

Mentor assignment is a dynamic process. Please feel free to request a mentor or project. Following acceptance, mentor assignment is based on student requests, mentor requests, and what we feel will be good matches.

Plant Population Genetics and Metapopulation Dynamics - Andrea Berardi and Peter Fields (Ph.D. Students, University of Virginia). We are interested in the population genetics and metapopulation dynamics of two invasive plants, Silene latifolia and Silene vulgaris.  Berardi studies the evolution of flavonoids in the Silene genus, including chemicals responsible for floral color and plant defense.  Potential REU projects include but are not limited to 1) exploring the differences in secondary chemistry and defense between native and invasive populations of plants, 2) exploring differential performance between invasive and native plants.  Fields studies the dynamics of the well-characterized S. latifolia metapopulation in Giles County, VA. By utilizing a high-throughput genetic analysis, with modern statistical genetics, Fields’ NSF-funded project attempts to identify individual and population-level characteristics responsible colonization and migration success. Potential projects include, but are not limited to: 1) exploration of abiotic factors contributing to differential deme success, 2) estimation of the phenotypic and genetic factors contributing to individual relative and global fitness.  Fields and Berardi are also interested in studying pollination dynamics in the metapopulation and a potential REU project on this includes characterizing pollination success within and between the sub-populations of S. latifolia in Giles County.  We are looking for a student who is willing to learn and use both laboratory and field techniques to answer broad evolutionary questions.

Social Selection in the Forked Fungus Beetle – Vince Formica (Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Swarthmore College). Formica’s research focuses on a relatively new concept in the field of evolution called “social selection”.  Social selection is the idea that the phenotypes of members of your own species can have important effects on the evolution of behaviors and other phenotypes.  Building on previous ecological research at MLBS, Formica (in collaboration with Brodie) is exploring social selection in the Forked Fungus Beetle (Bolitotherus cornutus).  REU projects could investigate the evolutionary effects of a whole host of beetle behaviors including male-male combat, courtship, mating, and egg laying.  An REU student could also use computer mapping to take a larger scale approach and examine which ecological and landscape factors (e.g. tree species in the area, slope of the landscape, hydrology) affect the evolution of social behaviors

Using Hormones to Study Adaptation and Constraint in Dark-eyed Juncos - Ellen Ketterson (Professor, Department of Biology, Indiana University), Dustin Reichard and Kristal Cain (Ph.D. Candidates, Department of Biology, Indiana University).   With NSF support Ketterson and collaborators at MLBS explore the hormonal basis of phenotypic variation in mating and parental effort in a songbird, the dark-eyed junco.  They assess gonadal responsiveness to hormonal stimulation and relate individual differences to performance and fitness.  The goal is to learn how natural selection operates to produce animals whose parts work well together (phenotypic integration) and also to determine what happens when well adapted animals  respond to changing environments  The junco is highly variable geographically, having undergone rapid evolution in the past 10,000 years.  Another goal of the research is to better understand the relationship between hormones and geographic differences in vocal behavior and plumage.  Possible REU projects include (1) variation in testosterone and aggression in females (2) testsosterone as a maternal effect, (3) population level differences in male vocal behavior.

Plant Ecological Genetics: Maternal Effects in American Bellflower - Laura Galloway (Professor, Department of Biology, University of Virginia) Galloway's NSF-funded research addresses factors that influence life history variation of Campanula americana, a woodland herb with both annual and biennial life histories. Many past REU projects have focused on plant reproduction and pollination biology (e.g. examination of selfing rates, pollinator response to a pollen color polymorphism, floral longevity, and a comparison of pollinators in light gap and forested population patches). Other projects have explored factors that influence life history variation including ecological requirements for seed germination, patterns of seed dispersal, and consequences of herbivory.

The Ecology and Evolution of Plant Hybrid Systems - Eric Nagy (Associate Director, MLBS, Department of Biology, University of Virginia).   Nagy's work explores the evolutionary dynamics of natural hybrid plant populations. Hybridization among populations or species can change the direction of evolution locally and has the potential to give rise to new ecotypes or even species very quickly.  REU students will be involved in studies of genetic variation among and within populations and exploration of environment-specific selection on traits and character assemblages. Student projects involve a combination of population description, experimental manipulation in the field, greenhouse crossing studies, and molecular analysis.

Parasite co-infection dynamics in Peromyscus mice - Courtney Thomason (PhD student, Texas Tech University) Thomason's work explores the dynamics between hosts and parasites in order to expand this framework to include the effects of multi-parasite co-infections.  Most host-parasite research historically follows a one host-one parasite framework.  However, we know now this is not realistic, and most hosts are infected by many parasites simultaneously, while many parasites can infect multiple hosts.  The goal of this study is to use experimental manipulations to elucidate how natural parasite infections and co-infections interact in wild hosts (Peromyscus mice) and how these interactions can modulate and be modulated by the immune response.  Student projects may involve study of parasite vector transmission dynamics, parasite recolonization, and host population dynamics and demography.

Forest Dynamics - Henry Wilbur (B.F.D. Runk Professor of Biology, University of Virginia) and Becky Wilbur (Researcher, MLBS, University of Virginia). We are interested in the population and community ecology of trees in forest communities at Mountain Lake. We currently have four active projects: (1) The demography of American Chestnut (Castanea dentata), a once dominant canopy tree that is on a slow slide towards extinction due to the invasion of a fungal pathogen (Cryphonectria parasitica).  (2) The demography of striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum) an under-story tree with environmental sex determination that has expanded rapidly during the last 70 years of fire suppression in the Southern Appalachians. (3) The population dynamics of Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida) on sites of past fires that have not had additional fires in the last 70 years. (4) The long-term change in composition of the species of trees in the canopy on sites on which all trees were mapped 25 years ago and have been remapped recently by us. An important mechanism involved in all these projects is the interaction between fire, deer-browsing, and competition.  We use short-term experiments, observational techniques of mapping, and measuring growth of trees, combined with historical data from aerial photographs, surveys, written documents, and especially tree-rings to observe annual to decadal dynamics and to infer centennial scale dynamics.

Ecology and Evolution of Anti-predator Traits - Ashley Wilkinson (Ph.D. Student, University of Virginia). Wilkinson’s work explores the means by which local ecology and cross-generational phenotypic correlations contribute to the evolution of toxicity in the red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens. Phenotypic traits evolve not only in response to direct selection on that trait, but also via indirect selection acting through correlated traits. Such phenotypic correlations can occur across both life history stages and generations, thus allowing direct selection on traits in one stage to affect the evolution of traits at different life history stages. REU students may explore a variety of topics, including 1) community and feeding ecology of local egg predators 2) effects of predator cues on behavior and development of the red-spotted newt 3) population variation in aposematic coloration in juvenile and adult newts.
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