Seminar on Caribbean Brittle Stars

A reticulated brittle star (Ophionereis reticulata). /Courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) in Charleston continues its summer lecture series with a talk titled “Sabbatical eggstacy: Developmental diversity of briittle stars in the Caribbean of Panama” on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 4 p.m., in the Boathouse Auditorium. All OIMB lectures are free and open to the public, but this talk is particularly aimed at general audiences.

The speaker is Richard Emlet, a Professor at the University of Oregon, OIMB. 

About Richard:

"I study the functional morphology, biomechanics, ecology, and evolution of invertebrate organisms. I am interested in how developmental and evolutionary processes interact to produce morphological and life history patterns among marine organisms. My research efforts include larval biology, suspension feeding by microscopic organisms (larvae and protozoa), and evolution of sea urchin development.

My approach is to examine form, function, and ecology in invertebrate larvae as these represent early stages in ontogeny and are important both for modern developmental studies and marine ecological studies. I examine functional morphology and performance using a combination of video micrography, motion analysis of these video tapes, and dynamically scaled mechanical models. Experimental studies are designed to identify how particular morphological traits affect performance in feeding and swimming.

I also study the evolution of morphogenetic patterns generated by developmental processes. These studies complement evolutionary and functional approaches by allowing a comparative perspective on the morphological transformations that occur during development of sea urchins. This comparative information is essential in deriving a general theory of developmental processes.

Current research at OIMB includes combined laboratory and field studies examining the relationships of larval nutritional history and juvenile performance. We are studying barnacles, sea urchins and snails, all of which can show variation in larval nutritional content for differnent reasons. Work on these taxa to date has explored the influence of larval diet on size, growth and survivorship of early juveniles. We are emphasizing field studies to evaluate the effects of diet."

The OIMB Boathouse Auditorium is located at the end of Boat Basin Rd. in Charleston. Park at OIMB or along Boat Basin Rd. and walk past the Coast Guard housing to the auditorium.

For more information about this talk or the lecture series, contact Maya Watts, (541) 346-7277, mwolf1@uoregon.edu.

If you want to attend remotely, contact Maya Watts to request a Zoom invitation and password (24-hour notice).