High-speed video of scale-biting in an adaptive radiation of Cyprinodon pupfishes
Christopher Martin, Professor
Integrative Biology
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
The physical interactions between organisms and their environment ultimately shape their rate of evolution and fitness in the wild, but we are only beginning to understand these connections between phenotype and performance. In this project, students will learn to film high-speed videos of Cyprinodon pupfishes to measure the relationship between feeding kinematics and performance. These species include one which has adapted to a novel trophic niche, lepidophagy, in which predators remove only the scales, mucus, and sometimes tissue from their prey using scraping and biting attacks. My lab uses high-speed video to film scale-biting strikes on gelatin cubes by various pupfishes and then we measure the dimensions of each bite. This requires care and attention to the behavior of the fish. Videos are analyzed by an existing machine-learning pipeline, so no computer landmarking is involved in this project. Ultimately, we use these data to measure the complex relationship between morphology and prey capture performance across different species and prey types.
Role: Undergraduates will learn to film with a high-speed video camera and record bite dimensions after each feeding strike in teams of two.
Qualifications: High enthusiasm for fishes and behavioral research, plus careful attention to detail and excellent fine motor skills.
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Related website: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/martin/