The program will offer opportunities for exceptional undergraduate students to gain experience conducting individual research projects. Student fellows will interact with other scientists, including graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty who are conducting research on various aspects of environmental biology in the American Southwest. There will be opportunities for interaction with over 50 other biology REU fellows supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and other National Science Foundation-sponsored REU programs. The following research projects are available summer 2001. The overall goal of this project is understanding the relative contributions of environment, genetics, and pathogens to the evolution of life history and morphological variation.
Tiger salamanders are the principal model system, although other amphibians are also used.
The project is directed by Dr. James Collins , Dr. Elizabeth Davidson , and Dr. Andrew Storfer, and supports undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral level researchers. Possible projects for REU fellows depend on interests and experience of successful applicants, but may include molecular genetic analyses of geographic variation among salamander populations, geographic variation in morphology, field and laboratory experiments testing the effect of disease on phenotypic variation among populations, field and laboratory experiments testing the role of disease in controlling life history variation, and field research designed to document the population dynamics of an endangered subspecies with a focus on conservation biology. These system are influenced greatly by the interaction of flood and drought. Students will work with a research team which includes faculty, post docs, graduate students, and other undergraduates. Both field and laboratory work will be required.