Ready or not (we were definitely ready), today was the day! We had our first run with 24 real, live students from Ms. Jordan's 7th grade class at Wellington Middle School. STEM fridays are an event hosted by the Education and Outreach Center (more info here) where local teachers are invited to bring up to 30 students to CSU to participate in their chosen kit activity. It's a chance for students to come to CSU and see what it's like, as well as an opportunity to learn something in the process. I must say, as my first time doing one of these events, and our first time doing it with the guppy kits, it went fantastically! As we expected, there are some changes to be made, but the students were happy, excited, and involved, which is what we were hoping for.
Here are some highlights:
All 15 kits ready to go!
Dale ready to scoop up fish
Andrew checking the intro video on the projector
...and they're here! Andrew welcoming everyone
Watching the intro video
And they're off!
Acquiring guppies
Examining differences between guppies
Comparing colors to a color chart
Making a histogram of brightness scores for each population Red is low-predation, blue is high-predation
The final figure
Making punnet squares
Rolling the 4-sided die to see which offspring are chosen for the next generation
Using a predator silhouette to predict predator avoidance strategies of each population
Watching predator-prey encounter videos
Discussing predation
A tally of which guppies were captured
Discussing which fish is from which population
Clean-up time
Final thoughts in science notebooks
Representative evaluations
Now we are one step closer to being able to share our kit design with everyone!
That's right, I accepted the Assistant Professor in Functional Morphology position in the Biology Department at Georgia Southern University! I start January 2017. I'm excited to get back to the East Coast and start working with Centrarchids again! Of course, I also have big plans for guppies as well and would like to continue my work in Trinidad. Stay tuned to hear more about the Kane lab at GSU (wow, I have my own lab now)!
For the last week and a half, Craig Marshall and Porsche Robison (graduate students), Travis Klee ("in-between" student), and Richard Evans (undergraduate) have been in Trinidad collecting fishes and working on several research projects. Craig and Richard are staying in Trinidad for long-term experiments, but Porsche and Travis just returned last night. If you follow me on Twitter (@Nautichthys) you may have seen some photos of the fish that returned with them. Though I wasn't able to join them on this trip, I thought I would post some updates on the research since people seem interested.
The lab set-up
For those of you who are probably wondering, "That sounds really cool and now I want to do research on fish in Trinidad, but how do you get all of those things back to Colorado?" You see those white bottles on the bottom shelf? That's how. Each bottle can fit 10-20 guppies (depending on size) or one predator. Then we pack the bottles into coolers, pack the coolers into large military duffel bags (to disguise them so that walking through the airport we are less conspicuous, though that probably doesn't help the "field" look/smell that we always come home with), then check them with our luggage. Then we get to say hi to our friends in US Fish and Wildlife upon re-entering the US. We try to call ahead so they expect us, and at this point, they are pretty used to us coming through a few times/year. Once the fish and researchers get back to Colorado, someone is usually waiting in the (pre-prepared) lab to help get all the fish into quarantine tanks, and if they're lucky, provide some dinner. This year that person was me.
So why did we need to go to Trinidad in the first place? One of the objectives of the trip was to collect fishes for me, for two projects. First, I have been involved in the guppy kit initiative and we had a recent disaster with water quality at the Education and Outreach Center that required obtaining more guppies. I have since solved that issue, so they brought back males from high and low predation rivers that we can use at the end of the month for our first STEM Friday event! Here are some videos of the two populations. See if you can spot the differences between the males!
High-predation males
Low predation males
The second project that I needed guppies for is my research. For my postdoc I am interested in local adaptation of the feeding and locomotor systems in guppies, and what that means for how they work together during prey capture. Right now I am working on describing the variation in natural high- and low-predation populations to see if there is even a difference between them. I am using live evasive Daphnia as prey currently to encourage the guppies to use suction to capture it because this feeding mode is extremely common in fishes and because I hypothesized that strong suction does not work with fast swimming based on what we know about suction-feeding fishes. At some point I also want to use a prey that they have to scrape because this is more likely what they are doing in the wild. Also, it has been shown by other researchers (for example, here and here) that biting may not be subject to the same constraints on morphology and function. So I would be interested in finding out what integration looks like across the predation gradient with an alternative feeding mode. Here's an example video of what prey capture looks like with Daphnia in guppies:
To find out what is happening with integration in guppies, we collected guppies from 2 replicate HP/LP sites (4 populations) last summer, brought them back to the lab, and I started filming them. However, several individuals didn't make it and my sample sizes have shrunk considerably. In fact, one population only has 5 fish left! This was due to a combination of a fungus that we think came from one of the sites and likely old age since they were all adult females when we collected them (and it took me so long to figure out the prey that would work for what I needed and I killed the 10 year old high-speed camera and had to figure out how to get another one). So Travis helped replenish the populations to increase my sample sizes back to the numbers I want (20-30 individuals). Here are some examples of those females from one of the population pairs:
Low-predation guppies collected from the Aripo River
(notice they are large and full of babies)
High-predation guppies collected from the Caroni River
(smaller but also full of babies,
less willing to come to the front of the tank)
That will keep me busy for the next several months.
