Vincent Cassone studies the molecular and physiological mechanisms by which the biological, circadian clock regulates complex behavior and other rhythmic processes on a daily and seasonal basis. Currently, the laboratory has two major research focuses. One of these is based on the main campus and investigates the role of the circadian clock in the aging gastrointestinal system, funded by the National Institute on Aging. The other, based primarily at ERF, addresses circadian and seasonal control of avian behavior and reproduction. We (former post-doc Gang Wang and graduate students Jiffin Paulose and Clifford Harpole) have found that the pineal gland, through the circadian secretion of the hormone melatonin, is necessary for the expression of circadian patterns of bird song in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata (Wang et al. 2012) and for the temporal precision of seasonal changes in bird song behavior (Wang et al. in press) and in brain structures associated with song in house sparrows, Passer domesticus (Cassone et al. 2008; Paulose et al. unpublished). In addition, graduate student Clifford Harpole is studying the effects of timed song playback on sleep-wake cycles in zebra finches. New projects include a study of photoperiodic control of reproduction in domestic turkeys, funded by the USDA, with new post-doctoral fellow Dr. Ashli Moore; and the effects of anthropogenic light on the circadian patterns physiology and behavior in house sparrows, a project started as part of the NSF REU, and in two species of swallows, in collaboration with Dr. Caryn Cooper of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Dr. Margaret Voss at Syracuse University.

Philip Crowley Philip Crowley has 3 main ERF research projects: one considers pollinator attraction in closely related endangered and non-endangered plants; another addresses the activity and foraging behavior of honeybees; and the third investigates herbivory of tall fescue defended or not by endosymbiotic fungi. The pollinator attraction studies are a collaboration with Patrick Calie (Eastern Kentucky University, Biological Sciences) to compare volatile emissions and pollinator responses for the endangered goldenrod Solidago shortii to those of its more abundant and widespread congeners (see Calie et al. 2006), using field plots to be established at ERF. This links with the bee foraging project, in which a graduate student is characterizing bee foraging on flowers of various plants, including the two goldenrod species. The fescue study will be conducted in plots at ERF in collaboration with high-school students. We will attempt to measure rates of herbivory on plots containing different mixtures of fescue cultivars and detect shifts in composition using PCR analysis-in collaboration with Pat Calie, Chris Schardl, and Rebecca McCulley.

The research of Stephen Dobson at ERF includes monitoring the invasive Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and additional mosquito species using traps that capture mosquito adults and eggs. With a recent Experimental Use Permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, Lexington will be a location for open releases of A. albopictus males that are infected artificially with Wolbachia pipientis bacteria and are thus cytoplasmically incompatible (CI) with the indigenous population (Suh et al. 2013). Repeated releases of the artificially-infected males will cause CI and early embryonic arrest in the indigenous A. albopictus population (O'Connor et al. 2012, Bourtzis et al. 2013, Mains et al. 2013). Ongoing monitoring of the mosquito population during this 'species sanitation' exercise will test the predicted species shift within mosquito breeding sites. Collaboration with additional ERF researchers allows evaluation of indirect effects of these releases on non-mosquito species, including predators and competitors of mosquitoes in aquatic systems.

Scott Gleeson's lab's research at the Ecological Research Facility centers on plant adaptations to multiple environmental factors, including morphological and physiological trait variation and plasticity. The current ongoing project is part of a larger study exploring the ecological characteristics of species native to the Inner Bluegrass ecosystem, about which much has been written but little is known with certainty (Wharton and Barbour 1991). Twelve native tree species are planted in a field experiment manipulating both resource competition and herbivory (bottom up vs. top down forces) to compare performance and trait expression across species. This experiment is a reduced version of a larger experiment established at the Griffith Woods site in Harrison County, conducted in collaboration with John Cox and John Lhotka (UK Forestry). The trees at ERF are important in allowing more detailed measurement and supplemental manipulations infeasible at Griffith Woods. This work tests fundamental ecological theory and provides guidance for restoration efforts in a unique but globally endangered landscape (Cox and Crowley 2007).

