J.D. Gantz on a
boat to a research site near Palmer Station, Antarctica, during an early summer
snowstorm in January 2018. / Photo by Leslie Potts
CONWAY, Ark. (September 12,
2019) – Hendrix Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. J.D. Gantz is preparing for
an unusual pause in his teaching schedule next semester. Instead of a one-week
Spring Break, he will spend five weeks studying insects in Antarctica.
Gantz traveled to Antarctica
in 2016, 2017, and 2018 as a graduate student at Miami University, thanks to a
grant his Ph.D. advisor received. The research team studied the Antarctic
midge, the only insect native to the continent. Across the three trips, Gantz
spent almost a full year of his doctoral studies at Palmer Station, a small
Antarctic research post that can accommodate just 44 people.
From Palmer Station’s location
between a glacier and the ocean, the team studied the Antarctic midge in
multiple settings. Because windy conditions discourage long distance travel,
the midge is wingless and probably doesn’t range far in its lifetime,
suggesting that localized populations of the insect are isolated from those
around them. In these studies, the team saw significant variations in the basic
physiology and development of insects within just a couple of miles of each
other.
“Each population seems to be
individually adapting to the micro-climate where they’re living,” Gantz said—which
is important when variations in sunlight, wind, snow cover, and food source can
mean that populations separated by just a few hundred feet may never experience
the same conditions. “We’re curious to see how the physiology and the genetics
vary over a larger area.”
Because their work in 2020 will
focus on how midge populations differ across larger distances, Gantz and others
in this research group will work from a National Science Foundation-contracted
icebreaker ship that will make it possible to collect insects along much of the
Antarctic Peninsula.
The grant funding this
expedition will allow a former Hendrix student to join in the trip: Jacob Idec
’19 will accompany Gantz and contribute to the research as part of the gap year
he is taking before graduate school.
The five-week cruise will
run from mid-February to late March, so Gantz’s colleagues at Hendrix will
cover his course load for that time. Gantz pointed out that that type of
flexibility doesn’t happen at every college or university. “I can’t stress
enough how grateful I am to Hendrix and to the Biology Department…. It means a
lot to be here at a place that’s so supportive of my research,” Gantz said.
Antarctic midge
photo by J.D. Gantz
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.