Aquatic facilities for research animals

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The University of Windsor provides fertile ground for collaborative research and this is especially true of those of us that use fish as experimental animals.  Fish are used both for those using selected species to answer fundamental questions in ecology and evolution and for those researchers using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model system for vertebrate development.  Currently, each researcher at Windsor has designed holding facilities to suit their needs but, as we expand, these resources are being overtaxed.  We are requesting funds to allow more precisely controlled rearing and holding of our experimental species.  Holding facilities are being requested for three separate species, due to different specific requirements, but many of the investigators on this proposal will be involved in research on more than one species.  The requested facilities will allow variable photoperiod control for examination of reproductive mechanisms in an invasive species, and also allow separation of different strains and families for evolutionary and genetic analyses.   The specific questions to be asked range across evolution and ecology down to cell signalling and molecular biology.  The requested infrastructure will allow better rearing and housing of the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive species of great concern in Canadian waters.  This will aid determination of environmental controls on breeding and survival in an effort to develop mitigation strategies.  Other researchers will use a portion of the requested infrastructure to begin work on the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a species that has great potential for answering evolutionary questions of interest to many at Windsor.  Finally,  a third piece of infrastructure is being requested to support work on zebrafish.  Zebrafish are a powerful model organism due to their rapid reproductive rate, well characterized genome, and plethora of mutants for molecular biology. To properly expand our collaborative research in zebrafish we need higher density zebrafish culture facilities, as described herein.  This will further foster collaboration between researchers in sensory biology, ecology, and molecular biology to answer questions at the forefront of science.