MSC. THESIS - GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS AS A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING TOOTH DEVELOPMENT EVOLUTION
Mammalian dentition provides vital insights into mammalian ecology and evolution. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on attempting to understand developmental patterns of heterodonty and the origin of different dental classes (incisors, canines, premolars, and molars). Literature suggests that morphogenetic patterning exists in the dental primordium to determine dental classes. However, these models treat dental classes as discrete modules as opposed to integrated units.
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For my masters thesis, I am attempting to use geometric morphometrics to generate a generalized landmark scheme for studying integration and modularity in mammalian dental development. This landmark scheme aims to elucidate patterns of developmental integration using cusp morphology.
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See article of my work at https://science.ucalgary.ca/news/bite-out-history
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN BAT WING MORPHOLOGY – VARIATION AMONG FORAGING STYLES
Bats are the only flying mammals. As such, they occupy a wide variety of niches that are only fillable by the flying order. Recent studies have been interested in using morphometric analysis to determine if there were significant differences in wing morphology among different foraging guilds and between sexes. In our study, we find that there is an unexpected lack of difference in wing shape between foraging guilds. This suggests there is likely a behavioural component of wing morphology that enables bats to access such a wide variety of resources.
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I set up, ran, and analyzed all geometric morphometric analyses for this project. Additionally I assisted in writing, editing, and responding to reviewer comments.
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Citation:
Maucieri, D.G., Ashbaugh, A.J., Theodor, J.M. 2021. Sexual dimorphism in bat wing morphology – variation among foraging styles. Canadian Journal of Zoology. Accepted for publication.
BSC. HONORS THESIS - GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS AND SPECIES DISCRIMINATION
Species discrimination is a field with many complications. These complications are accentuated when considering the fossil record. In addition to the lack of genetic material, the depauperate fossil record prevents absolute certainty in species identification methodologies.
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Multituberculates are extinct Mesozoic Mammaliaformes that are currently known as the longest lived mammalian clade. Despite this long record, there is still extensive debate about species discrimination methodologies, especially when considering size and shape based discrimination methodologies.
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For my undergraduate thesis, I worked with Dr. Jessica Theodor and Dr. Craig Scott to use 2D geometric morphometrics in attempt to resolve some of this issue. I used a recently developed methodology to test whether size based or shape based methodologies were better at discriminating some species of Multituberculates.
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Results were presented at the following conferences:
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Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology 2019
(Brisbane, Australia)
Prairie University Biology Symposium 2018
(Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Alberta Paleontological Society 2018
Calgary, Alberta
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Citation:
Ashbaugh, A.J., Scott, C., Theodor, J.M. 2021. Size versus Shape; An Investigation into Neoplagiaulacid Multituberculate Species Discrimination using 2D Geometric Morphometrics. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. IN REVIEW.
BENEFITS OF COURSE BASED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (CURE'S)
Undergraduate research experiences are now common place in most biology courses. But few studies have investigated what skills of science are retained after the completion of these experiences.
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I was part of research team interested in quantifying the relative gain of skills across several different biology courses using survey data. Results showed that different formats of CURES show different skills being developed, but regardless of the CURE type students were always developing beneficial skills in science.
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Results were presented at the following conference:
Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research international conference (SABER; 2020)
(Online)
PEER MENTORING DEVELOPMENT IN ZOOLOGY COURSES
Peer mentors, otherwise referred to as learning assistants, are undergraduate students who are recruited by faculty members to assist in the instruction of a post-secondary class. Typically, these students are enrolled in a communications based class that helps develop their metacognitive skills about mentoring and guiding students. These students typically go though a very transformative story arch of development, very similar to one of the "heroes quest" as described by Joseph Campbell.
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The literature is full of characters that should be developed in peer mentors as they go through a semester, but is lacking in an integrative study that focuses on how different peer mentors, or mentoring archetypes, can fully achieve their best potential as peer mentors.
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I am collaborating with Dr. Mindi Summers and Dr. Kyla Flanagan in order to better understand the journey that introductory peer mentors go through in STEM courses at the post-secondary level.
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Results have been presented at the following conferences:
Senior peer mentor annual symposium 2018
(Calgary, Alberta)
STUDENT EFFICACY IN USING DRAWING AS A LEARNING TOOL IN ZOOLOGY COURSES
"A pencil is one of the best eyes"
- Lousi Agassiz
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Drawing is a common place technique in zoological research in order to better understand the relationships between form, anatomy, and function of a given animal. One could suggest that zoology students should be naturally drawn to drawing as a tool to study for courses and classes. However, this is not often the case seeing as many students feel they lack the artistic ability to fully utilize drawing as a study tool in zoology.
I have collaborated with Dr. Mindi Summers, Natasha Morden, and Dr. Jessica Theodor in order to qualitatively describe student efficacy towards drawing in zoology in attempts to understand methods of integrating drawings into the classroom that benefit both the student and instructors.
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Results have been presented at the following conferences:
Conference on post-secondary teaching and learning 2018
(Calgary, Alberta)
COMMUNITY ECOLOGY AND HIGHER ORDER INTERACTIONS
Understanding how a community of different organisms interacts is important for understanding the impacts of humans on the world around us. By studying interactions of species on the micro scale in microcosms, we can make predictions about larger scale communities that we can't easily replicate in the laboratory.
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I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Jeremy Fox's lab who was studying higher order interactions at the community level. Higher order interactions are the indirect interactions that occur between species. In most community ecology studies, higher order interactions are modeled via pairwise competition coefficients, but sometimes these can lead to inaccurate predictions of community dynamics.
ASSESSING LONG TERM HYDROLOGY OF SHALLOW PRAIRIE LAKES IN ALBERTA
I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Leland Jackson's lab that focuses on sampling and analysis of shallow prairie lake ecology. Limnology is important in understanding aspects of prairie hydrology and limnetic ecology. This work included maintenance and sampling of shallow prairie lakes as well as world class research streams housed at the advancing Canadian wastewater assets (ACWA) facility in south Calgary.
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RE-DESCRIPTION OF MACROPIS NUDA DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR BASIN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
During my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to complete a project in phylogenetics regarding the only known Canadian species of a particular bee genus, Macropis. New specimens were found in the western interior basin of British Columbia at the time of this study. The traditional range of the species is in eastern Canada, but we conducted phylogenetic analyses on the available specimens and calculated phylogenetic distance.
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Results presented at the following conferences:
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Annual Invertebrate Biodiversity Symposium 2017
(Calgary, Alberta)
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