Student
Research
All Allegheny students must complete a Senior Project,
which in the Biology Department is a significant body of
original independent research. Senior project research
students working under my direction have focused on a
variety of problems in animal behavior, ecology, and
evolutionary biology, using a wide diversity of animal
taxa, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds,
and mammals. Several students have published the results of their senior
project research in national or international
journals.
Recent
Senior Research Projects
Class of 2009
• (On sabbatic leave spring 2009: no senior research
students).
Class of 2008
• Michelle N. Balas. Effects of
nestling age, brood size, and brood parasitism on parental
care in Canada Warblers (Wilsonia canadensis).
• Alison M. Berkebile. The
effects of territory ownership on dominance status of male
green anoles (Anolis carolinensis).
• Andrew M. Fleming.
Heterospecific attraction to Black-capped Chickadee mobbing
calls: the role of call structure.
• Michaelene M. Gates. The effect of
body size and female familiarity on male mate preference of
Anolis carolinensis.
• Stephanie A. Izurieta. The effect
of dominance on the learning ability of the domestic chick,
Gallus gallus domesticus.
• Nick A. Jones. Aposematic Signaling
Versus a Pre-Existing Color Preference in the Guppy,
Poecilia reticulata.
• Ryan M. Larkin. The effects of
varying water level and temperature on survival and growth
rate of Rana sylvatica tadpoles.
• Michael McKay. Experience and
memory used by praying mantids (Tenodera sinensis)
in learning aversion to aposematically colored prey.
• Carolyn M. Nairn. The effects of
age, mass, and relative size on begging behavior in Canada
warbler (Wilsonia canadensis) nestlings as an
indicator of honest signaling and parent-offspring
conflict.
• Allison L. Whitermore. Effects of
sodium chloride and egg mass position on hatching success
and early development in Rana sylvatica.
• Kirsten M. Williams. Consumption of
Cornus amomum (Silky dogwood) fruit by migratory
and resident birds.
Class of 2007
• Kathryn A. Bregant. The
effect of maternal care in multi-parent and single-parent
units on neophobia in Zucker rats.
• Michael A.
Eskay. Effects of ultraviolet light
filtering on web stabilimenta and related foraging success
in the orb-weaving spider, Argiope aurantia.
• Jessica M. Fletemeyer.
Familiarity and scent marking in Rattus
norvegicus.
• Kristen C. Krisulevicz.
Predator-induced plasticity in wood frog tadpoles, Rana
sylvatica: The effects of Anax junius
predator density over various tadpole ontogenetic stages.
• Margaret M. Macneil. The effect of
density on aggression and cannibalism in Ambystoma
mexicanum larvae.
• Megan W. McConnell. The effect of
carbaryl on behavior and response to conspecific alarm
signals in green frog tadpoles, Rana clamitans.
• Kelly T. Peretich. Effects of
parental care on growth and survival of young in the
convict cichlid, Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum.
• Maria C. Pyrdek. Kin
recognition via chemical signaling in juvenile convict
cichlid (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum).
Class of 2006
• Jon P. Davis. In
vitro analysis of antimicrobial activity of secondary
plant compounds on the rumen flora of cattle.
• Melissa A. Faulkner.
Behavioral and fitness effects of male sexual harassment on
female western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis.
• Tiffany M. Firko. The effects
of early occlusion experience on spatial navigation of
chicks while under predation.
• Gilbreath, Emilie N. The
effect of sulfur-containing amino acids on cognitive
performance in young female rats.
• Henriquez, Jessica M. Sexual
motivation, aggressive behavior and parental roles in the
monogamous convict cichlid, Archocentrus
nigrofasciatum.
• Jessica Johnson. A test of
the differential allocation hypothesis using convict
cichlids, Archocentrus nigrofasciatum.
• Sarah E. Kuhn. The effects of
kin recognition on inbreeding avoidance in Zucker rats.
• David A. Roberts. The effect
of predation threat and kinship on growth and metamorphosis
of Bufo americanus tadpoles.
• Elizabeth A. Van Parys.
Conspecific chemical cues and antipredator behavior of
red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus):
Effect of familiarity.
• White, Jodie M. The effect of
gravidity on the anti-predator behavior and the swimming
behavior of the guppy (Poecilia reticulata).
Class of 2005
• Moya L. Carrier. Risk
assessment of red-spotted newts, Notophthalmus
viridescens, exposed to injured conspecifics.
• W. Douglas Chrisner. The
prisoner’s dilemma and cooperation in the rat:
effects of a change in the payoff matrix.
• Laura E. Hall. The effects of
temperature, food deprivation, and feed regularity on food
hoarding in Rattus norvegicus.
• Lester, Lori A. Antipredator
behavior of adult convict cichlids, Archocentrus
nigrofasciatus, in response to conspecific alarm
signals: effects of sex and water turbidity.
• Megan L. Nable. The influence
of maternal saliva labels on food preferences of Zucker
rats.
• Jennifer L. Sexton. Sexual
behavior in the black-horned tree cricket Oecanthus
nigricornis: to mimic or not to mimic?
• Abigail M. Wilson. The effect
of fasting periods on the growth and development of the
corn snake (Elaphe guttata guttata).
