Current Centre College class of ‘23 member Idris Irihayme recently was awarded first place in the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS) 2021 Annual Meeting for their research project entitled “Morphological Plasticity of Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans) and Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) as Indicators of Eutrophication Levels. The meeting was held virtually this past November, 2021.
Irihayme, who hails from Lexington, Kentucky and is a member of the Brown Fellows Scholarship program, is an environmental studies major on the natural science track. For this particular project, Irihayme’s research was developed from a summer program they partook in titled Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at EKU, or Eastern Kentucky University. This program was organized by the National Science Foundation. Irihayme worked with EKU’s associate professor of biology, Cy Mott, and other graduate students in order to study ecology and amphibian morphology. The group researched the ways in which the development of green frog and wood frog tadpoles are influenced by varying amounts of exposure to fertilizer. This was done through the use of computer software to measure dissolved nutrient levels of entrapped and counted field tadpoles. A minimum of three wasp incidents were carried out as well.
As evidenced by this research, Irihayme has a great interest in attempting to explore and understand better sustainability methods for the environment. They particularly enjoy studying the ways in which wildlife is imitated within and impacted by agriculture. As a Kentucky native, they understand how general environmental health can be discerned from amphibians, an aspect that was combined with humanity’s influence through agriculture on the environment in this research project. As quoted in the Centre College newsletter, on the topic of research, Irihayme states that “‘I could say that research has taught me to see patterns and solve problems, and that’s true, but research has taught me more the importance of valuing my time, boundaries and knowledge. . . Research has also shown me how much the world relies on interconnectivity.’”