Brian Darby, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Project: Mitochondrial lineages of North Dakota deer and their associations with chronic wasting disease
Mentor: Brian Darby, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Location: Department of Biology, Starcher Hall
Description: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is one of the most significant threats to the deer, elk, and moose populations in North Dakota. The disease is always fatal to members of the deer family and recent evidence suggests that high infection rates can lead to long-term population declines. North Dakota is now at a critical point in time concerning the management of this disease. A variety of "best management practices" have been proposed, but not thoroughly tested at a landscape level. The objective of this project is to identify family lineages in North Dakota deer and determine if any lineages are associated with chronic wasting disease. The REU student will sequence a portion of the mitochondrial genome in deer tissue collected from around the state of North Dakota, identify the main mitochondrial lineages in the state, and determine if any of them have either a spatial or statistical association with chronic wasting disease in the state.
Project: Soil health benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program
Mentor: Brian Darby, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Kathryn Yurkonis, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Location: Department of Biology, Starcher Hall
Description: The Conservation Reserve Program is a Federally funded program that contracts with agricultural producers to convert marginal or environmentally sensitive pasture and cropland to a perennial cover mix of grasses, forbs, and legumes for 10 to 15 years. The goal of this voluntary program is to improve soil health and prevent erosion on the acres enrolled. Enrollment is also though to improve water quality by reducing nutrient runoff, and also improve critical habitat from waterfowl, songbirds, pollinators, and other wildlife. The objective of this research project is to quantify the soil health benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program. The REU students that take part in this project will assist in the laboratory with processing soil samples and conducting soil health assays, such as microbial respiration, substrate use profiles, enzyme activities, and plant-available nutrient pools. Depending on interest and experience, some students may also have the opportunity to travel with a field crew to multiple states, measure vegetation cover, and collect soil samples from several dozen CRP enrolled fields and non-enrolled croplands. The students will also learn how to graph and analyze the data they collect to characterize trends in soil health metrics over time and between enrolled and non-enrolled fields.
