The Warkentin Lab - Undergraduate Research

SUMMARY: Internships are for 3 months of field research at the Gamboa Field Station of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama with Professor Karen Warkentin of Boston University and Professor James Vonesh of Virginia Commonwealth University. They include a monthly stipend, funds for travel to the field site, and shared housing in Gamboa. We will hire 2-3 summer interns (~June-August, exact dates negotiable) annually until at least 2010. We sometimes also hire fall interns. The research entails laboratory work in Gamboa and field work at local ponds with frog eggs, tadpoles, and metamorphs, and their natural enemies. Interns will be trained in animal behavior, evolutionary and population ecology, and tropical herpetology, and mentored on career development. The Smithsonian offers a diverse and intellectually rich international scientific community in a tropical rainforest environment. BACKGROUND: Members of the Warkentin laboratory study predator-prey interactions and plastic anti-predator defenses in red-eyed treefrogs (and some other frogs). Red-eyed treefrogs hatch early to escape from egg-eating snakes and wasps, metamorphose early in response to predaceous giant water bugs, and delay metamorphosis in response to semi-aquatic spiders that eat froglets. Field research in 2008-2010 will address how the consequences of plastic 'choices' at different life stages accumulate over the life cycle, and the relative importance of plastic responses to predators vs. direct predation mortality for population processes under different ecological conditions.

TRAINING: The interns will gain practical research experience, including participating in large collaborative experiments and conducting individual observations and/or experimental research. They will learn a substantial amount about the behavior, ecology, and natural history of leaf-breeding treefrogs and their natural enemies. They will also gain experience with appropriate methods for collecting and handling all of the animals to be used in the experiments, and with analytical methods and scientific computer software. Daily interactions with the Warkentin/Vonesh team will build a strong theoretical framework for the research, including the fundamentals of experimental design. The Gamboa Frog Seminar series, and well as seminars at STRI in Panama City will add breadth to their understanding of behavior, ecology and evolution and, more generally, tropical biology. This background, combined with the opportunity to make personal natural history observations and to discuss ideas with members of the Warkentin lab, should position the interns well to develop an individual research project after the internship. ELIGIBILITY: Summer interns will include a US citizen or resident undergraduate student and a citizen of a Latin American country (student or recent graduate). Fall interns, when we have them, do not need to have undergraduate status. This internship is not designed for students in graduate school or people with graduate degrees. We encourage Latin Americans to apply.

Details: Living/working in Gamboa (download pdf)Some intern questions & answers (download pdf) Technical summary of project, 2008-2010 (download pdf)

FOR MORE INFORMATIONContact Professor Karen Warkentin: kwarken@bu.edu

Application forms & information for Summer 2010 will be posted here soon (probably NOVEMBER 2009).

Interns will be selected based on merit, potential for the experience to benefit the intern, and potential for the intern to benefit the project. We will consider academic training and skills relevant to research as well as personal suitability for working under field conditions and living in shared accomodations in Gamboa. We strive to create a diverse, congenial, and productive team each field season.

Research Internships in Panama Ecology, Evolution and Behavior of Leaf-breeding Treefrogs For each year from 2008-2010 we will fund one or two US citizens or resident undergraduates and a Latin American student as summer interns on a project studying "Fear, death, and life history switch points: cumulative effects of predation and phenotypic plasticity across three life stages." We are not yet accepting applications for summer 2010 internships. We will post information about how to apply this fall – CHECK BACK HERE IN NOVEMBER. We are not offering fall internships in 2009. We may offer fall internships (open to recent graduates) in future years. In general, we also sponsor student applications for summer internship funding from: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute internships for Latin American Students (STRI deadline Feb. 15) and Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program awards (for B.U. students only). Depending on space availability, we may consider prospective interns who have their own funding from elsewhere or who wish to volunteer.

Intern Graziela Biavati (2007) conducting field work at night with red-eyed treefrogs			Red-eyed treefrog tadpole and giant water bug (above); metamorph below
SUMMARY: Internships are for 3 months of field research at the Gamboa Field Station of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, in Panama with Professor Karen Warkentin of Boston University and Professor James Vonesh of Virginia Commonwealth University. They include a monthly stipend, funds for travel to the field site, and shared housing in Gamboa. We will hire 2-3 summer interns (~June-August, exact dates negotiable) annually until at least 2010. We sometimes also hire fall interns. The research entails laboratory work in Gamboa and field work at local ponds with frog eggs, tadpoles, and metamorphs, and their natural enemies. Interns will be trained in animal behavior, evolutionary and population ecology, and tropical herpetology, and mentored on career development. The Smithsonian offers a diverse and intellectually rich international scientific community in a tropical rainforest environment. BACKGROUND: Members of the Warkentin laboratory study predator-prey interactions and plastic anti-predator defenses in red-eyed treefrogs (and some other frogs). Red-eyed treefrogs hatch early to escape from egg-eating snakes and wasps, metamorphose early in response to predaceous giant water bugs, and delay metamorphosis in response to semi-aquatic spiders that eat froglets. Field research in 2008-2010 will address how the consequences of plastic 'choices' at different life stages accumulate over the life cycle, and the relative importance of plastic responses to predators vs. direct predation mortality for population processes under different ecological conditions. TRAINING: The interns will gain practical research experience, including participating in large collaborative experiments and conducting individual observations and/or experimental research. They will learn a substantial amount about the behavior, ecology, and natural history of leaf-breeding treefrogs and their natural enemies. They will also gain experience with appropriate methods for collecting and handling all of the animals to be used in the experiments, and with analytical methods and scientific computer software. Daily interactions with the Warkentin/Vonesh team will build a strong theoretical framework for the research, including the fundamentals of experimental design. The Gamboa Frog Seminar series, and well as seminars at STRI in Panama City will add breadth to their understanding of behavior, ecology and evolution and, more generally, tropical biology. This background, combined with the opportunity to make personal natural history observations and to discuss ideas with members of the Warkentin lab, should position the interns well to develop an individual research project after the internship. ELIGIBILITY: Summer interns will include a US citizen or resident undergraduate student and a citizen of a Latin American country (student or recent graduate). Fall interns, when we have them, do not need to have undergraduate status. This internship is not designed for students in graduate school or people with graduate degrees. We encourage Latin Americans to apply. Details: Living/working in Gamboa (download pdf)Some intern questions & answers (download pdf) Technical summary of project, 2008-2010 (download pdf) FOR MORE INFORMATIONContact Professor Karen Warkentin: kwarken@bu.edu Application forms & information for Summer 2010 will be posted here soon (probably NOVEMBER 2009). Interns will be selected based on merit, potential for the experience to benefit the intern, and potential for the intern to benefit the project. We will consider academic training and skills relevant to research as well as personal suitability for working under field conditions and living in shared accomodations in Gamboa. We strive to create a diverse, congenial, and productive team each field season.
Intern Sandra Galeano (2006) studying tadpole growth under field conditions in Ocelot Pond

• Warkentin Lab Homepage • Biology Department, Boston University

Research Internships in Panama

Ecology, Evolution and Behavior of Leaf-breeding Treefrogs