Wildlife, fisheries senior to showcase hypoxia study at Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day

South Dakota State University’s annual Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day will feature a wide range of student projects on April 14, including 14 undergraduate research projects funded by the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences for the 2025-26 school year. 

One of the projects, “Using stable isotopes to determine the effect of hypoxia on bluegill,” will be presented by senior wildlife and fisheries major Brindy Bolander, who wanted to get involved in research after last year’s Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day.

Bolander has spent the school year investigating how declining oxygen levels in freshwater systems influence fish ecology, working under the mentorship of David Coulter, an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resource Management.

She is specifically looking at how low-oxygen conditions, known as hypoxia, affect bluegill fish behavior, diet and overall condition. The topic holds significance for both fisheries' science and the broader public.

“Hypoxia affects the condition of the fish, which is really important to anyone who is a big fan of fishing,” Bolander said. “It’s going to affect their diet, which is going to affect their physical condition, and it can affect how many there are in a body of water, too. In turn, that can affect anglers' satisfaction and the economy, because if anglers aren’t satisfied with catching the fish they want, they’re spending their money elsewhere to fish.”

The power of mentorship

Each undergraduate research project is developed by a student and their mentor. The collaboration between Bolander and Coulter has shaped not only the project but also Bolander’s undergraduate experience, integrating her into Coulter’s research group.

“Awarding undergrad students with dollars to support their research is great, because I get to interact with new people in my program that I never before got to meet. And not just meet them, but work closely with them for almost a full year on their project,” said Coulter, whose classes are normally higher-level electives. “It’s nice to see them develop as a researcher who has little to no experience to driving their whole project and interacting with other professionals on their own.”

The Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day will be Bolander’s second opportunity to share her work. In January, she presented her research with a poster at the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, giving her the opportunity to interact with professionals in the fish and wildlife management field. Coulter said the SDSU event will be an entirely different experience, with a different audience.

“Often times my students will go to discipline-specific conferences where they can use jargon and everybody knows exactly what they’re saying, but at Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Day, all disciplines are merged together,” Coulter explained. “Right next to you there might be someone from astronomy, and across the aisle you could have people from the theater program. It requires students to be able to explain their very technical research to a variety of people not their discipline, which is very challenging.”

Growth through research

As Bolander prepares to present her findings, her project stands as a testament to curiosity, collaboration and the impact of undergraduate research on both students and their fields. She is one of many students Coulter has seen transform through the research process.

“They gain a lot of confidence in their own knowledge and their ability to be able to figure out answers to complicated questions,” Coulter said. “By doing this research, they not only gain skills that they can use on the job later, but their confidence boosts in their ability to figure out problems on their own.”