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Jennifer Clarke 1956- |
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How did Jennifer Clarke become interested in studying animals? |
Jennifer Clarke was born on February 3, 1956, in Gallipolis, Ohio. Growing up in this rural area with two older sisters, she recalls always being around animals and being fascinated by their behavior. Raccoons got into the garbage cans at night, deer passed by their house, and birds twittered and preened at the bird feeders. The whole family enjoyed spending time outdoors, and Jennifer's parents took the girls on many trips to the mountains in the western and eastern United States. Jennifer particularly enjoyed being around animals in their natural environment. As she grew up, Jennifer talked about her interest in working with animals. Several people suggested that she consider being a veterinarian. While this sounded interesting to Jennifer, she was not sure she wanted to work inside in an office most of the time. She most enjoyed being outdoors and observing animals in that environment. When she was 15, she first heard the term zoologist and learned that a zoologist is a person who studies animals. From that time on, Jennifer knew she would become a zoologist. She began reading all the books she could find on animals and nature. She was especially intrigued by Jane Goodall's work on the behaviors of chimpanzees. Ms. Goodall worked in Africa, watching the interactions of families of chimpanzees with each other. Jennifer was excited to discover a woman doing the type of work she hoped to do someday. Jennifer also credits her parents for encouraging her career plans. Her father is a physician — a scientist —and her mother is an artist — an observer. |
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Where did she go to school?
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After graduating from high school, Jennifer went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she majored in zoology. She especially loved learning about animal behavior and ecology. After she received her bachelor’s degree in 1978, she took a very special trip to the
Galapagos Islands. She says visiting each island was like "turning the pages of an animal behavior text!" That fall Jennifer moved to Missoula, Montana, to begin work on her master's degree at the University of Montana. Her area of study again was zoology, with an emphasis in the behavioral ecology of animals. As she took courses and began reading research studies in animal behavior, she learned that several zoologists had noticed that nocturnal animals appeared to be less active on nights when there was a full moon. However, no one had studied this closely to determine whether or not this was really true, or to consider why this might be the case. Are predators more successful at catching prey on nights when there is a full moon? Could it be that prey decreased their activity on full-moon nights to minimize their chances of being caught by a predator? Jennifer decided to make these questions the basis of her master's research project. She found that, indeed, predators are better at catching prey when the moon is full. This study led to her continuing research on the effect of moonlight on a variety of behavioral interactions, including predator-prey interactions, among nocturnal animals. |
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Where did she go to school to earn her Ph.D.? |
Jennifer enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Washington State University at Pullman, studying zoology with an emphasis in population ecology and behavioral ecology. She had already decided that, for her dissertation research, she wanted to observe animals in their natural environment, not in a laboratory setting as she had for her master's degree study. Her research advisor at Washington State was interested in territoriality among ptarmigan, which had been introduced into the California Sierra Nevada Mountains near the University, and he needed a graduate student to pursue this project. Jennifer happily accepted the challenge. | |
| What was her first assignment? | Jennifer enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Washington State University at Pullman, studying zoology with an emphasis in population ecology and behavioral ecology. She had already decided that, for her dissertation research, she wanted to observe animals in their natural environment, not in a laboratory setting as she had for her master's degree study. Her research advisor at Washington State was interested in territoriality among ptarmigan, which had been introduced into the California Sierra Nevada Mountains near the University, and he needed a graduate student to pursue this project. Jennifer happily accepted the challenge. | |
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What is a Ptarmigan? |
Ptarmigan are birds that live in alpine (that is, mountainous) environments. One reason that Jennifer likes studying ptarmigan is that they accept having observers around them. This makes them good “study animals.” As Jennifer began studying the ptarmigan in the Sierras, she discovered that they were so spread out that they really did not exhibit any territorial behaviors. At first she was disappointed — it seemed she did not have a project after all. Then she decided, "I'm a trained observer. So I'll observe these birds and see what they do." Jennifer found that the ptarmigan did two things: They ate and they slept. She decided that watching them eat would be more interesting than watching them sleep, so that's what she did. As Jennifer watched, she made an interesting observation: The ptarmigan in the Sierras ate only two different kinds of plants. Jennifer went back to the research literature on ptarmigan foraging (eating) behavior. According to the literature, ptarmigan ate many different kinds of plants. Why were the ptarmigan in the Sierras eating only two kinds of plants? This led to the two major questions of Jennifer's doctoral research: were the ptarmigan native to the Sierra Nevadas, that is, had they lived there at some time in the past and died out before being reintroduced? If they were not native to the area, were they having a detrimental effect on the environment? She eventually determined that the ptarmigan were not native to the Sierra Nevadas, but they were also not having a negative impact on that environment because they ate only the most abundant plants in the area. Jennifer is still interested in ptarmigan behavior and continues to study them in Rocky Mountain National Park near her home in Colorado. |
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Barriers she encountered during her pursuit of academic or career objectives. |
Jennifer says that she has encountered some barriers in her career. She was one of only four women in her Ph.D. program, and none of the professors in the program at that time were women. Because of this, she felt somewhat discouraged and isolated while working on her degree. As a result of that experience, she is especially happy that she can serve as a role model for the undergraduate and graduate women that she teaches at University of Northern Colorado (UNC.) | |
| Does she have any advice for students interested in science careers? | Jennifer Clarke explains that her career today requires being a keen observer and applying scientific methods to her observations. | |
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Where is she working now? |
While she was completing her dissertation, Jennifer applied for and was offered a faculty position at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley. She began teaching and doing research at UNC as an assistant professor of zoology. Steve took a postdoctoral research position at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, near Greeley. In 1993, Jennifer was promoted to associate professor of zoology and, in 1994, Steve also joined the faculty at UNC as assistant professor of zoology. Today, Jennifer and Steve live in Greeley with their two dogs, Nicky and Holmes; their two cats, B.G. and Angus; and several snakes. | |
| What is her latest area of research? | Jennifer continues doing research with her graduate students on the effects of moonlight on the behaviors of nocturnal animals and on the behaviors of ptarmigan in Rocky Mountain National Park. She has also begun a new area of research: How do animals communicate with each other without letting predators know where they are? She and several of her graduate students have discovered that prey animals, such as the coati (similar to a raccoon; with a longer body and tail, and a long, flexible snout) and the flying squirrel, communicate with each other using ultrasound. Jennifer looks forward to asking many more questions about animal behavior, and discovering their answers, as her career continues! | |
| Hot Links: Here are some websites you can check out! |
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| Careers in Animal Behavior |
http://www.sicb.org/careers/animal.php3 Profiles of over 35 careers in animal science, from veterinarian, to lab technician, to genetics researcher. |
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| What is Zoology? |
http://www.tcd.ie/Zoology/text/research.html#anchor227185 Overview of the field of zoology from the Trinity College, Dublin University http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmnh/zoology.htm http://www.wfu.edu/albatross/index.htm |
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| Who is Jane Goodall? | http://www.janegoodall.org/ Learn how chimpanzees communicate and what inspired Jane Goodall to begin her research. |
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| What are the Galapagos Islands? |
http://whyfiles.org/125galapagos/ http://www.darwinfoundation.org/misc/kids/kids.html "Kid's Korner" web site with lots of pictures. |
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