Update
Now Archived! PolarConnect event with Jenn Baldacci and "Team Squirrel" from Toolik Field Station in Alaska. You can access this and other events on the PolarConnect Archives webpage.
What Are They Doing?
Predicting how species might alter their annual timing in response to rapid environmental change, including climate change, is constrained by insufficient knowledge of the endogenous mechanisms animals use to keep time, the cues used to adjust timing, and the extent to which programmed seasonal cycles are physiologically plastic. This study will investigate the mechanisms that underlie plasticity in the seasonal induction of the neuroendocrine signals that trigger the termination of hibernation and onset of reproduction in ground squirrels.
Where Are They?
Latest Journals
Jennifer Baldacci was born in Chicago and grew up in Florida, where she developed a love of nature. She studied Biology at Florida State University, followed by master's degrees in Entomology and Ecology from UC Davis and Boston University. Throughout her studies, she had amazing opportunities to do field research with excellent instructors in both temperate and tropical climates. She later worked as a zookeeper in Boston and as an endangered bat consultant.
After an inspiring year of traveling around the world, Ms. Baldacci decided to become a teacher to share her interests in science with others. She has been teaching for ten years and works at the International School of Basel in Switzerland, where she enjoys teaching 8th grade Science and high school Biology and Chemistry to students from over 50 nationalities. She works hard to be a positive role model for her students, and to encourage them to become passionate learners. Ms. Baldacci is excited to have the opportunity to work with Team Squirrel in the Arctic to remind her students that there are always new discoveries to be made.
Cory Williams is currently a research assistant professor at Northern Arizona University. His research examines the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that allow animals to cope with environmental change. Specifically, he is interested in the functional and ecological significance of circadian rhythms in arctic vertebrates and the factors underlying plasticity in the timing of annually recurring life-cycle events. Ultimately, the capacity of polar animals to adjust their timing in response to changing environmental conditions, either through phenotypic plasticity or microevolution, will be an important determinant of their resilience to climate change.