Biology Highlights 2016
Dr. Frank Fish published an article, “Secondary evolution of aquatic propulsion in higher vertebrates: Validation and prospect” in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology 56(6): 1285-1297 (2016). He also co-authored the article, “Functional (Secondary) Adaptation to an aquatic life in vertebrates: An introduction to the symposium” in Integrative and Comparative Biology 56(6): 1266-1270 (2016) with Dr. Alexandra Houssaye from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. These papers were part of a symposium “Functional (secondary) adaptation to an aquatic life in vertebrates” that was presented at the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM-11) in Washington D.C. (June 29-July 3, 2016) and was organized by Dr. Fish and Dr. Houssaye.
Dr. Frank Fish received a National Science Foundation grant, Collaborative Research: Scaling of unsteady locomotor performance and maneuverability (IOS-1656676; $41,797) The grant is in collaboration with Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen of the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University.
Dr. Frank Fish was a co-author on the following presentations at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics, Portland, Oregon, November 20-22, 2016: (1) “Bird beaks bear the brunt of bashing impact” co-authored with Dr. Tadd Truscott of Utah State University; (2) “Experimental measurement of dolphin thrust generated during a tail stand using DPIV” co-authored with Dr. Timothy Wei of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and (3) “Cetacean swimming with prosthetic limbs” co-authored with Dr. Haibo Dong of the University of Virginia.
Dr. Frank Fish, presented a talk “Is there a hydrodynamic limit to the swimming speed of cetaceans?” at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the Divisions of Vertebrate Morphology and Comparative Biomechanics that was held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ on October 22, 2016.
Biology graduate student William Gough presented a talk “Micro-CT scanning the cetacean tail fluke” at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the Divisions of Vertebrate Morphology and Comparative Biomechanics that was held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ on October 22, 2016.
Biology graduate student Danielle Adams presented a talk “Density patterns within the tail flukes of the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)” at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the Divisions of Vertebrate Morphology and Comparative Biomechanics that was held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ on October 22, 2016.
Biology graduate student Kelsey Tennett presented a talk “The plight of the giant inchworm: Kinematics and energetics of the terrestrial locomotion of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris)” at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the Divisions of Vertebrate Morphology and Comparative Biomechanics that was held at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ on October 22, 2016.
Dr. Frank Fish, co-authored a paper “Hydrodynamic properties of fin whale flippers predict rolling performance” that was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, volume 219, pp. 3315-3320 (2016). The paper was published with Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen of Stanford University.
Dr. One Pagán published the following with former biology students DJ Bach, M Tenaglia, DL Baker, S Deats, and E Montgomery: Cotinine antagonizes the behavioral effects of nicotine exposure in the planarian Girardia tigrina. Bach DJ, Tenaglia M, Baker DL, Deats S, Montgomery E, Pagán OR. Neurosci Lett. 2016 Oct 6;632:204-8.
Dr. Josh Auld and 9 other faculty were recognized at the first annual Spotlight on Research event held at the University Foundation on November 17, 2016. West Chester University and APSCUF leadership in conjunction with State Senator Dinniman, celebrate the outstanding research contributions of faculty, who despite having significant teaching and service loads, are contributing nationally and internally to advancing scholarship and research in their fields of study.
Dr. John Pisciotta was awarded the following grants: (1) College of Sciences and Mathematics Student Engagement Award to work with students to develop diagnostic metabolite transfer devices; and (2) Triano Faculty Development Award to study the effect of illumination and photosensitizers on microbial biofilm development
Dr. John Pisciotta and former WCU biology graduate student Jim Dolceamore Jr. published the following “Bioelectrochemical and Conventional Bioremediation of Environmental Pollutants” in the Journal of Microbial & Biochemical Technology. 8(4): 327-343.
Dr. John Pisciotta presented the following posters: (1) “Antibacterial Action of Copper Plus Blue Light” with former WCU biology undergraduate Nichole Russo; and (2) “Effect of Cathode Depth on Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell Performance” with WCU biology graduate student Paige Minka on June 19 & 20th, 2016 at the ASM Microbe National Meeting in Boston MA.
Dr. Josh Auld published the following: Auld, J. R., A. D. Helker & A. Kolpas. 2016. Consequences of mating and predation risk for longevity in a freshwater snail: Abstinence makes the heart beat longer. Journal of Evolutionary Biology in press.
Dr. Teresa Donze-Reiner published the following: (1) Frazier, T., Palmer, N., Xie, F., Tobias, C., Donze-Reiner, T., Bombarely, A., Childs, K., Shu, S., Jenkins, J., Schmutz, J., Zhang, B., Sarath, G., Zhao, B. (2016). Identification, characterization, and gene expression analysis of nb-lrr type resistance genes homologues in switchgrass. Accepted BMC Genomics. in press and (2) Scully, E., Donze-Reiner, T., Wang, H., Eickhoff, T., Baxendale, F., Twigg, P., Kovacs, F., Heng-Moss, T., Sattler, S. and Sarath, G., (2016). Identification of an orthologous clade of peroxidases that respond to feeding by greenbugs (Schizaphis graminum) in C4 grasses. Functional Plant Biology. in press.
