Presentations and Publications

I am now officially committed to giving a fifteen minute presentation at the Gulf Coast Conservation Biology Symposium being held on the 28th here in town. Well, it'll actually be about ten minutes because we have to allow time for questions. I'm going to give a brief (i.e., extremely watered down) summary of how FA is used in conservation and how research needs to be improved so it can be used more effectively. That last bit is the new drum I'm beating since it is the basis for my dissertation.

So, tell me if this sounds like a young, sexy, totally amazing biologist is going to be talking with you today:

Fluctuating Asymmetry as a Conservation Tool

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), the random deviation from perfect bilateral symmetry, has been used in a variety of field and laboratory studies as an indicator of developmental stress. FA differs from other, genetically determined asymmetry types in that it can be influenced by the environmental conditions in which development occurs. FA has been investigated as a conservation tool in nearly all taxa, and many scientists conducting these studies assert that FA can be used as a general indicator of stress, i.e., different classes of exogenous stressors can cause bilateral asymmetry. One survey of the available fish literature shows that to date this claim has not been validated. One way to investigate if FA is a general indicator of developmental stress would be to expose a single species to different classes of stressor and determine if FA is exhibited to the same degree.


So? Are you ready to listen to more about my brilliant work? ::grin::

Speaking of brilliant work, my review article was rejected. It was a long shot getting it in to Biological Reviews, but it was worth a shot. When I get settled more and have a chance to get caught up in stats, I'll read the reviewers' comments, work on it some more, and resubmit it somewhere else. It's good stuff, dammit!