Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7433-2075

Date of Award

Spring 5-19-2026

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Dipon Ghosh

Second Advisor

Michael Hoppa

Third Advisor

Robert Hill

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans is a transparent, microscopic nematode roundworm studied in numerous labs around the world as a model organism for biological research. Although much is known about C. elegans development, physiology, and behavior, how these worms behave in the wild outside standard laboratory contexts remains poorly understood. Here we studied how growth in a naturalistic environment alters C. elegans exploration of its surroundings. We developed a method for growing worms with an apple mash (Wild-like Apple Mash, or WAM) that emulates the rotting fruits and stems from which C. elegans can be readily isolated in the wild. We then tested how C. elegans grown with WAM explores a circular lawn of food bacteria composed of a strain of Escherichia coli called OP50 on which worms are normally raised in standard laboratory contexts. Our results indicate that growth with WAM changes how worms navigate this OP50 lawn. We determined that relative to worms grown with OP50, worms grown with WAM exhibit differences in both locomotion speed and locational preference within the lawn. For example, WAM-grown worms exhibited an increased preference for staying in regions of the lawn of relatively higher bacterial density and lower oxygen concentrations. To probe the genes and neurons mediating this behavioral modulation by growth with WAM, we conducted a candidate screen that helped reveal the likely contribution of oxygen sensing to alterations in lawn exploration. Taken together, we speculate that naturalistic environments might promote alterations in oxygen-sensing capabilities that shape how C. elegans explores its surroundings.

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