Dr. Frank Fish presented an invited symposium talk “Secondary evolution of aquatic propulsion in higher vertebrates: Validation and prospect” at the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM11 11), held in Washington D.C., June 29-July 3, 2016. Dr. Fish co-organized the symposium with Dr. Alexandra Houssaye of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. In addition at the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Dr. Fish co-authored a presentation with Will Gough (biology graduate student) on “Physical properties of the sub-dermal fibrous layers in cetacean tail flukes.”
Dr. Frank Fish published an invited article “Hydrodynamic performance of aquatic flapping: Efficiency of underwater flight in the manta” in the on-line journal Aerospace (2016; 3(3): 20; doi:10.3390/aerospace3030020), which was part of a special issue on Flapping Wings. The article was co-authored with Christian Schreiber (former WCU undergraduate) of the Georgia Aquarium, Keith Moored of Lehigh University, and Geng Liu, Haibo Dong and Hilary Bart-Smith of the University of Virginia.
Dr. Frank Fish presented an invited seminar "Natural swimmers and the development of advanced biomimetic technologies" to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Moss Landing, CA on May 11, 2016. Dr. Fish also presented an invited talk, “Sea lion propulsion: Advantages and feasibility of bio-inspired sea lion AUV” at the Office of Naval Research Bio-Inspired Autonomous Systems Review in Arlington, VA on June 6, 2016.
Dr. Josh Auld published the following: Auld, J. R. & P. Jarne. Sex and recombination in snails. In: Kliman, R.M. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology. vol. 4, pp. 49-60. Oxford: Academic Press.
Biology Graduate Student Jon Klein and Dr. Greg Turner presented a poster entitled "Urban forest community structure, health, and carbon sequestration" at the 27th Annual Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium held at St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, April 15th, 2016.
Biology undergraduate Cheryl Mauch, Dr. Jessica Schedlbauer, and Biology undergraduate Lukas Bernhardt presented "Baseline soil pH and texture at the Mount Cuba Center’s experimental reforestation experiment, Hockessin, DE" at the 2016 Virtual Poster Showcase, American Geophysical Union, March 30-April 28.
Biology Undergraduate Student Nicole Bishop was awarded a grant from the WCU College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Fund to support her project, “Effects of Lead Toxicity on Hatching Success and Embryonic Development in a Freshwater Snail (Physa acuta).”
Dr. Frank Fish hosted program review meeting for the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) on “Bio-inspired flexible propulsors for fast, efficient swimming: What physics are we missing?” at West Chester University, PA on March 8-9, 2016.
Dr. Frank Fish and biology graduate student William Gough presented a talk “Morphological design and flexibility in the flukes of cetaceans” at the ONR-MURI Program Review Meeting: Hydrodynamics of non-traditional propulsion bio-inspired flexible propulsors for fast, efficient swimming: What physics are we missing? held at West Chester University, PA on March 8-9, 2016.
Dr. Frank Fish made a presentation “Natural swimmers and the development of advanced biomimetic technologies” to the 7th grade class of the Village Community School in New York City, NY on March 10, 2016.
Dr. Frank Fish has his research on the Humpback whale tubercles and Mantabot on exhibit in “The Machine Inside: Biomechanics” that is currently at the Boston Museum of Science. The exhibit, which was created by the Field Museum, Chicago, will be on display at various location through 2020.
Dr. Jessica Schedlbauer published the following: Schedlbauer, J.L., L. Nadolny, & J. Woolfrey. 2016. Practising conservation biology in a virtual rainforest world. Journal of Biological Education DOI:10.1080/00219266.2015.1117510
Dr. Frank Fish published a book chapter titled “Hydrodynamics” in the book Marine Mammal Physiology: Requisites for Ocean Living from CRC Press (2016). The chapter was co-authored with Dr. Jeremy Goldbogen of Stanford University and Jean Potvin of St. Louis University.
Dr. Frank Fish presented the paper “Flexibility of the flukes of free-swimming cetaceans” at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology that was held in Portland, OR on January 3-7, 2016. The paper was co-authored with WCU graduate students Will Gough and Kelsey Tennett, WCU, undergraduate student Danielle Adams, and Dr. Judy St Leger of SeaWorld. Also at the meeting, Dr. Fish co-authored the papers “Assessment of swimming records for thunniform propulsors”, which was presented by WCU undergraduate student Danielle Adams and co-authored with WCU undergraduate student Griffin Lewis, “ Physical properties of the sub-dermal fibrous layers in cetacean tail flukes”, which was presented by WCU graduate student Will Gough, “Kinematics of terrestrial locomotion of northern elephant seals”, which was presented by WCU graduate student Kelsey Tennett and co-authored with Daniel Costa of the University of California Santa Cruz, and “Effects of fluke flexibility on flow modulation in orca’s steady swimming”, which was presented by Yan Ren and co-authored with Dr. Haibo Dong of the University of Virginia.