Week One: The Adventure begins...
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Hello, all! My name is Molly Grace, and to participate in the Howard Hughes program, I've travelled all the way from Durham, NC. But although home is less than 30 minutes away for me, a week in the lab has proved that this experience will be a world away from anything I've ever done before.
I've taken up residence in the Nowicki Lab, which studies (to put it very broadly) animal communication, currently using swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana) and, very recently, a species of jumping spider. While in this lab, I will be under the guidance of my awesome mentors: Steve Nowicki (PI), Susan Peters, and Rindy Anderson. At this point in time, my project hasn't been completely nailed down, but it will utilize female sparrows in a behavioral experiment recording their reaction to males' songs. More specifics on that in a later post.
Much of my time this week has been spent discussing possible projects, making mechanical preparations for my project (hormone implants, setting up the operant chambers I'll be using), and, of course, learning how to care for the birds we use.
To learn more about the glory that is the Nowicki Lab, go to http://www.biology.duke.edu/nowicki/.
I'll leave you with some pictures of the lab:
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Here I am with one of the females who will be participating in my project. A couple of side notes: 1) No birds will be harmed in the making of this research experience (thank goodness), and 2) To all you kids out there planning to go into behavioral research and subsequently blog about it, be sure to get your PI's OK before you post pictures of their animals!
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This is my "home base" where I'm currently analyzing some old data and males' songs that will hopefully be useful to my project.
COMING SOON: Romp in the Swamp-- My Foray into Field Work
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