Another project that is occurring both in Trinidad but also here in Colorado is Porsche's Master's thesis work. She came to us with professional interests in veterinary medicine and personal interests in everything fish, and has designed a project to examine the parasite loads plaguing guppies. This partly stemmed from the troubles we had after the last trip and our interest in learning more about what could go wrong. She is piggy-backing on the sites and species that Craig is utilizing for his study on the effect of salinity on metabolic and growth rates, and has become the local expert in guppy fecal smears. She did much of her work in the field but also brought a small number of guppies back alive to have fresh samples to dissect with the Parasitologists she is working with at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital here at CSU.
Porsche with her newly collected guppies
(also notice our awesome lab phone!)
Although Poecilia reticulata are the "famous" guppies, there are other species of Poecilia in Trinidad as well but their range is more limited to the brackish water interface closer to the mouth of the river. It will be interesting to know how well each of these species deals with parasites and the "nasties" they encounter.
Poecilia picta males (left) and females) right
collected from the Caroni swamp (brackish water) -
notice how the males are lined up on one side
Poecilia vivipara males collected
from the Caroni swamp (brackish water)
That will keep Porsche busy for a while.
The last project is one that Travis has undertaken in the past few months since he graduated from CSU. He decided to apply to grad school in the fall and wanted to get some independent research under his belt first. We have no shortage of questions and fish, so I'm helping him with the rest. He became interested in the predators rather than the guppies because guppy researchers always talk about how specialized pike cichlids are, but nobody has (to our knowledge) looked at what that means.
Photo of Travis attempting to catch pike cichlids by
hook-and-line from our trip last spring
(these attempts were unsuccessful)
Travis wants to compare several native guppy predators to look at differences in behavior, prey preference, capture success, and predator accuracy (right up my alley!) to get a better understanding of if/why pike cichlids are so formidable. Travis recently presented a poster at the CSU Front Range Student Ecology Symposium with some preliminary data and many ideas, and he won first place among undergraduates! Since we only had n=1 of some of the predators he was interested in, this trip to Trinidad was his chance to try to collect more predators to have replicate samples. He became an expert at catching pike cichlids using the butterfly nets that we catch guppies with! He was also successful in catching a few acara (which are also cichlids but probably only eat small guppies) and a small wolffish. I look forward to seeing how Travis' project turns out!
Wolffish (Hoplias malabaricus) -
a guppy (and everything else) predator
Blue acara (Adinoacara pulcher)
Female (left) and male (right)
pike cichlids (Crenicichla frenata)
That will keep Travis busy for a while.
By the way, Travis is starting the search for graduate programs, *wink wink*
So although it was a short trip, I would say it was quite productive! I'll be sure to post updates as we begin to collect and analyze data. For now, I'll leave you with another image of the baby wolffish - just imagine this thing all grown up and the size of your arm!
They're cute when they're babies and
can't bite your fingers off!
Observing how predators preferentially chose guppies from certain environments (guess which ones?)
I have been involved with a major outreach project to create self-guided kits for teaching evolution in K-12 classrooms. This project is a collaboration between me (as part of my broadening participation efforts on my NSF grant), Dale Broder (a senior graduate student whose work we are building off of), Dr. Cameron Ghalambor (who has helped Dale implement a similar program with local 7th grade classrooms), Dr. Lisa Angeloni (who has helped with several other similar outreach projects), and the CSU College of Natural Sciences Education and Outreach Center (yes, we have one of those!). The goal for these kits is three-fold: 1) to be able to expand our program beyond what we can reach ourselves (this is where the EOC comes in!), 2) to increase classroom engagement by using live animals, and 3) to use an authentic science approach to increase scientific self-efficacy (help students realize they CAN actually do science) and learn about evolution the same way scientists have done. We are particularly interested in implementing this program in schools that serve low-income and underrepresented students. To address potential psychological barriers these students may have (which they may not even realize), we have made a significant effort to include scientists representing several aspects of diversity, both in an introductory video the students will watch prior to starting the activity, as well as with an interview included in the final pages of the instruction booklet. These kits will be directed toward middle and high school students initially, but could also be adapted for other age or ability levels as well.
