Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program
Emma O'Donnell ’21 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY Senior Thesis Research Funding Awardee BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION THESIS TITLE One Fish, Two Fish: Measuring Patterns of Reef-Fish Biodiversity in Bermuda Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding ADVISER Stephen Pacala, Frederick D. Petrie Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Monitoring reef-fish biodiversity is essential to setting marine conservation priorities and measuring their success. Bermuda’s reef fish are threatened by anthropogenic pressures and current conservation strategies are not adequately protecting them. Bermuda’s colder environment slows the reef fishes’ reproductive rate, making them more vulnerable. Effective conservation strategies are essential to protecting Bermuda’s reef-fish stocks and biomonitoring efforts must accompany these strategies to measure shifts in biodiversity. I used environmental DNA metabarcoding to measure biodiversity at various sites across Bermuda’s platform to inform conservation decisions. I examined the effect of various environmental variables such as site type and tide predictions on the biodiversity patterns. The results indicated that site type and sample date are significant predictors of variation in community composition. Seagrass beds were distinctly different from the other site types, which could be explained by their importance as a habitat for recruitment for many reef fish species. Throughout the platform, the results found low levels of piscivorous taxa (fish predators), which suggests that these commercially important species are struggling to recover from historic and continued overexploitation from fisheries. Thus, my results indicated that improved protection of seagrass beds and piscivorous fish taxa should be conservation priorities in Bermuda. 19
Brendan Raville ’21 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY Senior Thesis Research Funding Awardee THESIS TITLE Interactions Between Human Hunters and Whitetail Deer: An Adirondack Landscape of Fear ADVISER Daniel Rubenstein, Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology I found that whitetail deer responded to yearlong predation and the 2020 hunting season by mitigating their mortality risk through spatial, temporal and behavioral responses. I examined eight months of data collected from May 2020 to January 2021 by 78 trail cameras at three sites. I used habitat surveys, cover assessments and video samples to characterize landscape use by whitetail deer and predators. Human pressure was represented by hunter activity as recorded at a hunting camp. I found that deer increased their use of habitats with more cover and shifted to nocturnal activity when hunters entered the landscape. Hunters used efficient drives during the first and last part of the regular season, while consistently increasing sit/stalk hunting. In wooded habitats, alertness increased, although diurnal human pressure and nocturnal natural predation produced different effects. Does and bucks reacted similarly to elevated risk, indicating sex-selective harvest does not produce sex-dependent responses. Mature bucks exhibited a stronger response to elevated risk than young bucks under similar conditions. BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION 20
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- Page 7 and 8: ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES AND CULTUR
- Page 9 and 10: Favour Oribhabor ’21 CIVIL AND EN
- Page 11 and 12: Janaya Bruce ’21 MOLECULAR BIOLOG
- Page 13 and 14: Hana Jiang ’21 ECOLOGY AND EVOLUT
- Page 15 and 16: THESIS TITLE Conspicuousness and Cr
- Page 17 and 18: Luca Kuziel ’21 ECOLOGY AND EVOLU
- Page 19: Olivia Meyers ’21 ECOLOGY AND EVO
- Page 23 and 24: Enzo Dominguez ’21 CHEMISTRY Seni
- Page 25 and 26: Levy Nathan ’21 GEOSCIENCES Certi
- Page 27 and 28: Rebecca Mays ’21 CHEMICAL AND BIO
- Page 29 and 30: Charlotte Wallace ’21 MECHANICAL
- Page 31 and 32: Jimin Kang ’21 SPANISH AND PORTUG
- Page 33 and 34: Mollie Price ’21 ENGLISH Certific
- Page 35 and 36: THESIS TITLE Fight or Flight Respon
- Page 37 and 38: THESIS TITLE Linking Changes in NO
- Page 39 and 40: Julia Harisay ’21 SCHOOL OF PUBLI
- Page 41 and 42: Hans Imhof ’21 SCHOOL OF PUBLIC A
- Page 43 and 44: Lauren McGrath ’21 ANTHROPOLOGY S
- Page 45 and 46: Emily Reinhold ’21 SCHOOL OF PUBL
- Page 47 and 48: Willemijn ten Cate ’21 ECOLOGY AN
- Page 49 and 50: Casey Conrad ’21 GEOSCIENCES Cert
- Page 51 and 52: Beverly Shen ’21 SCHOOL OF PUBLIC
- Page 53: High Meadows Environmental Institut
Brendan Raville ’21<br />
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY<br />
Senior Thesis <strong>Research</strong> Funding Awardee<br />
THESIS TITLE<br />
Interactions Between<br />
Human Hunters and<br />
Whitetail Deer: <strong>An</strong><br />
Adirondack Landscape<br />
of Fear<br />
ADVISER<br />
Daniel Rubenstein,<br />
Class of 1877 Professor<br />
of Zoology, Professor of<br />
Ecology and<br />
Evolutionary Biology<br />
I found that whitetail deer responded to yearlong<br />
predation and the 2020 hunting season by<br />
mitigating their mortality risk through spatial,<br />
temporal and behavioral responses. I examined<br />
eight months of data collected from May 2020<br />
to January <strong>2021</strong> by 78 trail cameras at three<br />
sites. I used habitat surveys, cover assessments<br />
and video samples to characterize landscape<br />
use by whitetail deer and predators. Human<br />
pressure was represented by hunter activity as<br />
recorded at a hunting camp. I found that deer<br />
increased their use of habitats with more cover<br />
and shifted to nocturnal activity when hunters<br />
entered the landscape. Hunters used efficient<br />
drives during the first and last part of the regular<br />
season, while consistently increasing sit/stalk<br />
hunting. In wooded habitats, alertness increased,<br />
although diurnal human pressure and nocturnal<br />
natural predation produced different effects.<br />
Does and bucks reacted similarly to elevated<br />
risk, indicating sex-selective harvest does not<br />
produce sex-dependent responses. Mature bucks<br />
exhibited a stronger response to elevated risk<br />
than young bucks under similar conditions.<br />
BIODIVERSITY AND<br />
CONSERVATION<br />
20
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