Category: Natural World

2021-22, Environment, Evolution, Natural World

Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

Zhifei Zeng ’23 Many animals have the ability to rapidly change color as a means to adjust to different environments, thermoregulate, and even communicate with other members of their species. This color adaptation is a complex subject, often related to environmental factors, animal behavior, visual perception, and cellular physiology. Specifically, for crustaceans living in intertidal systems where biological and environmental factors vary on multiple spatial … Continue reading Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

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Natural World

Automated Feeding and Restricted Diet Can Lead to Longer Lifespans in Male African Killifish

Yukta Kulkarni ’22 When performing biological research regarding health and disease, it is often not possible to have humans as primary test subjects. Thus, other animals are used for research purposes as they model human developments, have a smaller lifespan, and allow for more efficient research. For example, the African turquoise killifish is a type of fish used for research since it has a lifespan … Continue reading Automated Feeding and Restricted Diet Can Lead to Longer Lifespans in Male African Killifish

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Environment, Evolution

Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

Joyce Chen ’23 The Sadlermiut were a past civilization that lived on Southampton Island in Nunavut, Canada. Accustomed to the harsh weather of Arctic Canada, the Sadlermiut were natural hunter-gatherers and fishermen. Recovery of past artifacts and skeletal remains suggested that the civilization occupied regions of Southampton Island ranging back to 1250 CE up until 1903, when they were wiped out by a pandemic introduced … Continue reading Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

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Natural World

Ivory Poaching in Elephants Is Causing Tusklessness in Elephants

Yukta Kulkarni ’22 Poaching is defined as the illegal hunting of animals, especially when some part of an animal is profitable. This type of wildlife exploitation has been occurring for years, harming multiple species and causing unforeseen evolutionary consequences. A prominent example of this is habitual ivory poaching, or the killing of both male and female elephants for their extremely valuable ivory tusks. In fact, … Continue reading Ivory Poaching in Elephants Is Causing Tusklessness in Elephants

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Environment

Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

Ayesha Azeem ’23 Trees are known for their cooling services through shade and evapotranspiration, the process by which water is transferred from land to the atmosphere through evaporation. Unfortunately, tropical deforestation has accelerated exponentially in the past century, leading to the elimination of these cooling services in low latitude countries. Without such cooling services, local temperatures can increase over a single season, which affects not … Continue reading Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

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Ecology

How Ice and Wind Can Affect Baltic Sea Phytoplankton

Panayiota Siskos ’23 The Baltic Sea has a history of having anthropogenic river nutrients from agriculture and wastewater discharges as well as phytoplankton biomass. A combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors forms the marine ecosystem, making it difficult to identify which impacts are climate change and human caused concentration of nutrients, and studies identifying them are necessary for a healthy marine ecosystem. Seasonal ice … Continue reading How Ice and Wind Can Affect Baltic Sea Phytoplankton

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Natural World

Effect of Fragrant Primula Flowers on Physiology and Psychology in Female College Students: An Empirical Study

Thumyat Noe ’23 Nowadays, many people tend to spend most of their time indoors for work and leisure activities. Poor air quality and limited physical opportunities resulting from remaining indoors are often associated with a decrease in work efficiency and substandard physiological and psychological conditions. Hence, there is great interest among researchers on how indoor environments can be improved. Previous studies have suggested that indoor … Continue reading Effect of Fragrant Primula Flowers on Physiology and Psychology in Female College Students: An Empirical Study

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Environment

Understanding Algal Calcification May Help Climate Change

Panayiota Siskos ’23 Increased interest in quantifying marine ecosystems’ ability to trap carbon and offset it from the atmosphere has led to efforts for this process to be harnessed in global carbon offset schemes. Early studies to this end were focused on organic carbon, with an underlying belief that marine ecosystems were believed to only have photosynthesizing plants. In time, it was discovered that ecosystems … Continue reading Understanding Algal Calcification May Help Climate Change

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Ecology

How Environment Affects Breeding in Migratory Populations

Panayiota Siskos ’23 Vertebrates have different seasonal reproductive times depending on the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, which is associated with breeding latitude and a sensitivity to changes in length of daylight. Migratory animals in particular work to optimize reproductive timing since breeding conditions are needed later at migrationary regions than overwintering regions (regions where animals stay throughout the winter). There are multiple migrationary bird species with populations … Continue reading How Environment Affects Breeding in Migratory Populations

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Natural World

Whales: Uncovering a Long Lost Secret of Scoliosis

Ayesha Azeem ‘23 Scoliosis is a deformity of the spine and trunk, and is often caused by traumatic injury, syndromic conditions, or neuromuscular disease. In mammals, the development of scoliosis with no underlying cause, idiopathic scoliosis, is only seen in humans. While the most common form of scoliosis is idiopathic, not enough is known about its origins and why scoliosis can be induced relatively easily … Continue reading Whales: Uncovering a Long Lost Secret of Scoliosis

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Natural World

To Improve Conservation Efforts of Shark Species

Wendy Wu ’22  As a keystone species, sharks play a large role in maintaining a marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, climate change, habitat loss, and commercial fishing have led to sharp declines in shark populations around the world. To conserve and rebuild shark populations, many island nations have established marine protected areas (MPAs). The effectiveness of a MPA depends on whether it accommodates the species’ behavior and … Continue reading To Improve Conservation Efforts of Shark Species

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Environment

Discovery of Plant Fossils Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet Hints at Danger from Global Warming

Sooraj Shah ’24 The devastating impact of global warming on the human race is a frightening possibility, which may be more imminent than expected. Recent evidence suggests that the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are not the only factor to blame, but that the surface of Earth itself may also be a contributing factor. A study conducted by Dr. Andrew Christ, professor in the department … Continue reading Discovery of Plant Fossils Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet Hints at Danger from Global Warming

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