NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: A community guided assessment of parasitic threats to fish health

Allen, Raymond Lance, Boulder Junction WI

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation, located in northern Wisconsin, is home to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and to over 250 freshwater lakes containing fish, invertebrates, aquatic plants, and pathogens. The Lac du Flambeau Tribe owns and operates the William J. Poupart, Sr. Fish Hatchery, which is responsible for raising and stocking hundreds of thousands of culturally and socially important fish to lakes within the reservation boundaries and throughout the Great Lakes Ceded territory and has duties to assess fish health in the hatchery and reservation lakes. This research, in collaboration with the Lac du Flambeau Fish Hatchery, aims to increase the knowledge of infectious pathogens threatening fish in area lakes and within the hatchery at multiple stages of fish and pathogen development, and begins to address questions on the long-term health of freshwater fish populations in the region in terms of a changing climate, and human-induced changes in lakes. The fellow will broaden participation of Indigenous peoples in biology as part of the research and through activities in conjunction with the Society for the Advancement for Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING). This project will do a broad assessment of fish pathogens throughout the region to determine what pathogens are present at what severity and determine parasite host development and severity across time. The fellow will first survey harvested and trapped fish (cisco, muskellunge, shiners, walleye) organs for parasites and seasonal infections rates by microscopy and DNA barcoding. The project will also investigate known tapeworms in northern Wisconsin and evaluate how their infection levels correlate with lake classification, intermediate host presence, and fish age and size. The final goal of this project is to investigate the development and life cycle of walleye tapeworm species. The fellow will establish lab and outdoor systems to culture both Bothriocephalus cuspidatus and Diphyllobothrium latum through their life cycles to develop a place-based model system to understand parasite and host interactions. The fellow will broaden participation of Indigenous peoples in biology by hosting Native American interns and Indigenous-focused seasonal workshops and will engage long-term with the Lac du Flambeau Nation and its community members. The fellow will also continue affiliations and trainings with the Society for the Advancement for Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.