{"id":12635,"date":"2019-08-29T09:56:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T13:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=12635"},"modified":"2023-04-21T11:05:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T15:05:33","slug":"from-seal-whiskers-to-fish-cels-graduate-student-is-getting-in-touch-with-sensory-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/research-profiles\/from-seal-whiskers-to-fish-cels-graduate-student-is-getting-in-touch-with-sensory-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"From Seal Whiskers to Fish, CELS Graduate Student is Getting in Touch with Sensory Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
CELS marine biology graduate student Aubree Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure> <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever accidentally placed your hand on a hot stove, you know just how important our sense of touch is. But for other animals like fish, their survival depends on their ability to sense vibrations and currents underwater. As a College of Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) marine biology graduate student, this is exactly what Aubree Jones seeks to understand through her research in sensory biology. \u201cIt\u2019s referred to as touch-at-a-distance,\u201d says Jones, whose research on the mechanosensory lateral line system of freshwater fishes gained her a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. \u201cYou could liken it to whenever someone turns on a fan across the room and you feel the air movement. It\u2019s the same sort of thing, just at a much finer, more sensitive level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 journey as a marine biologist began in the least expected place: the land-locked state of Oklahoma. As a high school student at an underfunded public school in Tulsa, her teachers encouraged her to pursue her interests in STEM, which led to a career in marine biology. \u201cMaybe it was a way to get out of Oklahoma for a bit. It was definitely a way for me to go out and see the world,\u201d Jones recalls. \u201cI loved the ocean when I had the chance to visit it a few times. I just really loved ocean life and was really fascinated by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones dove right in and began conducting research in a lab during her freshman year in the marine biology program at Texas A&M University at Galveston. It was there where she discovered her unexpected passion for sensory biology, the basis of her undergraduate thesis. \u201cWhich was actually on seal whiskers,\u201d Jones says with a laugh. Seals are able to find fish to eat by using their whiskers to detect paths of underwater turbulence left behind by a fish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aubree Jones presenting her undergraduate research<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones, a graduate student in Dr. Jacqueline Webb\u2019s lab, now focuses on the development of sensory systems in trout and minnows. Similar to seal whiskers, fish use a sensory system known as the lateral line to detect flows underwater that are generated by prey and predators. Understanding the variation in the development and how different species use this sensory system has some very important implications. In a recent study, trout raised using aquaculture methods were shown to develop differences in their lateral line systems compared to wild trout, which may affect their ability to sense flows underwater. \u201cUnderstanding how this sensory system is developing could affect the survival of the fish and how successful fish are when trying to reintroduce them,\u201d Jones says. Additionally, as waterways become cloudier as a result of global change and increased pollution, fish are forced to rely less on sight and more on other senses to survive. Through understanding differences in the lateral line system among fish species, Jones\u2019 research will help understand the increasing threats to fish populations in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 dedication to her research has paid off. Last spring, the National Science Foundation (NSF) recognized Jones as a Graduate Research Fellow, a highly competitive award that includes funding to cover three years of her education plus an annual $34,000 stipend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found out I was very excited and very, very honored to have received the award,\u201d says Jones of the NSF fellowship. \u201cYou pretty much get one shot. It\u2019s kind of high stakes.\u201d That\u2019s because graduate students are only allowed to apply for the fellowship once during their graduate career.<\/p>\n

From the high school teachers who nurtured her dream of becoming a research scientist to the support of her fellow graduate students within the CELS community, Jones recognizes how important it is to connect with others in academia and to ask for help when you need it. \u201cMy experience with this department and my old department at Texas A&M is that people are a lot warmer and more willing to help than they may seem,\u201d she says. \u201cJust ask for the assistance, and at some point in your career you\u2019ll be in the position to return the favor. That\u2019s something that I\u2019m trying to do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever accidentally placed your hand on a hot stove, you know just how important our sense of touch is. But for other animals like fish, their survival depends on their ability to sense vibrations and currents underwater. As a College of Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) marine biology graduate student, this is exactly what Aubree Jones seeks to understand through her research in sensory biology…Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profiles","category-research-profiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17449,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12635\/revisions\/17449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}