You\u2019ve probably heard the term \u201cinvasive species\u201d before: plants and animals that have been brought to an environment they aren\u2019t native to, that then wreak havoc on that environment\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might remember hearing about the (justified) panic over emerald ash borers, the insects that have killed hundreds of millions of trees since 2002, or maybe you remember the viral \u201cmurder hornets\u201d from a couple of years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if I told you a student at UK is doing research that just might be able to predict the next invasive species?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophia Bowden, a senior biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, is doing just that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of six recipients of the 2026 Summer Sustainability Research Fellowships funded by the Student Sustainability Council and Office of Undergraduate Research, Sophia\u2019s research is focused on comparing the allometric rates of different organs within animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, allometric rate is a very technical term, but if you\u2019ve heard someone say: \u201cYour brain isn\u2019t fully developed until you\u2019re 25,\u201d then you\u2019ve heard an example of an allometric rate. In simple terms, it\u2019s how fast parts of your body develop compared to how fast your body develops. In this example, human brains have a negative<\/em> allometric rate because it isn\u2019t fully developed until after<\/em> your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Previous research has shown that several invasive species have similar allometric rates in certain organs, but that data hasn\u2019t been compiled into a single dataset yet. Sophia\u2019s research aims to do just that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since she started researching in June, Sophia has combed through hundreds of research papers and has catalogued extensive data on eighteen different organs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all of those hundreds of research papers come from modern sources. Many of them are decades old, and Sophia says they\u2019re really showing their age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPapers from thirty-plus years ago are often very inconsistent compared to what we have now, and that\u2019s been frustrating,\u201d said Bowden. \u201cBut finding a perfect research article from back in the day is worth all the hassle of analyzing the old ones.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, Sophia is only looking for data from mammals, since most allometric rate studies have been focused on them, and she says plenty can be learned from what she has already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy research reveals what gaps there are in data related to mammalian organs, which may have implications about how mammals function in their environment,” said Bowden. \u201cThere is much to know and more to find out!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ve probably heard the term \u201cinvasive species\u201d before: plants and animals that have been brought to an environment they aren\u2019t native to, that then wreak havoc on that environment\u2019s ecosystem. You might remember hearing about the (justified) panic over emerald ash borers, the insects that have killed hundreds of millions of trees since 2002, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":9299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,43],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-9297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-research","tag-research"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t