Feature

Forest fires spurs student to study effects on Black Bear populations

Heather Alexander's life has always been about her love for animals. After high school, she initially decided to pursue a degree in Veterinary Medicine. This pursuit changed when she realized that she would have to dissect freshly killed animals. Her love for animal life presented a dilemma; should she kill to learn how to save? She decided to save and changed majors!

Upon completion of her first year of college, Heather was accepted into the Laboratory's Undergraduate Student Program. During her first summer she worked with the wildlife biologists in ESH-20 and transferred to the Bioscience Division the next year. During her tenure as an undergraduate, she participated in a variety of research experiences. She bubbles with enthusiasm when she speaks about being out in the field collecting samples, collaring elk, and tracking mountain lion. In the lab, she began to learn how to isolate DNA from scat and hair samples, something that was not offered in her course work. As Heather learned the problem with isolating genomic DNA from scat is that there is an incredibly high amount of bacterial DNA present, which makes it difficult to pull out the genomic DNA from the specific animal. Because of this, Heather began modifying the amount of reagents used in PCR and the number and lengths of the denaturing, annealing, and extending cycles to increase her chances of amplifying the genomic DNA.

During her UGS days, Heather was twice awarded with outstanding student worker awards and was selected to give presentations to scientists at Sandia National Laboratory. In addition she was given the opportunity to publish a number of articles, both collaborative work with Laboratory scientists and her own.

Upon graduation from the University of New Mexico with a BS in microbiology and genetics, Heather applied for and was accepted into graduate school at New Mexico State University and into the Laboratory's Graduate Research Assistant Program. The mountains surrounding Los Alamos had just undergone a devastating forest fire and the community and wildlife were having to adjust to a new environment. Heather made a decision that would focus her future studies and research efforts to combine her love for the outdoors and wildlife and her knowledge of genetics. She proposed to conduct a study of the effect of forest fires on the migration and feeding habits of the Black Bear populations inhabiting the Cerro Grande and the Vivatch wildfire areas in northern New Mexico. She completed the first sample collection phase in December, 2002 and is finishing up her DNA isolations while at the same time returning to school to complete her final coursework. This summer she plans to complete the second and final collection and analysis phase and then will begin writing her thesis.

Heather credits her parents and her grandfather for making her study of science possible. "They have been a source of encouragement and have always motivated me to do my best. I have been fortunate in that I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest biologists in the country while at Los Alamos and was able to attend an international conference on genetics held this past November in Canada. Thank you Los Alamos."

In addition to her research and studies, Heather has also pursued diving for entertainment and has made numerous dives in Hawaii the past two winters.