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.

Interactions Between Environmental Conditions and Maternal Care Behaviors in Salamanders - Erica Crespi (Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Vassar College).  Crespi's research integrates ecological, behavioral, and physiological studies to understand how maternal care varies with environmental conditions in the red-backed salamander, a direct developing species in which females brood eggs for two months until offspring hatch.  Previous studies showed that the maternal traits that contributed to offspring fitness varied between wet and dry seasons. This year, REUs will conduct outdoor mesocosm experiments and laboratory-based behavioral observations to examine how variation in moisture (e.g., rainfall) alters maternal care behaviors and how maternal traits (e.g., body size) impact offspring development and survival. In addition, REUs also may design experiments using molecular techniques or hormone manipulations to investigate 1) the genetic and endocrine control of maternal care behaviors, or 2) the physiological factors affected by hydration status in  the mother and the developing offspring.

Plant Pollination Ecology and Evolution - Michele Dudash and Charles Fenster (Associate Professors, Department of Biology, University of Maryland). This NSF-funded research team is currently exploring evolutionary mechanisms that may be responsible for commonly recognized (but poorly understood) flower pollination syndromes. Three local, and closely related, species of Silene exhibit radically different pollination syndromes. Field ecology blended with genetic analyses are used to identify modes of selection at work in this system. REU students will be involved in a variety of experiments to test the utility of the pollination syndrome concept by estimating pollinator importance and the selective pressures exerted by pollinators in this three-species system.

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.

Salamander Movements and Interactions ­ Eric Liebgold (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology, University of Virginia). Liebgold studies the ecology of red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) with a focus on behavioral interactions between adults and juveniles. Research primarily involves in-field experiments, behavioral trials, and a mark-recapture field study. Potential REU projects include field studies and experiments exploring a variety of research directions including interactions with slimy salamanders (P. glutinosus), salamander memory after translocation, and conservation questions, but projects are flexible to REU interests. Past REU projects have looked at predation risk and at dispersal/homing in red-backed salamanders.

The Ecology and Evolution of Plant Hybrid Systems - Eric Nagy (Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, and Associate Director, MLBS, 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.

Community and Behavioral Ecology of Earthworms and Salamanders - Tami Ransom (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology, University of Virginia). Ransom's broad interest is in community ecology. While Ransom's work focuses on the potentially complex effects of earthworms on the forest leaf litter community, particularly the effects of both native and invasive earthworms on terrestrial salamanders, REU projects will likely focus on earthworm distributions. REU projects may involve hiking and carrying water or equipment to conduct field surveys exploring factors influencing the distribution of invasive earthworms. If you are interested in Ransom as a potential mentor, you are encouraged to email her (tsr6a@virginia.edu) during the application process.

Community-Wide Ecological Displacement and Community Assembly - William Resetarits, Jr. (Reader in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton) and Christopher Binkley (Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University). This NSF funded research combines extensive field sampling and experiments to examine how character displacement in dusky salamanders (Desmognathus) affects species coexistence and local species diversity.  Potential REU projects include competition / predation experiments and field surveys to investigate mechanisms maintaining and generating species diversity in stream ecosystems. 

Forest Dynamics and the Importance of Disease and Human Use - Katie Burke (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology, University of Virginia). Burke is a fourth year doctoral student studying the effects of logging history, deer browsing, and disease ecology on American Chestnut loss in the Applachians over the past century.  Possible projects include a comparative study of forest species composition with respect to chestnut salvaging in the 1930s (and to general logging in the 1900s), a study of understory woody plant mortality due to competition when deer are present and not present, and other projects relating plant communities with forest history and/or spatial patterns of tree disease. If you wish to contact Katie you can email her at klb4r@virginia.edu.