Getting to conduct field research in Portugal has been a highlight of Paige Au’s time at Brock.

The third-year Biological Sciences student spent three months in Portugal studying the Iberian lynx, a mid-sized wild cat native to Portugal and Spain that is classified as being an endangered species.

Raahavi Ramathesun, a Biochemistry graduand, dove into undergraduate research through her work on the Trinidadian guppy, a tiny, freshwater fish that lives in streams in Trinidad.

Au and Ramathesun are two of many Brock undergraduate students pursuing research in areas that have captured their interest.

“Independent research projects during your undergrad provide excellent opportunities to synthesize and apply what you have learned in the classroom to real-world experiments,” says Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Kiyoko Gotanda, who supervised both Au and Ramathesun’s work.

“These experiences form the essence of science as students engage in all aspects of the scientific process,” she says. “Undergraduate research opportunities that I experienced sparked my interests in ecology and animal behaviour and were instrumental in my decision to pursue a career in research and academia.”

For Ramathesun, a research career wasn’t on her mind when she first started her degree in Biochemistry. In her third year, she decided to focus on evolution in her honours thesis.

“I looked at all the research at Brock and found Dr. Gotanda’s work very interesting,” she says. “I contacted Dr. Gotanda, who introduced the different research I could do and Trinidadian guppies stood out for me.”

Ramathesun’s undergraduate thesis involved continuing Gotanda’s research on whether different populations of male guppies change colour the same way in the presence of predators.

After examining data Gotanda gathered in previous experiments, Ramathesun found that the guppies didn’t have a similar change in colour among different populations in response to predators.

She and Au presented their research at the undergraduate student conference Ontario Biology Day, held Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24 at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Take any opportunity you can to learn through research,” she advises. “Share your experiences because that’s how you learn as well.”

Ramathesun says she’s considering a career in academia thanks to the many research topics she was introduced to through the conference and her research with Gotanda.

Au has long been passionate about conserving wildlife. She says she realized she could best improve ongoing conservation efforts by conducting research in the field and approached Gotanda for advice.

Gotanda encouraged Au to apply for the Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), funding offered through the federal government’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Au received an USRA in 2023 and went on to study female lynxes at the National Breeding Centre for the Iberian-Lynx in Silves, Portugal, last summer to see if they increased visits to denning sites, a behaviour believed to be linked to pregnancy.

While Au and her team didn’t find a clear pattern of consistent behaviour to indicate that female lynxes were pregnant, her analysis of present and past data for individual lynxes revealed that behavioural changes could indicate pregnancy depending on the individual lynx and the year.

Au’s undergraduate research experience is paving the way for a future master’s degree and career in animal conservation.

“Reach out to potential faculty members you’re interested in working with because there’s always a possibility you could end up doing amazing work or discovering a new passion for research,” she says.