Andrew Is Going To Iowa, And A New Abstract

Andrew heard from Iowa earlier this week, offering him admission to their Doctoral program in Evolutionary Biology. They also offered a generous stipend. So, Andrew will be heading off to Iowa City later this summer. It really is good news!

Andrew is also entered in a state-wide contest of university students who have done research projects. He'll present our gill parasite work to the judges and an audience on Tuesday, April 6. Below is the Abstract, which is very similar to what we're writing up for publication.

Seasonality and Reproductive Impact of Dactylogyrus Gill Parasites upon the Minnow, Notropis telescopus.

Dactylogyrus is a holarctic genus of trematode flatworms that infect the gills of cyprinid fishes. Dactylogyrus species are usually highly host specific, and little is known about their life history. The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine whether Dactylogyrus exhibits seasonality in its life cycle, and if there is any effect upon reproductive effort of the host as a result of Dactylogyrus infection. We examined 383 Telescope Shiners, Notropis telescopus, collected from February to September, 2007, and October, 2008 to January, 2009, finding a total of 967 flatworms, Dactylogyrus spatulus. Parasite counts yielded a peak in the average number of parasites present per fish in May, a significant relationship between host length and infection, and a negative correlation between higher parasite load and gonadosomatic index (GSI). Parasites per fish averaged about 1.5 from August to February, with an average high of just under 6 per fish in May.