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Essay Overfishing Experience

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Growing up in Minnesota, I spent extensive time fishing amongst the states’ ten thousand lakes, inquisitively examining how the environment influenced aquatic organisms. By examination, my understanding of the underlying biology behind nature greatly increased, and likewise did my ability to catch fish. However, many environmental factors influenced the ecosystem, inexplicably creating great fishing one day but failure the next. In disbelief of my bad luck, I contended with explaining such unpredictability in the ecosystem. After combining bathymetry, weather, and GPS data into a geographic information system application , my next fishing trip was wildly successful. Ever since, I became fascinated by exploring how elements relate within a …show more content…

My initial research experience explored the relationship between chromosome structure and plant population morphology with Dr. Changbin Chen in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. Dr. Chen’s researches plant cytogenetics to discern the molecular genetic pathways in meiotic recombination with Arabidopsis and horticultural crops. Beginning as a field and greenhouse assistant, I attended laboratory meetings to gain exposure to experimental design and molecular genetics techniques, such as genome editing techniques with …show more content…

Chen encouraged concurrent enrollment in his graduate-level plant cytogenetics course, teaching advanced microscopy and chromosome analysis techniques. Following both experiences, we collaborated on an undergraduate research grant, winning the highest award for our directive. Over twelve weeks, I investigated a four-chromosome grass species, Zingeria biebersteiniana, containing only one linear chromosome per meiotic gamete. I spent the summer independently preparing microscopy slides for fluorescent in-situ hybridization to reveal novel DNA configurations. Although unpublished, we discovered one plant with stunted growth and apomictic asexual reproduction, indicating novel chromosome

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