Follow along here as I post updates on how these kits are coming along!
UPDATE 9/17/15
Well, as far as an update goes, this is a little late as we have made significant progress on the kits since we first met with the EOC back in May. We have also submitted an abstract for a poster at the upcoming Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Portland, OR (see my previous post).
The activities for the kits include:
1) Observe the variation in physical differences between males from three populations of guppies (pet store, wild low predation, wild high predation).
2) Understand how color patterns are passed on between parents and offspring using punnett squares.
3) Observe guppy predator avoidance behaviors and quantify survival when exposed to predators (this will be done using pre-recorded high-speed videos).
4) A thought exercise to address how color patterns change over time due to various types of selection.
In the last few weeks, Dale and I have figured out how to assemble small acrylic tanks that don't leak (not a minor task). These will be used as small observation tanks.
Dale gluing a tank
The finished product!
I have also been filming Catalina, one of our pike cichlid predators, capturing guppies. She has a choice between representative males from each of the populations. I used a go-pro to film at 120 fps but the video below is from my Nikon DSLR (not high speed).
We have also been working hard on assembling the introductory video, with the help of a local videographer. This included recording an interview with each of our scientists using some local news crew equipment that Dale borrowed.
Interviewing Cameron in the breeding lab
If that wasn't enough, we recruited an undergrad, Ty Fiero, to help with 3D printing some guppy stencils, so the students can draw a fish that they can then add fins to and color in.
Yes, those are glow-in-the-dark!
I drew them myself!
We have also been working closely with Andrew Warnock, from the EOC, to compile the instruction booklet that the students will use. This included coming up with a name for our kits.
It's coming together! Our goal is to be finished in time for a teacher workshop in October.
UPDATE 09/18/15
We now have predator silhouettes for students to test how each guppy might respond to predators. They will then make predictions about what they think will happen with real predators. I made a range of sizes to figure out which one works best.
UPDATE 10/29/15
So we didn't make our October deadline...
We ran into some hurdles with IACUC approval as well as trying to figure out better options for the observation tanks. We've decided to change the teacher workshop to January, which will actually work out better for when they will teach evolution in their classes. Plus it gives us a little more time to make everything just right.
Today we were finally approved to move fish to the Education and Outreach Center! We had to set up the tanks first without fish so they could inspect the room. Now that we're approved, I added some living things today - some nerite snails and some aquatic plants, Vallisneria and Ludwigia. Next comes guppies...
20g tank for petstore guppies
10g tanks for wild guppies
UPDATE 12/10/15
We're making the final push for our guppy kits! Dale and I have put a lot of work into the instruction booklet, and just wrote the final pages outlining the 4 components of Evolution the students worked through (Variation, Inheritance, Selection, and Time). We also provided some FAQs in case students have more questions about the projects they do.
We also finalized our introductory video that the students will watch before they start. This will be used to introduce the guppy system and let them hear from real scientists.
We encountered a hurdle recently regarding the observation tanks in the kits - do we ask the students to observe one guppy at a time and rotate, or do we ask the students to observe multiple guppies at a time, and if so, how do we facilitate that? Since variation is an integral concept for students to understand, we decided we wanted the later option, so then the question became do we put multiple fish in one tank or do we include multiple tanks. One of our collaborators had the idea to make nesting tanks, so we gave that a shot! They turned out well, so I think this is what we will go with.
Two nested observation tanks
We also encountered a problem with the most recent set of 3D printed stencils - that a pencil wouldn't fit in the lines. So we asked Ty to print it one more time, hopefully for good this time. As of 10am this is what they looked like:
3D printing guppy stencils (Photo by Ty Fiero)
Here are the completed stencils, and what the traces look like:
The guppy stencil finished product!
This is going to be AWESOME!
