Paid Research Internships – The Guppy Project

Research interns are needed to assist in a multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator, experimental study of the evolution of species interactions in Trinidad, West Indies. The research is led by Professors David Reznick (University of California, Riverside), Joseph Travis (Florida State University), Tim Coulson (University of Oxford), and Ron Bassar (Auburn University).  We seek to integrate multiple biological fields for the study of these interactions in experimental populations of guppies and killifish in Trinidad. Duties include assisting in monthly censuses of guppy and killifish populations in montane streams and helping to execute experiments in on-site artificial streams. The monthly censuses include long hours in the field and laboratory.  

Interns will be required to spend a minimum of 3 months in Trinidad, with possibility of extension, and/or promotion to field site manager. There are potential start dates in February 2024 and every month thereafter until November 2024. We will pay a monthly stipend ($700 USD per month for first time interns), cover travel (up to $900 USD), and provide housing. 

Qualifications: We seek interns who are entertaining the possibility of pursuing graduate studies in some area of ecology and evolution and who wish to gain some additional field research experience before doing so.  Research will take place in semi-remote areas of Trinidad, sometimes under bad weather conditions. Applicants must be able to live and work well with others. Research will involve carrying heavy packs over slippery and steep terrain. Applicants must be in good physical condition and be able to meet the demands of field research under these conditions. Ability to drive a standard transmission vehicle is desirable but not required. Applicants with first-aid/first responder training, skills in automobile maintenance, and construction skills are highly desirable. Please address these skills when applying.

Please see our website <www.theguppyproject.weebly.com> for more information on the project and access to reprints.  Be sure to check out our video menu, which includes a “guppy censuses” as submenu VII.  It details the main tasks associated with the internship.

Applicants should send a cover letter, CV, and the names and e-mail addresses of three or more professional references to David Reznick (gupy@ucr.edu). At least two of the references should be academics.

The lab has moved to Auburn University!

The Bassar Lab has moved to Auburn University. We are excited to be in our new home, and I am now excepting applications for graduate students and postdocs interested in life history evolution, species coexistence, host-parasite interactions, and general eco-evolutionary dynamics from both a theoretical and empirical perspectives. Interested individuals should get in touch with me directly at rdb0057@auburn.edu.

Research Internships: Evolution of Species Coexistence

After over a year sidelined by Covid-19, the Guppy Project is back in action and seeking interns to participate in our long-term research in Trinidad, W.I. Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.

Research Internships – Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research interns are needed to assist in a multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator, experimental study of the evolution of species interactions in Trinidad, West Indies. The research is led by Professors David Reznick (University of California, Riverside), Joseph Travis (Florida State University), Tim Coulson (University of Oxford), and Ron Bassar (Williams College).  We seek to integrate multiple biological fields for the study of these interactions in experimental populations of guppies and killifish in Trinidad. Duties include assisting in monthly censuses of guppy populations in montane streams. The monthly censuses include long hours in the field and laboratory.  There will also be 12 days off between each census when interns can pursue an independent project. 

Interns will be required to spend a minimum of 3-months in Trinidad, with possibility of extension. There are potential start dates in September 2021 and every month thereafter until September 2024. We will cover all travel and living expenses and provide housing. 

Qualifications: We seek interns who are entertaining the possibility of pursuing graduate studies in some area of ecology and evolution and who wish to gain some additional field research experience before doing so.  Research will take place in semi-remote areas of Trinidad sometimes under bad weather conditions. Applicants must be able to live and work well with others. Research will involve carrying heavy packs over slippery and steep terrain. Applicants must be in good physical condition and be able to meet the demands of field research under these conditions. Ability to drive a standard transmission vehicle is desirable but not required. Applicants with first-aid/first responder training, skills in automobile maintenance, and construction skills are highly desirable. Please address these skills when applying.

 Please see our website <www.theguppyproject.weebly.com> for more information on the project and access to reprints.  Be sure to check out our video menu, which includes a “guppy censuses” as submenu VII.  It details the main tasks associated with the internship.

 Applicants should send cover letter, CV and the names and e-mail addresses of three or more professional references to David Reznick (gupy@ucr.edu). At least two of the references should be academics.

 

​Post-Doctoral Fellowship Opportunity: Coexistence of Trinidadian Guppies and Killifish

            We are seeking a postdoctoral scientist to work with us on a newly funded award from the National Science Foundation on the ecological interactions between Trinidadian guppies and Hart’s killifish.  The project is focused on how these two species coexist when differences in competitive ability and other factors suggest that they should not.  We are investigating the roles of temporal and spatial storage effects and other fluctuation-dependent mechanisms for coexistence.  In particular, we are asking if the relative importance of fluctuation-independent and fluctuation-dependent mechanisms changes as each species evolves in response to the other.

