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Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Please note: Undergraduate student participants in REU Sites must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possessions and must be a freshman, sophomore or junior at the time of application. Seniors cannot apply for an REU internship. Learn about our 2009 Undergraduate Research Symposium The Field Museum houses one of the world’s foremost scientific collections of biological diversity (>25 million specimens), and supports active biodiversity research around the globe. Despite the urgency of the current biodiversity crisis, few educational opportunities exist for students in the biological sciences to interact with scientists and institutions dedicated to the study of organic diversity. The Field Museum REU program will train a cohort of at least seven students in biodiversity-related research for each of three summers in a 10-week summer program. Each participant will undertake an independent research project supervised by a museum scientist in a discipline such as taxonomy and systematics, phylo/ biogeography, paleontology, molecular phylogenetics, or conservation. Students will experience biological diversity through the use of the museum’s collections in their research, and will be trained in project-relevant techniques and equipment such as the scanning electron microscope, various light microscopy set-ups, and equipment in the Pritzker DNA lab. A six-week course in phylogenetic systematics run concurrently with intern projects will provide a common theoretical framework for their research. REU students will receive an introduction to the Encyclopedia of Life in Field Museum’s Biodiversity Synthesis Center. At the conclusion of the summer students will present their research results to their peers and museum scientists at an REU Symposium. Providing equal opportunity in biodiversity-related research is an important goal of the program. This REU program will be funded through an REU-Site grant of the National Science Foundation DEB: 08-49958 to Drs Petra Sierwald and Peter Makovicky (Field Museum of Natural History).
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It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that letter(s) of recommendation are received by the Field Museum by February 1st, 2010. Recommendation letter(s) must be submitted via e-mail to psierwald@fieldmuseum.org. The subject line must read: 2010 REU intern recommendation. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The Bivalve Tree of Life -- understanding the evolution of clams, mussels, oysters and their relatives This project (see also www.BivAToL.org) is a part of the Assembling the Tree of Life initiative, a large research effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation to reconstruct the evolutionary origins of all living things. The BivAToL effort uses hundreds of selected target species from around the world and studies their morphology, anatomy, ultrastructure, and genetic makeup. Research methods and techniques: REU participants in the project will receive an introduction to bivalve morphology and systematics. Participants will dissect and prepare specimens for microscopy, document diagnostic characters with optical and scanning microscopy, and gain experience with relevant literature research and collection management techniques. Time permitting, various histological techniques (in Field Museum’s histology laboratory) and 3-D computer reconstruction will become part of the training experience. Curator/Advisors: Dr. Rüdiger Bieler, Zoology/Invertebrates, in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Sid Staubach. Top Evolution and patterns of reproduction in Philippine mammals In most groups of animals, there is a correlation between the rate of reproduction and body size: the larger the species, the smaller the number of babies per litter. Rodents of the family Muridae, commonly called “rats and mice”, are a classic example, with small species producing large litters many times each year, and larger species producing fewer young. However, preliminary data on native (non-pest) rodents in the Philippines indicate that many species, including species that weigh from a few ounces to 6 pounds, have litter sizes of only one or two young, probably once each year. It appears that this low rate of reproduction is limited to only two groups that have evolved within the Philippines; distantly related groups have the more typical, higher rates of reproduction. Research methods and techniques: REU participants will receive an introduction to rodent reproductive anatomy and methods of examining preserved museum specimens for reproductive data, will help to collect the data, and will learn to compile and analyze data for correlations with body size. They will be introduced to phylogenies and methods for examining the evolution of reproductive patterns within a phylogenetic context. The intended result is a publication that the participants will co-author. Curator/Advisor: Dr. Lawrence R. Heaney, Zoology/Mammals Top Phylum Bryozoa: Developing a Global Taxonomy on the Web  This project is part of the development of an accessible, open-source research database. It deals with a remarkable group of colonial animals – the Bryozoa. They are unlike most animals in that many asexually budded modules, or zooids, comprise the body of a single genetic individual, the colony. Much of their taxonomy is based on the fact that these modules can be different morphologically (polymorphic), even though they are identical genetically. The evolution of complexity is richly portrayed in their fossil record, as zooid polymorphism has evolved repeatedly. They dwell on hard substrates and living ones in all the world's oceans and freshwater streams and lakes. Their colonies are essential habitats for fishes and countless numbers of invertebrates, thus playing key roles in benthic ecosystems and in our comprehension of marine biodiversity. However, their zooids are small, their taxonomy is complex, and they are grossly understudied.The overarching goal, in which this project is a crucial