ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Courtney Reed is an author on ‘ Distinct morphological drivers of jumping and maneuvering performance in gerbils’, published in JEB. Courtney conducted the research described in this article while a graduate student in Tyler Kartzinel's lab at Brown University, USA. Courtney is now a postdoc in the lab of Deron Burkepile at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, investigating how trophic interactions generate diversity across different levels of biological organization, from individual traits and behavior to larger ecosystem processes.
Courtney Reed
How did you become interested in biology?
As an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina, USA, I majored in Economics. I loved game theory and the idea that you could use math to figure out the best strategy in a world of constraints and limited resources. However, I felt torn because none of the jobs and internships I had explored seemed like the right fit for me. One of my economics professors, Dr Jeremy Petranka, recommended the book “Evolutionary Dynamics” by Martin Nowak, and through it I began to see how the same math and theory I enjoyed learning about in economics (e.g. trade-offs, constraints, optimization) could be applied in natural systems. Around the same time, I took an elective class on physiology, and the professor, Dr Corey Johnson, loaned me a book of Stephen Jay Gould's natural history essays, which perfectly encapsulate the joy and creativity that can come from asking questions about the world around us. At that point, I was hooked, and I decided to pursue a career in biological research.
Describe your scientific journey and your current research focus
My first experience with scientific research was as a Master’s student working with Dr Hopi Hoekstra to characterize the reproductive physiology of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). The Hoekstra lab was a fantastic environment for learning to do research, and it showed me how cool outbred and wild rodents are as a study system. For my dissertation research, I worked with Dr Tyler Kartzinel to study foraging and predator avoidance in a small mammal community in Kenya. My research integrated techniques as wide-ranging as fieldwork, DNA metabarcoding and lab animal experiments to answer questions about how small mammals navigate the classic ‘eat, but don't get eaten’ trade-off. For my postdoc research with Dr Deron Burkepile, I have continued to study trophic dynamics on African savannas, but this time in a much larger organism – elephants. When elephants die, their carcasses release enormous pools of nutrients into the soil, where they are taken up by plants. This movement of nutrients has important impacts on a range of ecological properties, from plant diversity to herbivore distributions. My current research investigates these processes and their implications for savanna ecosystems.
How would you explain the main findings of your paper to a member of the public?
Survival for wild mammals often depends on locomotive performance – can they jump high enough, run fast enough or burrow deeply enough to find safety, food and shelter? The challenge is that there are biomechanical constraints on mammal morphology that make it impossible to optimize performance in all of these movements at once. There is a theorized biomechanical trade-off in jumping and maneuvering performance based on hindlimb morphology – quadrupedal mammals with longer legs should be better at jumping, while those with shorter legs should be better at maneuvering quickly around corners. This trade-off could be important for survival in mammals that have to perform both of these movements in fitness-relevant scenarios (e.g. predator evasion); however, until now, that trade-off had not been tested.
We measured jumping and maneuvering performance in a colony of lab gerbils, and to our surprise, we found no trade-off between the two. Instead, different segments of the hindlimb contributed to each movement. Gerbils with longer lower legs (ankle to knee) were better jumpers, while gerbils with shorter thighs (knee to hip) ran faster around corners. These results show us one way that mammals deal with biomechanical limitations that affect their performance in survival-relevant scenarios.
Why did you choose JEB to publish your paper?
I chose to publish in JEB because it does an excellent job of integrating concepts from functional morphology, ecology and evolution. Though my manuscript primarily tests biomechanical hypotheses, the motivation for the research was firmly rooted in ecology, and it was important to me to be able to discuss that context. I also chose to submit to JEB because when writing the manuscript, I found myself constantly citing JEB papers. Publications in this journal were instrumental in developing the ideas for my research, and I am excited that I can contribute to that body of literature.
A gerbil performing a vertical jump on a force plate, which was used to measure the force that the gerbil generated during take-off. We elicited the jump by spraying the gerbil's feet with compressed air, mimicking the ‘whoosh’ of a snake strike.
What do you enjoy most about research, and why?
I really enjoy the idea development stage of research. That period of time when I'm mulling over a new idea, diagramming potential experiments on the whiteboard, and digging through the literature to see what we do and don't know about a topic is always really exciting for me. This stage of research also tends to be very collaborative, and it's fun to bounce ideas off colleagues and see all the different skills and perspectives that people bring to the table.
What is the hardest challenge you have faced in the course of your research and how did you overcome it?
For my dissertation research, I had initially planned to collect most of my data from field experiments that required international travel. When the pandemic hit, I had to figure out how to answer the questions I was interested in using different methods (e.g. lab animal experiments, molecular labwork, research with museum specimens). Those adjustments were challenging, both intellectually and logistically, but they also led to a lot of growth as I learned to be a more flexible and creative scientist.
Do you have a top tip for others just starting out at your career stage?
My biggest practical tip is to run every step of your data analysis pipeline when you only have a few data points collected, or even sooner with simulated data. If there's something about your experimental design and the data you are generating that is going to cause problems down the road, it's best to catch that early on while you can still make adjustments. My natural tendency when I hit a roadblock is just to push through and try to get as much data as possible, but I've learned that pausing so I can reassess and make changes pays off in the long run.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I enjoy exploring new areas and spending time outside. When I lived in New England, I spent a lot of time walking in the woods with my dog, Chaco. Now that I live in Southern California, I go for walks on the beach and have tried a couple of new watersports like scuba diving and paddleboarding.
Courtney Reed’s contact details: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
