ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

High School

Effect of Bacillus thuringiensis Bio-insecticide on Daphnia magna Swimming Behavior
Madeline Phuong, Homestead High School

This study tested the effect of Bacillus thuringiensis bio-insecticide used in organic farming on Daphnia magna swimming behavior. No statistically significant behavioral change was expected based on manufacturer claims. The bio-insecticide was found to cause statistically significant change to D. magna swimming behavior, which partially resolved when transferred back to springwater.

Machine-Learning Algorithm Code for Telomere - Test System That Allows for Telomeric Identifications/Compositions
Vishrutha SampathAnandi, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

Discusses the ways in which telomeric data could be beneficial to include in the patients medical history database, as a way for analyzing patterns and realizing risks.

Body Color Changes in the Desert Locust During the Phase Transition are Prompted by Genes Orthologous to its Own Pigmentation Genes
Sreeram Satish and Sai Manikonda, Dulles High School

This project focuses on the characteristics and behaviors of the desert locust, S. gregaria. It also analyzes the pigmentation genes associated with various other organisms and their relation to the genes of the desert locust.

Late Pleistocene Fossils Recontextualize the Ecology of Introduced Turkeys in California
Ashwin Sivakumar, Flintridge Preparatory School

I synthesized paleontological and modern ecological data to draw novel insights into introduced turkey ecology in California. The findings from this study have specific implications for Wild Turkey management in California and broader implications for the viability of taxon substitution as a conservation technique.

Seeing in a New Light: Adaptive Changes in Opsin Proteins in Antarctic Icefish
Ella Yoder, Research Triangle High School

In the eye, opsin proteins detect various wavelengths of light, which the brain perceives as different colors. Changing “tuning site” amino acids in opsin proteins alters which wavelengths can be seen. Antarctic icefish live in an environment where longer wavelengths of light are scarce, and in my project, I found that icefish have multiple tuning site changes that shift their vision to better detect the shorter wavelengths of light that are more abundant in the Antarctic environment.

Undergraduate

A Phylogeny of the Ixodes Genus (Hard-Bodied Ticks)
Jewel Voyer, University of Rhode Island

A phylogeny of the Ixodes genus generated through trimming and alignment using SISRS software to depict evolutionary relationships.

Graduate

Does empathetic perspective-taking or personal distress motivate helping behavior in rats?
Caroline Driscoll, University of Louisville

Presentation details experiment exploring the evolution of empathy by investigating the underlying motivations of helping behavior seen in rats.

Genetic and Environmental Drivers of Microbial Colonization in a Wild Sparrow
Sage Rohrer, University of Missouri-St. Louis

This research is focused on disentangling the genetic and environmental factors driving the composition of the gut microbiome of a locally introduced species, the Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), focusing on the influence of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

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