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Finkler receives grant for field research equipment
January 2, 2003 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—A $3,500 grant will help Assistant Professor of Biology Michael Finkler study animals’ reactions in their natural habitats, versus in a laboratory setting. IU Kokomo’s Faculty Development and Grants Committee awarded Finkler the grant-in-aid for the purchase of a Qubit™ respirometry/data acquisition system, which he will use for research in animal physiology this spring. The computer-operated data logging unit collects data from a variety of sensors. Most of the research outlined in the grant-in-aid proposal will be conducted on the Kokomo campus, but Finkler hopes to conduct some later fieldwork with the instrument at Indiana’s Mississinewa and Salamonie reservoirs, as well as in southeast Michigan. Finkler has received previous grants for his ongoing studies of turtles, salamanders and crayfish in Michigan and Indiana. “I have been deeply interested in exercise metabolism and locomotion in lower vertebrates since graduate school,” Finkler said. “However, many of the ideas I wanted to explore had to be shelved when I started working [at IU Kokomo], as we did not have the equipment that would allow me to make these types of investigations. This grant will allow me to pull some project ideas out of mothballs and see what I can find out.” Finkler said this new research will help answer the question, “Are phenomena observed in the lab applicable to the organism in its natural environment?” The Qubit “will allow me to obtain data in the field that can then be compared to laboratory data, and thus assess whether what is observed in the lab is actually relevant to the organisms I study,” he said. With the Qubit, Finkler can take metabolic measurements—measurements of animals’ respiration and energy use—in the field, reflecting changes in the animals’ natural environment. “This equipment will greatly expand the types of studies I can conduct outside of the laboratory. For example, I can insert air tubes and sensor probes into a subterranean nest of turtle eggs or in a crayfish burrow, turn on the system, and it will automatically record gas composition, temperature, and so on, in the burrow intermittently for as long as three months. I can periodically come back to the nest and download the data on a laptop.” His grant-in-aid proposal outlined three different projects. One study will examine the energy cost of locomotion in spring-breeding salamanders. “Before breeding, female salamanders form large masses of eggs in their abdomens,” he said. “This mass could create quite an encumbrance to movement. Women who have been pregnant know what I mean,” he added. To mate with males and lay their eggs, the female salamanders migrate from their winter burrows to bodies of water. “This migration could be a couple hundred meters (over 650 feet) in length—quite a hike for an animal 4–5 inches long,” Finkler said. Finkler will use the Qubit to monitor how this exercise elevates the females’ metabolism, indicating energy expended. Comparing this with the energy expenditure of male salamanders, Finkler will consider how the measurements might relate to differences in the behavior and body shapes of males and females. In a similar second project, Finkler will examine how egg-carrying influences metabolism and swimming performance in two local crayfish species. “Female crayfish carry their eggs in a large mass under their tails,” he explained. To circulate water over the eggs, the females frequently move the egg mass with appendages under their tails, activity that may increase energy expenditure. “The presence of the eggs also might prevent tail compression during fast escape responses, and thus lower the burst swimming speed of the females,” he said. A final project will examine the effect of temperature on respiration in large insects. As temperatures rise, many large insects respond by ventilating their respiratory system. This raises the insects’ metabolism, as indicated by increased oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, Finkler explained. His experiment will look for correlations between increased metabolism and abdominal muscle activity in the Madagascan hissing roach. Feeling “deeply committed to creating research experiences in biology for undergraduates,” Finkler said he wants to recruit IU Kokomo students to help with at least some of his research, through IU’s Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI) or independent research for credit hours. “Undergraduate research gives students the opportunity to not only work through procedures and collect data, but also to learn to analyze and think critically about the data, integrate their findings with previous studies and communicate their findings to colleagues. It shows them that science is not a bunch of material memorized out of a textbook, but an exciting, dynamic exploration of new ideas. I can think of nothing that prepares the students better for careers in the sciences.”
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