Barry Chernoff
 Professor
Campus Extension: 2452
Room #: Shanklin Lab 305
E-Mail:
BCHERNOFF@WESLEYAN.EDU
Systematics and biogeography
of fresh water fishes of Latin America; morphological evolution;
conservation of aquatic ecosystems.
Links:
Middletown Biodiversity Database
This database contains
thousands of records of organisms identified here in
Middletown by the 2007 BioBlitz [June 8 - 9] and by
residents
The Tropical Ecology & the Environment [BIOL306] class went to Guyana on
spring break in March 2006. The class was featured in Issue III [2006]
of the Wesleyan magazine at
http://www.wesleyan.edu/magazine. Below are pictures from this
trip.
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Click on the
thumbnails to view picture |
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rare golden frog |
Hyphessobrycon |
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group picture |
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Ian McLeod '07 |
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Four
Studies, Four Ecosystems
While in
Guyana, the students split into four groups to undertake specific field
studies. Each groups had to write a paper based on their study and
present their findings to faculty, administrators, and other students.
Links to the below papers are in the
article Rainforest Classroom by David Pesci at
http://www.wesleyan.edu/magazine.
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COMMUNITY ECOLOGY OF
STREAM FISHES IN GUYANA:
The group sought to learn whether they could discern statistical
differences between fish assemblages in black-water and clear-water
environments. They also wondered if assemblages in separate locations
that were within close geographical proximity to each other would be
similar. Surveys took place in the Potaro River, the Madewini River, and
tributaries of the Berbice River
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FOREST DIVERSITY
EFFECT ON LEAF MORPHOLOGY AND PLANT DIVERSITY:
The group examined the differing types and characteristics within four
distinct types of forests using transects and examining leaf morphology.
The four forest types examined were: a dry evergreen forest on white
sands; an inundated forest on a flood plain; a savannah forest; and an
upland cloud forest (more commonly known as a rain forest).
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THERMAL ECOLOGY OF
GUYANESE LIZARDS:
Students examined whether ambient temperature, air and ground, as
reflected in the body temperature of lizards, had an effect on behavior,
and if so, whether these effects varied between lizard species.
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INSECT ATTRACTION TO
FROG VOCALIZATION:
The group examined whether mosquitoes and blood-sucking flies that
preyed upon frogs were attracted to the mating calls of these frogs. The
study used insect traps placed in proximity to pre-recorded indigenous
frog mating calls, as well as control traps without sounds. |
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