 This work continues our long-term studies of ecology and evolution in the Trinidadian guppy, including close study of population and evolutionary dynamics in four experimental streams, which we began in 2008.  The entire project is described at our website: https://theguppyproject.weebly.com. 

 The responsibilities of the postdoctoral scientist will include participating in monthly mark-recapture of guppies and killifish in four experimental communities in Trinidad, leading the execution of mesocosm experiments in Trinidad, leading the collection and preparation of tissue samples for stable isotope studies of each species’ trophic niche, analyzing data, and preparing manuscripts. 

 The postdoctoral scientist will be headquartered at Florida State University but will expected to spend the majority of her/his/their time in Trinidad.  There will be opportunities to spend time with the principal investigators at Florida State University (J. Travis), Williams College (R. Bassar), University of California-Riverside (D. Reznick), and University of Oxford (T. Coulson). 

 The successful applicant must have a Ph.D. awarded by September 2021, prior experience with field work in ecology or evolutionary biology, not necessarily in the tropics, be able to conduct the field work in the demanding habitat and climate of tropical Trinidad, and be comfortable with a group living situation in rural Trinidad.  The successful applicant must also be skilled in data curation and statistical analyses. 

 The award from the National Science Foundation provides three years of funding.  The starting salary will be $47,659, with provision for annual cost-of-living increases. 

 Questions about the position and initial inquiries from individuals interested in the position should be sent to Joseph Travis (travis@bio.fsu.edu).  Formal applications can be made at http://jobs.fsu.edu as soon as the appropriate job number is assigned and posted.  The position will be filled as soon as practical. 

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Our new paper on detecting evolution in wild populations is out in The American Naturalist

You can access the paper here. And read Tomos Potter’s excellent summary here.

Detecting contemporary evolution requires demonstrating that genetic change has occurred. Mixed effects models allow estimation of quantitative genetic parameters and are widely used to study evolution in wild populations. However, predictions of evolution based on these parameters frequently fail to match observations. Here, we applied three commonly used quantitative genetic approaches to predict the evolution of size at maturity in a wild population of Trinidadian guppies. Crucially, we tested our predictions against evolutionary change observed in common-garden experiments performed on samples from the same population. We show that standard quantitative genetic models underestimated or failed to detect the cryptic evolution of this trait as demonstrated by the common-garden experiments. The models failed because (1) size at maturity and fitness both decreased with increases in population density, (2) offspring experienced higher population densities than their parents, and (3) selection on size was strongest at high densities. When we accounted for environmental change, predictions better matched observations in the common-garden experiments, although substantial uncertainty remained. Our results demonstrate that predictions of evolution are unreliable if environmental change is not appropriately captured in models.

Our new paper on guppy demographic responses to parasite invasion is out in PNAS!

Does increased mortality from novel predators or parasites always lead to decreased prey or host population sizes? Theory says no, but we have too few examples of such compensatory effects to answer this question conclusively. We address this gap using long-term data from populations recently invaded by a nematode parasite. We combine analyses of the subsequent changes in population dynamics with comparable data from an uninfected population and laboratory assays of the effect of the parasite on fitness components. Our results show that the negative effect of the novel parasite was short-lived. The host population quickly recovered, even while experiencing high levels of parasite prevalence (72%).  Host recovery was a consequence of increased survival and a density-dependent increase in recruitment.

You can link to the paper here.

New paper on individual differences in competitive ability is out in PNAS

You can find the paper here.

Demonstrating asymmetric competition in natural systems is difficult, as the effect of large individuals on small ones has to be measured, and vice versa. Numerous experiments have quantified one side of the interaction, typically the effect of large individuals on small ones. Here, we demonstrate, using a long-term study of guppies, that an individual’s performance depends on its relative size, with large individuals being competitively dominant. Accurate prediction of both the mean and variance in body size was possible by using models incorporating asymmetric competition, whereas in models where individuals are competitively equivalent, the predictions were poor.

New paper on eco-evolutionary feedbacks predicting the time course of evolution is out in the American Naturalist (@GuppyProject)

Organisms can change their environment and, in so doing, change the selection they experience and how they evolve. Population density is one potential mediator of such interactions because high population densities can impact the ecosystem and reduce resource availability. At present, such interactions are best known from theory and laboratory experiments. Here we quantify the importance of such interactions in nature by transplanting guppies from a stream where they co-occur with predators into tributaries that previously lacked both guppies and predators.

You can read the paper here: https://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/Nov-Reznick.html

Sonya Auer @sonyakauer wins the President's Medal from the Society for Experimental Biology!

From SEB’s website:

In order for a person to be nominated for a President’s Medal, the nominee will need to be:

  • An independent researcher or scientist, in the early stage of their career, normally within 10 years* of being awarded their PhD

  • Must be demonstrating scientific leadership, have qualities which make them respected by their peers, and regarded as a creative and novel thinker.

A very hearty congratulations to Sonya on this wonderful achievement!