A5035464610- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Polar Research and Ecology
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Vector-borne infectious diseases
- Animal and Plant Science Education
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Viral Infections and Vectors
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Vector-Borne Animal Diseases
- Experimental Learning in Engineering
- Plant and animal studies
- Innovations in Educational Methods
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences
- Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology
- Innovative Teaching Methods
- Insect Pest Control Strategies
- Marine and coastal plant biology
Hendrix College
2019-2023
Conway School of Landscape Design
2019-2023
Miami University
2013-2023
Abstract Species distributions are dependent on interactions with abiotic and biotic factors in the environment. Abiotic like temperature, moisture, soil nutrients, along within between species, can all have strong influences spatial of plants animals. Terrestrial Antarctic habitats relatively simple thus good systems to study ecological that drive species abundance. However, these environments also sensitive perturbation, understanding drivers distribution is critical for predicting...
Rapid cold hardening (RCH) is a type of beneficial phenotypic plasticity that occurs on extremely short time scales (minutes to hours) enhance insects’ ability cope with snaps and diurnal temperature fluctuations. RCH has well-established role in extending lower lethal limits, but its prevent sublethal injury received less attention. The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica Antarctica's only endemic insect well-studied response extends freeze tolerance laboratory conditions. However, the...
Abstract The Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica , is a wingless, non-biting midge endemic to Antarctica. Larval development requires at least 2 years, but adults live only weeks. nonfeeding mate in swarms and females die shortly after oviposition. Eggs are suspended gel of unknown composition that expressed from the female accessory gland. This project characterizes molecular mechanisms underlying reproduction this by examining differential gene expression whole males, females, larvae, as...
Abstract Seasonal progression is tracked in most animals by changes daylength, thus allowing reliable synchrony with abundant food and favourable developmental conditions. In polar regions, daylength varies extensively, fluctuating at the highest latitudes from persistent light to dark. The Antarctic midge Belgica antarctica has a narrow seasonal window which feed develop, previous work shows that this insect, despite having elements of circadian clock, remains continuously active when...
Freeze-tolerance, or the ability to survive internal ice formation, is relatively rare among insects. Larvae of Antarctic midge Belgica antarctica are freeze-tolerant year-round, but in dry environments, larvae can remain supercooled (i.e., unfrozen) at subzero temperatures. In previous work with summer-acclimatized larvae, we showed that freezing considerably more stressful than remaining supercooled. Here, these findings extended by comparing survival, tissue damage, energetic costs, and...
Abstract Antarctic winters are challenging for terrestrial invertebrates, and species that live there have specialised adaptations to conserve energy protect against cold injury in the winter. However, rapidly occurring climate change these regions will increase unpredictability of winter conditions, is currently a dearth knowledge on how highly adapted invertebrates Antarctica respond changes temperatures. We evaluated response larvae midge, Belgica antarctica , simulated at three...
Institutions have developed diverse approaches that vary in effectiveness and cost to improve student performance introductory science, technology, engineering, mathematics courses. We a low-cost, graduate student-led, metacognition-based study skills course taught conjunction with the biology series at Miami University. Our approach aimed for underachieving students by combining an existing framework process of learning (the cycle) concrete tools (outlines concept maps) been shown encourage...
Rapid hardening is a process that quickly improves an animal's performance following exposure to potentially damaging stress. In this study of the Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica (Diptera, Chironomidae), we examined how rapid in response dehydration (RDH) or cold (RCH) male pre- and post-copulatory function when insects are subsequently subjected exposure. Neither RDH nor RCH improved survival lethal stress, but activity mating success sublethal were enhanced. Egg viability decreased...
The Rosenthal Islands lie along the western edge of Antarctic Peninsula. They are largely inaccessible and few research projects in area have focused on seabird colonies, so nothing has been known about arthropod fauna these islands. We conducted a preliminary survey arthropods associated with large penguin colonies. identified two species Collembola (Cryptopygus antarcticus Friesea grisea), four mites (Alaskozetes antarcticus, Hydrogamasellus racovitzai, Tectopenthalodes villosus Rhagidia...
Abstract Insects use rapid acclimation to enhance their tolerance of abiotic stresses within minutes hours. These responses are critical adaptations for insects and other small ectotherms tolerate drastic changes in temperature, hydration, or factors that can fluctuate precipitously with ambient conditions as a result behavior. Rapid cold-hardening, where brief exposure modest chilling cue cold tolerance, is the most thoroughly-studied these relatively little known about either triggered by...
Abstract Climate change is leading to substantial global thermal changes, which are particularly pronounced in polar regions. Few studies have examined the impact of heat stress on reproduction Antarctic terrestrial arthropods, specifically how brief, extreme events may alter survival. We observed that sublethal reduces male fecundity an mite, yielding females produced fewer viable eggs. Females and males collected from microhabitats with high temperatures showed a similar reduction...