Rebecca McCulley has a project at ERF exploring whether a fungal endophyte symbiont (Epichloë coenophiala) alters the ability of an invasive grass, tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus), to persist and compete in native tallgrass prairie restorations. Three old fields/pastures at ERF were restored to native tallgrass prairie vegetation in 2010 and 2011. In early summer, 2012, within each of these restored prairies, we planted individuals of cultivar 'Kentucky-31' tall fescue that were either fungal endophyte infected (E+) or endophyte free (E-). Paired plots (2m ×2m) of nine individuals of each endophyte status type were planted in each prairie. These individuals were planted straight into the existing vegetation, with minimal disturbance. The following fall we planted additional paired plots of a different tall fescue cultivar ('Texoma') that were endophyte free or infected with one of two different strains of endophyte (common toxic or a non-toxic, 'novel' strain - AR584). In total, each prairie has five plots, with the three prairies being the field replicates (n=15 plots in total). We are monitoring basal area, numbers of tillers, and herbivory on these individuals, as well as mortality. Our hypothesis is that E+ individuals will compete better with the native vegetation, in part by experiencing lower herbivory, than surrounding E- individuals. This research is a natural extension of similar projects in the McCulley lab located throughout the state of Kentucky and within the tallgrass prairie region of North America (e.g., Hall et al. 2012, 2014). The project has involved two NSF-funded REU undergraduate students (Dawn DeColibus, Eric Kalosa-Kenyon), one M.S. graduate student (Ben Leffew; UK Integrated Plant & Soil Sciences), and two full-time technicians (Jim Nelson, Elizabeth Carlisle).

Craig Sargent has been investigating the behavioral and evolutionary ecology of the invasive western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, at EREC for the past 10 years. The recent focus is on the spatial ecology of the cosmopolitan western mosquitofish versus that for the headwater endemic species G. geiseri, with extramural collaborators Raelynn Deaton (St. Edwards University, Austin TX) and Rob Hopkins (University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande OH), three NSF-REU summer interns, four UK summer undergraduate interns, and three high school interns. Over the last 5 years, we have found the following:

1. We examined the effects of female body size on dispersal direction. Smaller first year females tend to disperse upstream, whereas larger second year females tend to disperse downstream.
2. We examined the effects of predation and sexual conflict on microhabitat choice, and found that sexual harassment by males drives females out of refuge, and that males are more tolerant of predators than are females (see the following video).
3. We examined the effects of female body size on personality. Larger females are less social and more likely to inspect predators than smaller females.
4. We examined the effects of female personality on dispersal group size. We found that social predator avoiders tend to form larger dispersal groups than asocial predator inspectors, and that smaller groups tend to disperse upstream, whereas larger groups tend to disperse downstream.

Now, we are exploring further how body size and personality determine how fish assemble into dispersal groups, and how the individual personalities of group members affect group behavior. In particular, we wish to identify whether there are "keystone" individuals within groups that have a disproportionately large effect on collective behavior, e.g. dispersal direction, of the group.

The research of David Westneat at ERF has used captive flocks of house sparrows in semi-natural conditions to study a variety of social and reproductive behaviors. The aviary studies complement and extend work done on a nearby population of free-living sparrows. Past work in the aviaries focused on the role of plumage signals in social interactions and alternative hypotheses about their development, including the effects of diet and the impact of early social experience (Poston et al. 2005, Stewart & Westneat 2010, 2011, 2013). Current NSF-funded work in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Fox at Transylvania University aims to understand unexplored patterns of variation and covariation in parental care (Westneat et al. 2011). They have developed an assay of foraging skills that can be used on captive subjects with known histories of parental care, allowing tests of hypotheses about cognitive abilities and parental care. In the near future, teams comprised of UK and Transylvania students will conduct experiments using controlled feeders in both free-living and captive subjects. These studies will test whether heterogeneity in care is a byproduct of decisions about mean behavior or is adaptive management of stochastic variance. A novel experiment in which two hormones will be manipulated will test alternative hypotheses about the underlying endocrine mechanisms that influence phenotypic variance in parental behavior.

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