Kiyoko Gotanda
Ph. D. candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Hendry

[download Kiyoko's CV]
Contact Information:
Redpath Museum
McGill University
859 Sherbrooke St, West
Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C4
Telephone: 514-398-4086
kiyoko.gotanda{at}mail.mcgill.ca

Current Research

Broadly, my research interests are evolutionary and behavioural ecology within both freshwater and marine environments. For my PhD, I am studying spatial and temporal variation in sexual and natural selection utilizing the iconic Trinidadian guppies as my model system. My goal is to not only quantify shifts in the strength and direction of selection, but to understand the underlying mechanisms that cause these shifts. I am using a combination of field and lab experiments to further our understanding of the interaction between sexual selection (colour patterning) and natural selection (predation). From October 2010 to February 2011, I was a visiting scholar at Macquarie University where I worked with Dr. Darrell Kemp researching the visual perception of male guppy colour patterning.

<< Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Photo by Gaelan Love
Previous Research

Previously, I have researched adaptive differences between populations exposed to different environmental stressors. With Dr. Lauren Chapman, I focused on the effects of hypoxia (low levels of dissolved oxygen, “DO”) on an East African cichlid. I quantified male behaviour in fish from a low population acclimated to different levels of DO, and found fish acclimated to low DO exhibited less energetically costly behaviours. I also tested swimming performance in laboratory reared fish from high and low DO field populations under high and low DO conditions in the laboratory. I found evidence for local adaption to DO levels – fish performed best when tested under their rearing DO conditions. These results suggest how fish populations might be able to adapt to changing DO conditions, a situation expected to become increasingly common in the future.

Under the supervision of Dr. Donald Kramer, I focused on behavioural response to human predators in marine fish, specifically, parrotfishes. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a common conservation tool for coral reefs, but less is known about the efficacy of MPAs. I compared how sensitive parrotfishes are to an approaching simulated predator both within and outside the MPA. My results demonstrate that behaviour changed inside the MPA with reduced sensitivity to potential spear fishermen. Thus MPAs have considerable effects on some aspects of fish behaviour.

Education  
 
Ph.D., Biology, McGill University, Canada (2009-present)
B.Sc., First Class Honours Biology, McGill University, Canada (2005-2009)
  Honours thesis: The effects of dissolved oxygen levels on critical swimming speed in an African Cichlid

Publications
 

Gotanda, K. M., Delaire, L. C., Raeymaekers, J. A. M., Pérez-Jvostov, F., Dargent, F., Bentzen, P., Scott, M. E., Fussmann, G. F., Hendry, A. P. (in press). Adding parasites to the guppy-predation story: insights from field surveys. Oecologia.

Gotanda, K. M., Reardon, E. E., Murphy, S. M. C. and Chapman, L. J., (2012). Critical swim speed and fast-start response in an African Cichlid: convergent performance in divergent oxygen regimes. Canadian Journal of Zoology. doi: 10.1139/z2012-019.

Haller, B. C., De Léon, L. F., Rolshausen, G., Gotanda, K. M., Hendry, A. P. (2012) Magic traits: distinguishing the important from the trivial. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 27(1): 5-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.09.005

Gotanda. K. M., Reardon, E. E., Chapman, L. J. (2011). Hypoxia and behaviour in a male African cichlid. Journal of Fish Biology. 78(7): 2085-2092. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.02996.x

Gotanda, K. M., Turgeon, K., & Kramer, D. L. (2009) Body size and reserve protection affect flight initiation distance in parrotfishes. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63 (11): 1563-1572. DOI 10.1007/s00265-009-0750-5

 

Puerto Rico
Photo by Chris Rush

Awards and Scholarships



The Tetrapylons in Palmyra, Syria
Photo by Chris Rush




Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda
Photo by Chris Rush
  • Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC) Graduate Student Award of Merit, 2012
  • Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); 2011-2014
  • Society for the Study of Evolution, International Travel Award; 2011
  • Québec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS) Training Excellence Award; 2011
  • Alexander Graham Bell Doctorate Scholarship, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); 2011-2014 (declined)
  • Bourse de doctorat en recherche, Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT); 2011-2014 (declined)
  • Bourse de doctorat en recherche, FQRNT; 2010-2011
  • Principal’s Graduate Fellowship; 2010-2011
  • Provost’s Graduate Fellowship; 2010-2011
  • Lorne Trottier Science Accelerator Fellowship; 2010-2011
  • FQRNT Bourse pour le stage international through QCBS; 2010-2011
  • QCBS Training Excellence Award; 2010
  • Delise Alison Graduate Student Development Award, Redpath Museum; 2010
  • Alexander Graham Bell Masters Scholarship, NSERC; 2009-2010
  • Lorne Trottier Science Accelerator Fellowship; 2009-2010
  • Provost’s Graduate Fellowship; 2009-2010
  • Bourse de maîtrise en recherche, FQRNT; 2009-2011 (declined)
  • First Prize in Biological Sciences, McGill Undergraduate Research Poster Competition; 2009
  • Penhallow Prize in Biology, McGill University; 2009
  • Field Bursary, McGill Biology Student Union; 2009
  • Emily Ross Crawford Scholarship, McGill University; 2008-2009
  • McConnell Award, McGill University; 2008-2009
  • Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC; 2007 & 2008
  • Dean’s Honours List, McGill University; 2005-2006 & 2007-2008
 
Links

Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Photo by Chris Rush
 
 
Last update: Sept. 24, 2012