Catherine Causby's Capstone Thesis
Rae Milstead | March 30, 2023
Catherine Causby is a graduating senior of the class of 2023 and is graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Biology.
Causby has been an integral part of the Warren Wilson College (WWC) campus, as a member of the WWC Women’s basketball team and the Athletics Work Crew. In her free time, Causby loves to cook and bake, as well as spending time outside.
Causby’s thesis was to find out if a harmful cyanobacteria Aetokthonos hydrillicola was present in Lake James, a lake found near Morganton, N.C., where Causby is from. These cyanobacteria can produce a neurotoxin that causes Vacuolar Myelinopathy in wildlife. Causby’s research results do find that this cyonabacteria is present in Lake James and she was able to confirm this by sending photos of her samples to Aetokthonos specialists Susan Wilde Ph.D., Dayton Wilde Ph.D., and their M.S. student Erika Klar. Causby is the first to find these cyanobacteria in Lake James and says that “some next steps could include wildlife monitoring and trying to get rid of the hydrilla at the lake.”
Causby hopes to continue her environmental conservation work once she graduates and is even considering working more around Aetokthonos hydrillicola. Causby hopes to spread more awareness on this topic so it can be identified in other lakes as well.
Causby would like to thank Susan Wilde, Dayton Wilde, Erika Klar, Olya Milenkaya, Daniel Baron, Kim Borges, Mark Brenner, Paul Bartels, her friends and her family for all the support and help with this project.
Photo credit to: Paul Bartels and Catherine Causby
Photo information: The photo is of an Aetokthonos hydrillicola colony under a microscope with epifluorescence lighting