Wheaton awarded vernal pool research grant
The Merck Company Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have jointly awarded Wheaton $60,000 to support interdisciplinary research on vernal pools with students in chemistry and biology during the next three summers.
The Merck Company Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have jointly awarded Wheaton $60,000 to support interdisciplinary research on vernal pools with students in chemistry and biology during the next three summers.
Wheaton was one of only 15 colleges and universities in the nation to receive one of the prestigious grants.
Biology, chemistry, biochemistry and environmental science faculty at Wheaton contributed to the successful proposal providing funding for Wheaton's Vernal Pool Research Team. The funding will help expand and enhance the team's work, while highlighting the interrelationship of biology and chemistry and its effectiveness in promoting student/faculty research collaborations.
''We hope to add to the small but growing store of knowledge about these environmentally sensitive and important bodies of water,'' said Professor of Biology Barbara Brennessel. ''At the same time, the work we'll accomplish with this grant will highlight the interrelationship of biology and chemistry and its effectiveness in promoting student/faculty research collaborations.''
Brennessel and her students are assessing the genetic diversity of salamanders that breed in vernal pools to test whether the local environment and pool chemistry have an effect on breeding patterns.
The multiyear project will support a variety of faculty and student initiatives, including the study of water and soil chemistry of these seasonal bodies of water and an inventory of invertebrate species in pools on campus and on nearby Cape Cod.
''We will be testing whether differences in chemical and environmental conditions affect the number and diversity of organisms,'' said Brennessel. ''Our mutual goal is to test the hypothesis that specific chemical and environmental factors have an impact on number and genetic diversity of the species that inhabit these seasonal bodies of water.''
Other Wheaton faculty participating in the project include Professor Jani Benoit (chemistry), Professor Herb Ellison (chemistry), Professor Shawn McCafferty (biology), Professor Kathy Morgan (psychobiology) and Professor Scott Shumway (biology).
The Merck Company Foundation, established by Merck & Co., Inc., has the mission of advancing biomedical science training and education, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.
