My summer project gave me a lot of experience in handling fly stocks, carrying out mating experiments, and experimental design

“I’ve been fascinated by nature since early childhood; from collecting and breeding ladybirds in jam jars, to raising butterflies to learn about their lifecycle and studying chicken embryo development — I’ve always had an animal-related project on the go! Since coming to Sheffield to study Zoology, I have become enthused by evolution and behaviour. Sexual selection was always one of my favourite topics in lectures, and therefore the perfect area for my SURE scheme to be in. I found out about my project from an academic, whom I had originally approached about the 301 (another) SURE scheme.

“My project was focused on two North American populations of fruit flies (D. montana), believed to be in the early stages of becoming new species, making them an interesting system for studying speciation. The first part of my project involved creating 14 different crosses between and within the populations, as well as crossing hybrids back to the populations. By seeing what proportion of the eggs laid in each cross hatched, I was able to investigate postzygotic barriers to reproduction — critical to the formation of new species. I also tested some predictions of the Dobzhansky-Muller model with my many different crosses, which produced interesting results! This project gave me a lot of experience in handling fly stocks, carrying out mating experiments, and experimental design.

I’ve always had my eyes set on a career in research, and this SURE scheme has given me an excellent insight into life as a PhD student, and life in research as a whole.

Tobit. Dehnen

MBiolSci Zoology

“For the second part of my project I investigated the investment in reproductive tissues by the two populations, as an indication of differing strengths of sperm competition between the two populations. This greatly improved my dissection skills, as well as furthering my statistical and R abilities. My results went against the predictions of my supervisor’s previous work, and may help to build a clearer picture of the nature of sperm competition within and between these two populations of fruit flies.

“I’ve always had my eyes set on a career in research, and this SURE scheme has given me an excellent insight into life as a PhD student, and life in research as a whole. My supervisor was always on hand to give me advice and a helping hand if need be, but gave me the freedom and responsibility to allow me to develop as a researcher. I learned so much during these six short weeks: from data analysis, to experimental design, and how much work goes into the simplest of experiment. This was a superb opportunity to gain valuable research experience, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in postgraduate research.”