Former Yale Graduate Student and Postdoc, Torrance “Torrie” Hanley, carried out part of her research in the MSCG Lab. While here she was interested in Daphnia life history and stoichiometry, in particular the effects of manipulating resource quantity/quality and predator presence/absence on Daphnia life history response and elemental composition. Her research included a lab experiment to tease apart the interaction of these often opposing forces, a mesocosm experiment to test these interactions in the field, and a comparative study of lakes to examine the applicability of these results in a unmanipulated context. She hoped to link genetic variation in intergenic spacer length (a marker thought to be related to growth rate) to Daphnia life history response and stoichiometry, thus adding a molecular perspective to an ecological question.
Dr. Torrance Hanley is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at Northwestern University.
Publications: Walsh, M.R., DeLong, J.P., Hanley, T.C., and D.M. Post. 2012. A cascade of evolutionary change alters consumer-resource dynamics and ecosystem function. Proc. R. Soc. B. 279:3184-3192 doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.0496