Jason Cartwright

Author: Jason Cartwright | Major: Biology | Semester: Spring 2024

This year, I’ve been researching the learning ability of caterpillars in Dr. Erica Westerman’s lab. More specifically, I’m looking at whether female larva of the butterfly Bicyclus anynana can learn to prefer mating with one phenotype of males over the phenotype they typically prefer to mate with. Research in insect larvae, especially their ability to learn, is a very under-researched topic, and this research will help us better understand many caterpillar systems. Some of these systems include their ability to see and recognize patterns, learn to prefer said patterns, and remember what they learn as caterpillars through metamorphosis into adulthood.

This project has been a few years in the making. I originally met Dr. Westerman in spring of 2022, when I approached her about doing research in the lab. One of the lab’s focuses is animal behavior and animal development using insects, which are both animals I find fascinating and subjects that pique my interest, so it was only natural that I was interested in doing research in the lab. I was fortunate that I met Dr. Westerman early on, which has given me ample time to learn about the field and find my own research question to answer. I would absolutely recommend anyone interested in undergrad research to not wait around, and to proactively look for someone researching something you find interesting as early on. This way, you have enough time to learn about your field, research, and write. Many faculty members are interested in undergrads who want to sink their teeth into research.

I started working with Dr. Westerman in the fall of 2022. At this point, we focused on learning to read scientific literature, and looked for gaps in the current understanding of insect behavior that I could research. This is how I settled on larval learning. Through a semester of reading, I learned that insects could retain some memories, such as associative learning (think Pavlov teaching a dog to drool when it hears a bell), across metamorphosis. This made me curious to know if caterpillars could learn a mating preference in B. anynana, where females learn to prefer a male with more eyespots if they’ve been exposed to these males as younger adults. After settling on this question for my research, I then worked with Dr. Westerman to come up with a methodology to test this question. That semester taught me an awful lot, from how to read and interpret scientific papers, to how to design experiments. The next step was to learn how to work in the greenhouse where our butterflies are kept and to do preliminary runs of the experiment, all of which took place in spring of 2023. That leads to this year, where I spent the 2023/2024 academic year running experiments and writing.

This year of experimentation has not come without challenges. One of the biggest challenges is simply how much time this project takes. To answer my question, caterpillars need to be raised from eggs to adults with varying exposure to other adults, a process that takes around a month. This means that every month, we can usually get 3-5 data points of the 45 required to run good analysis. A hefty feat, but one that can be accomplished only because I started early. Once again, a good reason to try and start doing research as early as you can if you’re interested in it. The way this design works also leads to a cycle where I spend about 4 weeks maintaining caterpillars and watching them grow, followed by a very rapid week of testing mating preferences in female butterflies. This hectic week leads to someone needing to be at the greenhouse every day to run assays. This would be a very time-consuming task, especially with classes, but fortunately a grad student in the lab, Yi Ting Ter, has very generously been helping me out during these (as I dub them) assay weeks, doing many of the tasks that need to be done during the week sometimes without me even needing to ask! I am truly lucky to have such supportive people in the lab to help me run experiments.

I absolutely wouldn’t be anywhere I am now without the help of my mentor, Dr. Westerman. She has had such a huge role during my time at the University of Arkansas since I asked to join the lab. She’s taught me how to read and write like a scientist, has introduced me to faculty both inside and outside of the university (some of whom I’ve done other research projects with) and has helped me every step of the way for the past 2 years. From meeting weekly to check up on my progress, to reading and editing tens of drafts for my thesis, to being super quick to respond to the various questions I ask about everything and anything, I’m incredibly fortunate to have a mentor who I can rely upon as much as I do, and who trusts me with my research.

My next step for this project is simply to do more research. I plan to spend the summer of 2024 working on my research project, and assisting other people in the lab with their own projects where I can. Then in the fall I’m excited to teach one of my juniors some of the techniques that I’ve learned this past year, as she’s doing a project with a similar design to my own. Beyond that, it’ll be research, attend a conference, and graduate! I don’t know where I’ll be after that, but I’m grateful for the time I’ve spent so far in the lab and being able to grow as a person and a scientist.