Class of 2004
• Nicole L. Ballon.
Modification of fear in domestic chicks, Gallus gallus
domesticus, through the use of a familiar odorant and
visual cue.
• Rhianna J. Carlson. The
importance of predator chemical cues on anti-predator
behavior in the crayfish, Orconectes obscurus.
• Mark L. Galatowitsch.
Homopteran escape behavior in response to a flush-pursuit
predator: the importance of primary defenses.
• Jennifer L. Mitcheltree.
Strength of an aversive stimulus enhances social learning
in domestic chicks.
• Megan J. Natali. Do pregnant
Sprague-Dawley rats avoid potentially toxic foods?
• Kerri A. Nigito.
Anti-predator responses to chemical and visual cues of
predators and non-predators in the green anole (Anolis
carolinensis).
• Marieke H. Rosenbaum. Effects
of mixed species shoaling and familiarity on the
transmission of social information: heterospecific social
learning in the guppy.
• Katelyn E. Stroup. Food
aversions during early pregnancy in rats: A test of the
fetal protection hypothesis)
Class of 2003
• Nathan R. Irwin. The effects of
food supplementation on Eastern Bluebird (Sialia
sialis) offspring growth and survival.
• Jason C. Landry. The role of second
antennae in development of social hierarchies in the
American lobster (Homarus americanus).
• Brock J. Renkas. Natural and
artificial food sources for fall- and spring-run
Oncorhynchus mykiss in Pennsylvanian Lake Erie
tributaries.
Class of 2002
• Jill L. Atherton. The functional
response of larval Ambystoma tigrinum and its
potential role in the development of the cannibal morph.
• Meloni J. DiPietro. Role of kinship
and familiarity in recognition of conspecifics and
heterospecifics by American toad (Bufo americanus)
tadpoles.
• Keith E. Fischer. Effects of UV-B
radiation and the fungal pathogen Saprolegnia
ferax on larval survival in the green frog (Rana
clamitans).
• Daniel D. Homans. Predator
recognition training in brook trout (Salvelinus
fontinalis): can multiple conditioning trials produce
an antipredator response to brown trout (Salmo
trutta) odor?
• Melissa M. Moran. Effects of social
history on assessment of resource holding potential and
dominance in convict cichlids (Cichlasoma
nigrofasciatum).
• Helen L. Overmoyer. The
relationship between endoparasite load and plumage darkness
in the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis).
Class of 2001
• Jennifer J. Frietsch. Egg
production of female ring-legged earwigs, Euborellia
annulipes, mated to successful and unsuccessful males:
a test of the Differential Allocation Hypothesis.
• Tammy M. Jolly. The estrogenic
effects of soy on developing rats.
• Corey C. Rieger. Habitat preference
of predatory leeches following changes in prey
availability: the relative values of security over
nutrition.
• Briana D. Smrekar. The effects of
varying degrees of cover and visibility at feeding sites: a
test with the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile
atricapillus).
Class of 2000
• (On sabbatic leave spring 2000: no senior research
students).
Class of 1999
• Jonathan A. Gallie. The role of
experience in chemosensory recognition of predators by
tadpoles of the American toad (Bufo americanus).
• Jessica S. Hampton. The development
of the alarm call in hand-Reared Black-capped Chickadees
(Poecile atricapillus).
• Darren P. Milligan. Self assessment
in fighting behavior in the male firemouth cichlid
(Cichlasoma meeki).
• Gerald T. Pecora. Interspecific
recognition of Tufted Titmouse (Baelophus bicolor)
alarm calls and use of false alarm calls by members of its
mixed-species flock.
• Lauren P. Sims. Do the brighter
members of a school attract others to them?
• Michelle K. Surrena. Mate selection
based on mate size vs. mate resources in the convict
cichlid Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum.
• Samantha L. Witchell. Intraspecific
competition and territoriality in the Mountain Dusky
Salamander, Desmognathus ochrophaeus.
Class of 1998
• Patrick F. Capozzi. The functional
significance of the mobbing call and fear scream of the
Tufted Titmice (Baelophus bicolor).
• Aaron N. Cassisi. The effects of
pyrazines on aversions to aposematic color patterns.
• Hazen Hornyak. The effects of
chemical and visual cues on the fright response of fathead
minnows (Pimephales promelas) to a predation
event.
• Meredith Houle. The effects of
predation, protective cover,and dominance on social
foraging in Dark-eyed Juncos, Junco hyemalis.
• Jeanne Kondrich. The effects of
intrauterine position on parental care in the female rat.
• Julia Leach. Conditioned taste
aversion: the effects of prey type and generalization.
• Laura Monseau. A study of the alarm
response behavior in kin-discriminating tadpoles (Bufo
americanus).
• Noah Gregory Shuart. The survival
of fetal septo-hippocampal dissociated grafts in the
denervated rat hippocampus and effects on spatial behavior.
• Mike Straiko. The energetic
equivalence of the benefit of refuge for foraging guppies
under risk of predation.
• Arwen Vermeulen. Foraging posture
preference and shoal size in the guppy, Poecilia
reticulata.