The last piece of this puzzle that I have been working on is the poster that I will present at SICB this January. Dale and I will be co-presenting our poster (abstract #P1-7) on
Monday Jan. 4 from 3:30pm-5:30pm in Exhibit Hall A
Also, if you're interested in hearing about the work that led up to the projects we included in the kits, Dale is presenting a talk (abstract #110-3) on
Thursday Jan. 7 at 9am in room B115
UPDATE 12/18/15
The first full draft of the instruction booklets have been printed!
Andrew did the illustrations!
We also now have an "official" kit pelican case! Blue is the perfect color for something with fish!
It looks like a kit now!
Everything fits inside!
AND...the poster is finished! SICB 2016: ready or not, here we come!
Well I guess you'll just have to come see our poster!
I will be contributing to two abstracts at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting this January in Portland, OR. Both are less traditional for me, so I look forward to hearing feedback/comments. Here are the abstracts (dates/times will be updated when they are available):
Dale presenting about guppy outreach at "Science on Tap" Fort Collins
First, Dale Broder and I will be presenting a poster in an undergraduate biology education session describing our most recent endeavor with guppy outreach:
Using self-guided “guppy
kits” to teach adaptation and evolution with authentic science
Emily A. Kane1,
E. Dale Broder1, Andrew C. Warnock2, Courtney M. Butler2,
A. Lynne Judish2, Lisa M. Angeloni1, Cameron K. Ghalambor1
1Department of Biology, Colorado State University
2College of Natural Sciences Education and Outreach
Center, Colorado State University
The concept of evolution is central to our understanding of organismal biology, but the United States has a poor understanding and acceptance of evolution compared to other countries, which is potentially influenced by the limited availability of evolutionary biologists that can assist teachers when covering this subject. We want to fill this gap by making our knowledge and resources easily accessible to teachers. Additionally, we want to use authentic science and hands-on experimentation to reach students who are not comfortable with the concept of evolution. We have designed a self-guided activity that utilizes live Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to explore adaptation, selection, and evolution. These “kits” include a video introduction by the researchers, activities observing differences in color and survival between 3 populations (domesticated and wild caught low- or high-predation), and a booklet providing guidance on the formation of hypotheses and conclusions. These kits can be used by the researchers for outreach events sponsored by the university, but can also be borrowed by local K-12 teachers to be performed independently, thereby enhancing the ability to reach a greater number of students while maintaining the benefits of a small-scale program. Similar activities performed previously demonstrate an increased retention compared to traditional lessons. Therefore, our goal is to use these kits to supplement local K-12 education, particularly at schools with under-represented populations. ***UPDATE: Our poster will be on display Monday 1/4 from 3:30-5:30pm***
Delaney posing with the first bullfrog she ever caught in the wild
Second, I have been working with an undergrad honors student, Delaney Laughlin, who will be presenting a poster of her honors thesis work:
Complexity, flexibility, and success: The role of feeding
behavior on competition between native leopard frogs and invasive bullfrogs
Delaney N. Laughlin1 and Emily A. Kane1
1Department of Biology, Colorado State University
Invasive species are a global epidemic that has a
significant impact on the survival of native species. Bullfrogs are native in
much of the United States, however, they have been introduced in a variety of
habitats both west of the Rocky Mountains as well as on other continents. We
seek to understand one potential mechanism by which they are able to succeed in
these variable habitats, specifically how foraging success is influenced by the
coordination and flexibility of feeding.
We predict that there will be a
greater difference in success rate between bullfrogs and leopard frogs when
capturing prey from variable substrates. These differences between species
might be because bullfrogs exhibit a greater complexity and coordination in
movement, and this specialized prey capture behavior may increase success
across multiple habitats. Alternatively, reduced complexity and coordination of
movement could lead to increased success in bullfrogs because this generalized
prey capture behavior permits flexibility. To test this idea, we will
use high-speed video to record foraging behaviors of leopard frogs and
bullfrogs from a terrestrial and aquatic substrate as they capture a suspended
live cricket. Coordination will be calculated as the correlation among timing
variables describing movement of body parts (i.e. hindlimbs, forelimbs, mouth,
tongue, etc.). Success rates between the two environments will indicate the
flexibility of each species. This
information could be vital for providing ecologists and conservationists a new
perspective of the mechanism contributing to how invasive species are able to
persist in novel environments. ***UPDATE: This second poster has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances***
