29 June 2018. A new experiment with Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) starts and as usual, it’s an all hand on deck operation. This time, we have Chris Tsang shadowing all of us and Emma professionally explaining the process.
Have a look for yourself!
The 282 fish are now split in a DNA sample for extraction and a body sample for further trait measurements.
On 18 May 2018, the Baumann lab teemed with activity. Maria Akopyan from Cornell University was busy phenotyping juvenile silversides for our Menidia Gene project. Mia and Mackenzie were busy working up field samples of silversides. And Hannes prepared adult silverside samples for later analyses.
Starvation rates in larval and juvenile Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) are unaffected by high CO2 conditions.
Marine Biology 165:75-83
26 March 2018. Today we got our first glimpse of an incredible new way of imaging the inner calcified structures of a fish body, particularly the ear bones (otoliths), of which every teleost fish has six, three on each side inside the skull. Otoliths are long known to fish ecologists for their properties to record and store information about a fish’s age, growth and habitat. With an adult Atlantic silverside, Hannes visited John Shepherd, facilities scientist and member of the Goldhamer lab at UConn, Storrs (Biology Physics Building), who showed us the use of a new, state-of-the-art micro CT-scanner (IVIS). Turns out, the system effortlessly imaged all six otoliths inside of the fish’s head. Later in the year, we will use the technique to image silversides reared at contrasting CO2 conditions to see whether they differ in their otolith size, volume, and structure. Thank you, John, for this truly inspiring demonstration!
We are overjoyed to announce that NSF is funding a new and collaborative research project to look at the genomic underpinning of local adaptation in the Atlantic silverside! Check out below for a first glimpse of the project website.
Oceans are large, open habitats, where it was previously believed that the lack of obvious barriers to dispersal would result in extensive mixing, thereby preventing organisms from adapting genetically to particular habitats. It has recently become clear, however, that many marine species are subdivided into multiple populations that have evolved to thrive best under contrasting local environmental conditions. Nevertheless, we still know very little about the genomic mechanisms that enable divergent adaptations in the face of ongoing intermixing.
This research feature makes the case for multistressor research to a broad general audience and introduces our NSF project and its participants. Download the feature by clicking on the pictures or the link below.
28 November 2017. The Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology just published the latest study by our group looking at differences in the CO2 sensitivity of Atlantic silverside offspring stemming from different mothers. Congratulations to Jacob Snyder for his first peer-reviewed publication.
Among the highlights of the study:
Citation:
Snyder, J.T.*, Murray, C.S.*, and Baumann, H. (2018)
Potential for maternal effects on offspring CO2 sensitivities in the Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia).
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 499:1-8
Together with Steve Litvin (Monterey Bay Aquarium) Hannes convened a theme session titled “Physiological ecology in the Anthropocene: linking the laboratory and field” and talked about our recently published paper on pH and oxygen fluctuations in nearshore coastal environments. Jake presented his Master thesis research on the newly digitized long-term time series of Project Oceanology, and Julie talked about the first aspect of her ongoing research on silverside otoliths and inferred patterns of growth and temperature-dependent sex determination. Well done, all!
