Gain hands-on research experience in the tropics!
Students will have the opportunity to engage in existing research projects with EWU faculty and collaborators on Montserrat, or initiate their own projects! With a variety of tropical and marine habitats on Montserrat that are surely different from those found in eastern Washington, students will be able to explore exciting scientific research questions with global significance.
Landscape Ecology and Population Genetics
The semi-perennial and ephemeral stream systems (ghauts) in Montserrat are naturally isolated aquatic habitats in a terrestrial matrix, that vary in their connectivity to marine environments, with some ghauts offering unobstructed ocean access to organisms while others have become landlocked systems (due to volcanic activity). Students will investigate the population genetics of a variety of focal organisms in ghauts, including amphidromous decapods, fish, and molluscs, as well as non-migratory species. The amphidromous life history provides a mechanism for recolonization of populations extirpated by the volcano but there is also evidence of reproduction in landlocked systems. This study will shed light on how volcanic activity has impacted gene flow for focal organisms and biodiversity within and among these systems.
A similar model to the Ghaut study will also be used to investigate how habitat fragmentation in terrestrial habitats, due to volcanic and anthropogenic disturbance, has impacted tree frog and toad genetics across the island. In addition to smaller-scale disturbances like ashfall and lahar flows, volcanic eruptions in the mid-late 90’s created a belt of decimated landscape running east/west through the center of the island. The south belt has been effectively cut off from the rest of the island in terms of gene flow for multiple organisms. Students will use frogs as a focal group to investigate how habitat fragmentation at a variety of scales has impacted population structure in terrestrial communities.
Disease and Microbial Ecology
Students will investigate the skin microbiomes of amphibians collected from various locations throughout the island. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the distribution and prevalence of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, how disease is impacted by other members in the microbial community, and how environmental factors influence microorganism community dynamics. This investigation will inform conservation management of the critically endangered Mountain Chicken Frog, Leptodactylus fallax, which was extirpated from the island due in part to chytrid fungus infection.
Your research project idea!
Students may have the opportunity to conduct research on a topic of their choice under the guidance and mentorship of EWU faculty.
