UAA student and graduate researcher Emily Lescak publishes research article in December 2010 'Global Glimpses'

Emily Lescak, M.S., a UAA/UAF Ph.D. in Biological Sciences student and UAA Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) graduate researcher, had a research article published in the December 2010 issue of "Global Glimpses." This is the newsletter of the UAF Center for Global Change & Arctic System Research, which formerly awarded Lescak a student research grant.

Lescak's article, "Advantages and Disadvantages of Being Armored: Threespine Stickleback in Wallace Lake, Alaska," examined the factors determining stickleback body armor variation: predation by non-native sport fish (trout) and dragonfly larvae (naiads), overwintering stress and mineral ion availability. In addition, Lescak's research article discussed the effects of stickleback body armor variation on survival rates.

Stickleback are small fish found throughout the northern hemisphere. These fish are of particular interest to scientists because of their prevalence, the ease with which they may be studied, and their ability to quickly adapt to changes in their habitats.

Lescak works in the research laboratory of Dr. Frank von Hippel, professor in the UAA Department of Biological Sciences and Faculty Fellow for ENRI. The von Hippel laboratory studies problems in ecotoxicology, rapid evolution and speciation, behavioral ecology, trophic ecology, biogeography and conservation biology using the stickleback as a model system.