Project contributions
I contributed to the following scientific projects during my education. These
were extra-curricular, as a way of gaining wider experience.
Smith DT, Hosken DJ, Rostant WG, Yeo M, Griffin RM, Bretman A, Price TAR,
ffrench-Constant RH & Wedell N. 2011. DDT resistance, epistasis and male fitness
in flies. J Evol Biol 24, 1351-1362.
- This experiment involved an intense two week period of mating trials. I helped
with this at short notice. The work involved transferring single male flies
into vials containing females, then observing how long it took for mating to
begin, and how long it lasted, then removing the males after mating had
finished. These females had already mated, and by measuring time to mating we
could assess the effect of the previous male’s ejaculate on female
receptivity.
- Link
Sharma MD. 2010. Sexual selection in Drosophila simulans. PhD Thesis. UK:
University of Exeter.
- The majority of my lab volunteering was spent helping with this thesis. Tasks
included making food vials, washing old food vials, transferring and
collecting flies, running longevity assays, assisting with data analysis and
generally keeping things organised. I and another undergraduate were put in
charge of maintaining reproductive lines of flies in sexual and non-sexual
selection environments (i.e. multiple or single males)
- Link
Smith DT. 2010. Sex peptide evolution and the impact of selfish genetic
elements. PhD Thesis. UK: University of Exeter.
- I assisted with mating trials (see above authorship) and transferred flies to
new food vials
- Link
Cook HF, Cutting RL & Valsami-Jones E. 2017. Flooding with constraints: water
meadow irrigation impacts on temperature, oxygen, phosphorus and sediment in
water returned to a river. J. Flood Risk Manage 10, 463-473.
- I recorded various data that were being collected from water channels in
Wiltshire water meadows
- Link