Taryn Tibbs

Author: Taryn Tibbs | Major: Biology

Hello, My name is Taryn Tibbs and I graduated in Spring 2022 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Fulbright college at the University of Arkansas. Over the course of the summer and fall of 2021 and spring 2022, I worked in Dr. Erica Westerman’s integrative animal behavior lab to test the effects of larval isolation on a female’s ability to learn mate preference in the butterfly species Bicyclus anynana.

The Lepidoptera species Bicyclus anynana has been shown to learn mate preference based on social interaction following emergence from the chrysalis, however if and how the social complexity of the larval experience affects this ability to learn is less understood. I tested the effects of isolation during the larval period on a female’s ability to learn mate preference. I created 2 larval rearing environments, isolated and gregarious, used a split family design, and ran behavioral assays to determine the relative strength of preference learning in individuals reared in isolated and gregarious conditions. Using a split family design allowed me to control for between-family genetic effects. I found that isolation did not inhibit a female’s ability to learn mate preference and gregariousness had no effect on relative strength of learned mate preference. These results suggest that social complexity experienced during development does play a role in the plasticity of mate choice learning in female Bicyclus anynana. The outcome of my experiment highlighted a number of unanswered questions and I hope in the future I will be able to answer them. I plan on going to graduate school and getting a PhD in Ecology and Evolution.

With the help of Dr. Westerman, who I met when I took her course in Animal Behavior, I gained a better understanding of academic research and the kind of career I can have. When I took her course, she showed the class her research lab and I was immediately intrigued. I asked her if she had room for an undergraduate in her lab and she thankfully said yes! We then began having monthly meetings in which we would discuss different research papers and try to come up with a topic for my thesis. She presented me with the idea that I ended up choosing and explained to me how it correlated with the other research she was doing in her lab. I liked the idea of contributing to the ‘bigger picture’ and was happy to accept the topic. She then began to train me in butterfly husbandry which I learned how much I enjoy being in the lab. Once I began my own experiment and collecting data a few issues arose, such as eggs and pupae drying out. After discussing it with my mentor and a few rounds of trial and error, we were able to fix the issue. Because of these setbacks, however, I was not able to collect as many data points as I originally thought I would. Dr. Westerman reassured me though that this is common and not to worry. With her support, the help of the other members in the lab, and the honors college grant, I was able to successfully complete my research and have experience and knowledge I will be able to use in my future pursuit in academic research.