Although I no longer have an active research program I am still interested in the questions outlined below, and loved working with students in the laboratory.
The ultimate goal of my research was to develop a deeper understanding of how an animal’s experiences affect its behavior and brain, both within a lifetime and, ultimately, across evolutionary time scales. Using insects as model organisms, I explored learning and memory in the context of foraging, combing behavioral studies with basic neurobiology. Foraging is an essential component of an animal's fitness, and learning plays an important role in foraging for many animals. Insects not only serve as excellent model organisms, as they share fundamental neurobiological mechanisms with vertebrates but they have simpler and more accessible nervous systems, they are an essential part of virtually any terrestrial ecosystem. My interdisciplinary approach allowed me to connect to and collaborate with ecologists, neurobiologists, evolutionary biologists, and chemical ecologists alike, leading to a more complete understanding of these complex behaviors.
In my graduate studies I examined brain plasticity, learning, and foraging behavior in hemimetabolous insects. Hemimetabolous insects are emerging as important model organisms, as their developmental process is more more parallel to vertebrate development than that of other insect models. Hemimetabolous insects undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with larval and adult stages similar to each other in morphology and behavior, rather than complete metamorphosis, with a larval and adult stage that are very different from each other in morphology and behavior, as seen in the most common insect model organism Drosophila. My current research at Hamilton College was guided by the same overarching questions and completed in close collaboration with undergraduate researchers.
The ultimate goal of my research was to develop a deeper understanding of how an animal’s experiences affect its behavior and brain, both within a lifetime and, ultimately, across evolutionary time scales. Using insects as model organisms, I explored learning and memory in the context of foraging, combing behavioral studies with basic neurobiology. Foraging is an essential component of an animal's fitness, and learning plays an important role in foraging for many animals. Insects not only serve as excellent model organisms, as they share fundamental neurobiological mechanisms with vertebrates but they have simpler and more accessible nervous systems, they are an essential part of virtually any terrestrial ecosystem. My interdisciplinary approach allowed me to connect to and collaborate with ecologists, neurobiologists, evolutionary biologists, and chemical ecologists alike, leading to a more complete understanding of these complex behaviors.
In my graduate studies I examined brain plasticity, learning, and foraging behavior in hemimetabolous insects. Hemimetabolous insects are emerging as important model organisms, as their developmental process is more more parallel to vertebrate development than that of other insect models. Hemimetabolous insects undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with larval and adult stages similar to each other in morphology and behavior, rather than complete metamorphosis, with a larval and adult stage that are very different from each other in morphology and behavior, as seen in the most common insect model organism Drosophila. My current research at Hamilton College was guided by the same overarching questions and completed in close collaboration with undergraduate researchers.
Undergraduate Researchers
For the 2014-2015 academic year all of my seniors explored how chemicals in food may influence learning and memory in insects. Alyssa DiCosmo and Halle Becker showed the protective effect that the anthocyanins found in blueberries had on learning and memory in older animals, using the long-lived hissing cockroach as a model organism. Emma Lonadier and Brenden Bucksbaum investigated how sub-lethal doses of pesticide affected learning and memory in caterpillars.
Emma Anderson spent June 2014 continuing the work started by Felipe Garcia (see below), exploring the relationship between the hissing cockroach and its associated mite. Her work suggests that hissing rates and activity patterns may not correlate with mite load, furthering our understanding of the effects of mites on roach health and behavior. She presented the results of her research during Family Weekend, and was interviewed for the college website!
Mallory lab group 2013-2014. From left to right: Heather Mallory, Matthew Vail, Danielle Haswell, Felipe Garcia .
Felipe Garcia investigated the relationship between the giant Madagascar hissing cockroach Gromphadorhina portentosa, and the mite Gromphadorholaelaps schaeferi (labeled with pink powder in the photo to the right). He showed that roaches with a relatively high mite load are free of a common mold that can grow on the exoskeleton of the roach, and may have a relatively faster growth rate than roaches that are mite-free. Future projects examining the fitness benefits or costs of mite loads to roaches are numerous and available to interested students.
Danielle Haswell and Matthew Vail examined learning and memory in Manduca sexta, developing new protocols and demonstrating the capacity of these caterpillars to learn to associate odors, but not colors, with both a positive and aversive stimulus. Their work increases our understanding of learning and memory processes, and many follow-up projects are available to future students interested in exploring the brain and behavior of these easy-to-handle and rear insects.
|
|