stage, is to provide an interactive workspace for the worldwide community of bryozoan systematists and researchers. As the resource develops further, we will serve a broader audience of ecologists, evolutionary and conservation biologists. To this end, Field Museum is now becoming the second installation of Scratchpads (http://scratchpads.eu/about), a social networking application that enables communities of researchers worldwide to manage, share and publish taxonomic data online. Our initial progress includes a Linnaean taxonomy for all living and fossil bryozoans that contains over 40,000 species binomials (valid and synonym). We have completed a preliminary genus listing, but have yet to validate the species binomials. We believe this task is best suited to contributions from the entire research community. The project grew out of The Bryozoa Home Page (www.bryozoa.net), over 4,000 hyperlinked html pages of taxonomy, morphology, images, and references. However, the Home Page does not facilitate cooperative, interactive editing. This project is about overcoming the obstacles to interactive research community development of a fully relational information resource. Our goal this summer is to prepare and load the entire species listing and higher taxonomy into Scratchpads, making the information available for online contributions and editing by bryozoan systematists. We will also be concentrating our efforts on implementing the existing Scratchpad modules for bibliography, images, distribution records, a glossary and more. Research methods and techniques: REU participants with bioinformatics/programming experience are particularly encouraged to apply, but all applicants will be considered. Participants in this project will receive an introduction to bryozoan morphology and systematics. They will also receive instruction and hands-on experience in biodiversity database design practices, and strategies for accommodating systematic and biogeographic analyses of species morphology, bio-molecular data, and geographic occurrences. They will actively participate in designing, implementation, and testing phases of the project. Scratchpads utilizes the Drupal content management system. Drupal modules are written in PHP, as are some of our tools for data cleaning and validation. Depending upon levels of expertise, participants will have the opportunity to co-develop Drupal modules and validation tools in PHP for the broader cyber-taxonomy community. Curator/Advisor: Dr. Scott Lidgard, Geology/Invertebrates Top Understanding the evolution of secondary chemistry in lichens Secondary metabolites are common among fungi, including important antibiotics, such as penicillin. Fungi that produce phenolic secondary metabolites are either lichen-forming or derived from lichen ancestors. Recently, we have demonstrated that the genes responsible for the production of phenolics are very similar to those found in soil bacteria and hypothesized that they were probably gained by the lichen fungi by horizontal gene transfer from these bacteria. This project would focus on the occurrence of secondary metabolites in one of the largest families of lichen-forming fungi, the Lecanoraceae. Secondary metabolites traditionally play a major role in the taxonomy of lichen-forming ascomycetes. In this specific project, phylogenies inferred from genetic markers will be used to reconstruct the evolution of the chemical profile of Lecanoraceae and to evaluate the taxonomic importance of this character in this family. Research methods and techniques: REU participants in this project will receive training in molecular and organismal research methods. They will learn how important a combination of both methods is for an understanding of the evolution of the diversity of life. The training will include introduction to the literature, handling of herbarium specimens. Chemical examination will include chromatographic methods, such as HPTLC and HPLC. Molecular methods will include DNA isolation, PCR and subsequent direct sequencing of certain gene regions. Subsequently, the analysis of DNA sequence data will be performed. Curator/Advisor: Dr. Thorsten Lumbsch, Botany Top The evolution of an ant-plant mutualism Why do ants protect plants? Why do plants provide homes and food for ants? Mutualistic acacia-ants nest in and feed from acacia trees while protecting them from herbivorous animals, competing plants, and pathogenic fungi. But what are the origins of this mutualism and how has its evolution influenced the diversification of ants? Using DNA from Neotropical acacia-ants, we will be able to determine the age of this mutualistic relationship and how it affected the evolutionary history of the ants and plants involved. Research methods and techniques: Interns will receive training in DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing in the Museum’s core genetics facility, the Pritzker Laboratory and the DNA Discovery Center. They will be introduced to next-generation genomic sequencing techniques, phylogenetic assembly, and their applications to understanding evolutionary history. Curator/Advisors: Dr. Corrie Moreau, Zoology/Insects and Benjamin Rubin (graduate student, University of Chicago and Field Museum, Zoology, Insects) Top Island gigantism or dwarfism? Phylogeny and taxonomy of Madagascar's chirping Giant Pill-Millipedes, describing newly discovered, micro-endemic species The giant pill-millipedes reaching the size of a baseball belong to Madagascar's most conspicuous invertebrates. Especially members of the genus Sphaeromimus (Latin for 'small ball') possess highly developed stridulation organs in both the male (the 'harp') and the female (the 'washboard') sex. Recent molecular and morphological phylogenies show that the members of this genus are closer related to pill millipedes from India than to other species from Madagascar. Nevertheless, they are poorly known. Recent inventory programs already lead to the discovery and description of one new genus and 36 new species. Now, around six new species of the genus Sphaeromimus were discovered, including one spectacular species which seems to display island gigantism (reaching a