Groton Student Semi-Finalist in National Science Talent Search
A Groton Sixth Former has been named a semi-finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, one of three hundred students nationwide to receive the recognition.
Isabel “Zizi” Kendall ’17 earned the Regeneron distinction with her report, “Canaries in a Coal Mine: An Analysis of Genotypic and Phenotypic Variation in Populations of Red Back Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in Eastern Massachusetts as an Indicator of Ecosystem Resilience.”
Translation: Zizi, working with environmental science teacher David Black, analyzed the impact of various environmental factors on the salamander populations near Groton’s boathouse and nearby Lake Romeyn.
Translation: Zizi, working with environmental science teacher David Black, analyzed the impact of various environmental factors on the salamander populations near Groton’s boathouse and nearby Lake Romeyn.
The Groton community was not entirely surprised when Zizi made the list of Regeneron scholars. Academic enthusiasm and determination have characterized her years at Groton. “Zizi has taken advantage of a large number of our science courses and has excelled in all that she has taken,” says Dr. Black. “She’s absolutely passionate about science.”
Zizi and Dr. Black spent much of last spring and summer scouting out salamanders in Groton’s woods. The project continued during a fall Faculty Sponsored Activity (FSA). Zizi said that of about eighty salamanders they brought into a Groton science lab for analysis, they collected genetic material from sixty-five. Zizi also measured the amphibians’ length and mass and noted their color, which can correlate to the temperature of the environment in which they developed.
During the research, one unexpected development was last summer’s drought. Searching for moisture, the salamanders burrowed more deeply in the dry soil and became harder to collect. Many specimens that Zizi gathered showed signs of starvation.
Things improved with early fall rains, but not before Zizi had adapted her project. “Originally, I was going to look at genetic variations between the two populations,” says Zizi, who plans to study neurobiology and behavioral economics at Harvard next year. Because of the drought, she added new data points about soil content and rain, focusing more on how the environment affected the health of the individual salamanders.
Things improved with early fall rains, but not before Zizi had adapted her project. “Originally, I was going to look at genetic variations between the two populations,” says Zizi, who plans to study neurobiology and behavioral economics at Harvard next year. Because of the drought, she added new data points about soil content and rain, focusing more on how the environment affected the health of the individual salamanders.
Zizi concluded from her study that more genetic diversity within a species will be important to adaptability and survival, especially in the case of future summer droughts. And, she adds, “the relationship between precipitation and salamander body condition index—how fat they are—suggests that in the coming years, as summer droughts become more frequent and rain levels decrease even more, salamanders in the area will suffer greatly.”
Though Zizi was intrigued about the data and the conclusions they suggest, she found the process most valuable—as she puts it, “to learn more about how to do things than about the things themselves.”
Zizi had been thinking about entering the Regeneron competition since Third Form, after Dr. Black casually mentioned the contest during a parent conference. Two years later, she began brainstorming in earnest. During the summers after Fourth and Fifth Forms, and during one spring break, Zizi assisted in a stem cell research lab at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, which provided background and experience that helped with her salamander project.
Semi-finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search receive a $4,000 award, half of which goes to the school. Groton expects to use the proceeds to purchase data loggers, which will be placed at the study sites and allow Advanced Ecology students to continue the collection of salamander data.
Another Grotonian, Steve Cho '11, made it to the final forty in this contest in 2011, when it was known as the Intel Science Talent Search. He studied the environmental impact on beetle populations, comparing the bugs in Groton’s town forest to those on the Boston Harbor Islands.
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