Overview
Early life history stages are definitely a research focus in the lab. Often stereotyped as vulnerable to environmental stressors, we have explored the tolerances of early stages to pH variation in the environment and to thermal stress, such as marine heatwaves. We are very interested in parental effects, and how physiological and phenotypic plasticity of early stages might contribute to adaptive capacity.
Research Highlight
This is a really productive area of our research so it’s tough to choose just one highlight! A great example of this work is found in recent research by Terence Leach, a Doctoral Candidate in the lab. Terence was interested in parental effects and how the environmental experience of adults during gametogenesis might influence the condition and tolerances of their progeny. Terence’s work was recently published in Marine Biology and highlights how temperatures typical of a local, Santa Barbara Channel MHW, as experienced by male sea urchins, influenced the fertilization kinetics and early development of purple sea urchins.
Affiliated Researchers
Selected Publications
Leach, T.S., B. BuyanUrt and G.E. Hofmann (2021) Exploring impacts of marine heatwaves: Paternal heat stress diminishes fertilization success in the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). Marine Biology 168: 103
Wong, J.M. and G.E. Hofmann (2020) The effects of temperature and pCO2 on the size, thermal tolerance and metabolic rate of the red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) during early development. Marine Biology 167: 33
Wong, J.M., L.C. Kozal, T.S. Leach, U. Hoshijima, and G.E. Hofmann (2019) Transgenerational effects in an ecological context: Conditioning of adult sea urchins to upwelling conditions alters maternal provisioning and progeny phenotype. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 517: 65-77.
Wong, J.M., K.M Johnson, M.W. Kelly and G.E. Hofmann (2018) Transcriptomics reveal transgenerational effects in purple sea urchins exposed to upwelling conditions, and the response of their progeny to differential pCO2 levels. Molecular Ecology 27: 1120-1137.
Kelly, M.W., J.L. Padilla-Gamiño, and G.E. Hofmann (2013) Natural variation, and the capacity to adapt to ocean acidification in the keystone sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Global Change Biology 19: 2536–2546.
