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Field of study
Behavioral ecology
Advisor
Earl Werner
News
Brower Fellowship awarded
Jess Middlemis Maher is the 2009 recipient of the Helen Olsen Brower Memorial Fellowship in Environmental Studies from EEB, which is awarded annually to a graduate student working in applied sciences for the conservation of natural resources. The prestigious award provides one semester of fellowship funding for stipend, tuition and benefits. Sally and Caspar Offutt, Jr., endowed this fellowship in tribute to Sally's mother who graduated in biology in 1917 from the University of Michigan. Brower led a vigorous public life touching on wide-ranging endeavors from politics to war relief. She invariably found her greatest satisfaction with projects involving the outdoors.
Maher’s research program measures the effects of the environment on individual health and fitness in amphibians, especially the effects of early experiences on later-life behavior and physiology. The 2008 Brower fellows were: Emily Farrer, Aley Joseph, Amanda Zellmer and Maher (this is the second consecutive year Maher has been selected).
Maher wins NSF DDIG
Jessica Middlemis Maher will receive a doctoral dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation for her project "Local adaptation of stress physiology in Rana sylvatica."
Middlemis Maher’s research focuses on understanding the fitness effects of generating a stress response to predator presence, and subsequent adaptation of that response under different environmental conditions. Chronically "stressing out" is usually costly for an organism, but the circumstances under which that cost would outweigh the benefit are poorly understood.
“I use wood frog tadpoles for this research, since they develop in ponds that contain varying densities of invertebrate predators and they produce stress hormones in response to chemical cues of predator presence,” she said. “In addition to gaining a better understanding of the adaptive consequences of responding to stressors, the results from this research will provide some insight into how amphibians in particular are able (or unable) to cope with chronic environmental challenges.” Her work is done primarily on the E. S. George Reserve. She receives $8,000 beginning June 1, 2009.
And the poster prizes go to…
Zach Miller, Ph.D. candidate, and Jessica Middlemis-Brown, Ph.D. student, are the winners of the Young Scientists Symposium poster session.
Miller’s topic was “The diversity of fungal pathogens infecting host plant species as a function of plant species range and morphology: phylogenetic independence and the pace of community assembly.” Middlemis-Brown’s research topic was “Density-dependence in the terrestrial stage of the wood frog, Rana sylvatica.” The symposium speakers judged the contest. The awards are $1,000 for the candidate, $500 for the student, to help with research-related expenses.
Select publications
Middlemis-Brown, J.E., E.D. Johnson and M.S. Blumberg. 2005. Separable brainstem and forebrain contributions to ultrasonic vocalizations in infant rats. Behavioral Neuroscience 119(4):1111-1117.
Blumberg, M.S., E.D. Johnson and J.E. Middlemis-Brown. 2005. Suppression of ultrasonic vocalizations by beta-adrenoceptor agonists. Developmental Psychobiology 47:66-76.
Blumberg, M.S., J.E. Middlemis-Brown and E.D. Johnson. 2004. Sleep homeostasis in infant rats. Behavioral Neuroscience 118(6):1253-1261.
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