Dr. Reznick discusses learning, teaching and research opportunities that he has encountered while studying wild guppies in natural and laboratory environments.

You conduct research on species and processes that, historically, were not commonly studied in laboratory environments. How did your early career and interests lead you to develop new laboratory protocols with guppies?

I began my PhD research with mosquitofish and developed most of my protocols working with them. They are a less common lab fish so less was known about keeping them in a controlled environment. They were relatively hard to work with, so when I switched to guppies I discovered that I could shift my research to a higher gear.

I began this research in the mid-1970s, studying the evolution of life histories. This was a popular area of theoretical inquiry in evolutionary biology and it was a growing topic for empirical research. I identified two features of the state of this empirical research that I felt I could improve upon. I applied a statistical design to the way I sampled natural populations, and I added a laboratory component when making comparisons among populations. I hoped that by rearing fish in a common lab environment I could explore how genetic background and local adaptation effect differences among populations.

What kinds of learning experiences do your laboratory studies provide to your undergraduate research assistants?

The students get an introduction to the aspects of evolutionary theory that motivate our field research in Trinidad, which complements our lab research. They get a textbook-level introduction to the theory and learn to read the primary literature. I want them all to appreciate that what we learn in the lab is integrated with ongoing research about how animals adapt to the real world. At the same time, students learn about how experimental laboratory research is executed. They learn about animal care, which means getting to know our research organisms and being able to recognize when they are doing well or when they may require special attention. At times, particularly when we are bringing new populations into the lab, this means learning about pathology and medication.

Your work integrates field-based studies and collections with lab-based experiments. What advice would you give to researchers who hope to incorporate natural populations or other traditionally 'wild' elements into lab-based experiments?

It is really important to pay special attention to mastering lab animal care. For my lab, this means taking advantage of the large and sophisticated industry devoted to keeping tropical fish. Similar industries exist for reptiles and amphibians and some insects. If there is no such prior history of captive rearing of your intended study organism, then it would pay to devote as much time as needed to learning how to rear them before embarking on any experiments. It is important to learn how to recognize a healthy animal and what its environmental and nutritional requirements are. When working with wild-caught animals it is also important to gain some basic knowledge about parasites, pathogens and how to treat them. This knowledge is essential when bringing new stocks into the lab, and there should be a 'quarantine' protocol for screening and treating recent arrivals for diseases.

It is also a good idea to get to know your animal in its natural environment so that you can evaluate its growth and reproduction in the lab relative to what is typical of natural populations. This knowledge becomes critical if there are statistical interactions between the environment and the dependent variables you are trying to quantify in the lab.

Is there anything else you would like to share with Lab Animal readers?

I suspect that I represent a relatively small minority among scientists who use animals in laboratory research, as my lab work is paired with work in natural environments to characterize differences among natural populations. A more common goal with lab animals is to use experiments to probe how animals work, but there is common ground between these two endeavors. We have learned that different populations within a species can be very different in their fundamental biology, ranging from behavior to neuromuscular performance to morphology, physiology and all features of the life history. Many forms of lab animal research are blind to this remarkable diversity because they focus on domesticated organisms. It is well worth considering the possible virtues of working with lines that are closer to their natural roots but also incorporating some form of natural genetic diversity in your research program.