size larger than a golf ball). The aim of this study is to find out, if this gigantism is a recent development or an old trait inside the endemic genus Sphaeromimus. Research methods and techniques: REU participants in this project will receive training in general millipede morphology, and will handle and sort specimens from our and other museums' collections, image important morphological characters using light and scanning electron microscopy, collect data on the morphological differences of various species, as well as prepare descriptions of these species. Curator/Advisors: Dr. Petra Sierwald, Zoology/Arachnida & Myriapoda, in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Thomas Wesener Top An island giant: describing a new species of rove beetle from the Chatham Islands The rove beetle genus Omaliomimus is one of several in the large family Staphylinidae that live on ocean beaches - the edge of a habitat that is scarcely occupied by insects. The ten described Omaliomimus species are known from New Zealand proper, its subantarctic islands, and Australia's Macquarie Island (south of New Zealand and Australia), where they live in washed-up rotting seaweed or occasionally birds' nests or dead birds. The currently valid species were described between 1877 and 1911, but recent collecting in the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, has turned up a huge species not yet described and not known from anywhere else. At 6 mm long, the adults are much larger than any previously described Omaliomimus species and 50% longer than most. As is common in rove beetles, larvae of the new species were collected with the adults. As a contribution to ongoing broader studies of the fauna of the Chatham Islands by several researchers, we will prepare for publication a well-illustrated description of this new species, comparing both adults and larvae to those of already known Omaliomimus species. This will add significantly to the scanty published knowledge of Omaliomimus larvae. If time permits, we can also attempt to reconstruct a preliminary species level phylogeny to consider whether this might be a case of island gigantism. Research methods and techniques: Research work will include training in beetle skeletal morphology; dissecting, microscopy, and imaging techniques (probably including SEM – scanning electron microscopy); databasing and georeferencing specimen collecting records; and using the georeferenced records to map the known distribution. Phylogenetic analysis would use software available for that purpose, such as TNT, to analyze a matrix of morphological character data. The intern will work with the sponsoring curator on writing, for publication, a modern description of the species with illustrations (drawings, digital macrophotos, SEM) and comparisons to other species of Omaliomimus. This project will also provide familiarity with scientific literature on the Chatham Islands fauna and on rove beetles. Curator/Advisor: Dr. Margaret Thayer, Zoology/Insects Top Do some nocturnal Malaysian mammals see in color? Scientists generally accept that the ancestral mammal was nocturnal, and predicted that nocturnal mammals would have a retina containing only rod cells. Rod cells contain rhodopsin, a photo pigment that responds to low light levels. Surprisingly, studies determined that cone cells are present in the eyes of many nocturnal mammals. Scientists were further surprised to discover that many nocturnal mammals have two sets of photo pigment genes in addition to the rhodopsin found in rods. In other words many nocturnal mammals have the genetic capacity for dichromatic (or color) vision. This discovery has raised a number of questions, including “Do all the individuals within a population have the same complement of genes? Are there differences between populations? If there are differences between populations, can ecological hypotheses explain these differences?” Using DNA from both diurnal and nocturnal mammals collected from Malaysia, we will examine and compare the photo pigment genes between taxa. Research methods and techniques: REU Interns will receive training and participate in, DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing in the Museum's core genetics facility, the Pritzker Laboratory and the DNA Discovery Center. In addition, they will participate in data collection, assembly and analysis. Curator/Advisors: Dr. Robert Martin, Anthropology/Biological Anthropology, in collaboration with graduate student Edna Davion (University of Chicago and Field Museum, Anthropology) Top Morphological integration of the turtle shell: the effects of plastral hinging The morphologies of many organisms display patterns of integration, where developmental, functional, or other interactions between parts cause groups of characters to undergo evolutionary changes as a single unit. The turtle shell is one of the most distinctive evolutionary novelties among vertebrates, and there are a priori reasons to think that different turtles may display different patterns of integration in their shell morphology. In particular, some turtles possess a hinge on their bottom shell, or plastron, that allows the plastron to be closed up against the carapace (upper shell). We would expect the shapes of the plastron and carapace to be integrated in hinged turtles so that a tight fit can be maintained when the shell is closed, but hingeless less turtles may show little or no integration between their plastron and carapace because they do not have this constraint. Research methods and techniques: In this project we will first collect shell shape data from hingeless and hinged turtle species using the collections of The Field Museum. Then, in collaboration with Dr. Peter Roopnarine (California Academy of Sciences), we will use a new method for detecting patterns of integration in the turtle data set. The intern will be trained in the collection and analysis of geometric morphometric data, analysis of morphological integration, and the use of phylogeny as a framework for analyzing comparative data. Curator/Advisor: Dr. Kenneth Angielczyk, Geology Top |
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