My post high school goals include: PhD in Biology or Genetics 

STEM courses I have taken: Honors Biology, Honors Integrated Math I, and II, Human Growth and Development, Honors Chemistry, Honors Integrated Math III and Honors Scientific Research. I am currently enrolled in: Honors Physics, PreCalc, and Honors Scientific Research 

Current research overview: 

This year, I am continuing and improving upon my research from last year.  Just this past August, a new study was released by a Chinese research team that also looked at glyphosate-induced anxiety in crayfish. This study used a longer exposure time, which made me wonder if different exposure lengths might cause differential behavioral effects in crayfish, since the Chinese team saw different results than I did last year. Because of this newly published study, I am wondering if the length of exposure causes different behavioral results. 

This year, I will be running a long-term exposure study where the crayfish are exposed to 0.06 mg/L of glyphosate for different exposure lengths of 48 hours, 96 hours, 7 days, and 2 weeks. I am also wondering if the behavioral changes we are seeing are anxiety.  I need to get a more mechanistic view of the phenomenon. Based on another study from 2015, serotonin is the underlying cause of stress and anxiety in crayfish. Based on this, I am also planning to run HPLC assays on the crayfish hepatopancreas and eyestalks after behavioral testing to see if changes in serotonin levels are indeed causing anxiety in crayfish due to sublethal glyphosate exposure. 

2025 Research:

I researched how the herbicide glyphosate (commercially known as Roundup) affects stress responses in a keystone freshwater invertebrate: Procambarus clarkii. I used a light-dark plus maze to measure the amount of time spent in light vs dark areas. Since crayfish are burrowing species, they hang out in darkness more than in light. In general, previous studies have shown that when crayfish are subjected to physical stressors, they hang out in dark areas more than light areas. Using this method, we can see how glyphosate affects the stress of the crayfish. 

I used different concentrations of glyphosate to see how it affected the stress responses of crayfish. I used concentrations of 0.06, 0.6, and 6 mg/L of glyphosate. All were sublethal concentrations of 41% glyphosate solution, based on a study from 2019 which looked into the acute toxicity of glyphosate to crayfish. 

After a two-week isolation period from their community tanks (based upon a study from 2023), crayfish were placed in the maze, and their position in the maze was recorded. After 10 minutes, the seconds spent in dark vs. the seconds spent in light were recorded. Crayfish were also videotaped, and their paths through the maze were also analyzed. I found that even minute amounts of glyphosate (0.06 mg/L) caused crayfish to have statistically significant behavioral differences. Crayfish had greater light-seeking behavior and tended to move around the maze more than the control group. 

(see my 2025 project display poster & manuscript below)

2025 Research Display Poster:

   Display Poster link: Sublethal Glyphosate Exposure Reduces Time Spent in Darkness in Crayfish By: Emma Rogers, 2025

2025 Manuscript: