So, what do you do?

Like most people, I often have to answer some variation of “So, what do you do?” At parties, when home for the holidays, when waiting for airplanes. And like many scientists, I often find myself searching for a nice, concise, comprehensible response. I think that the answer is on my website:

My research interests center around evolutionary ecology of early life stages of marine invertebrates (larvae and juveniles), particularly gastropods in the genus Crepidula. I am interested in questions relating dispersal of marine invertebrates to other ecological and evolutionary processes, especially how larval dispersal type can influence local adaptation to temperature regimes and ultimately how these species may or may not evolve in response to global climate change.

Simple, right? Maybe not. Conveniently, the first sentence is packed with interesting fodder for future posts. Let’s try that again, with terms I’ll write about in separate posts in bold:

My research interests center around evolutionary ecology of early life stages of marine invertebrates (larvae and juveniles), particularly gastropods in the genus Crepidula.

I must think these bolded terms are the coolest things ever, or I wouldn’t have dedicated the last *discreet cough* years of my life to studying them. So with this blog, I hope to convince you that marine invertebrates ARE the coolest things ever. I hope to bring your attention to the serious problems facing these animals as humans disrupt their environment, but I also plan to share stories of just how neat and crazy these animals are.

Did you know that many marine invertebrates change sex as they grow?

That a species of sea slug photosynthesizes?

That whale corpses are inhabited by their own specific group of animals, including worms that live in bone?

That a species of jellyfish exists that is basically immortal?

That your closest invertebrate relative looks like snot that grows on the underside of a dock?

All of these coming attractions will be accompanied by really cool photos (mostly not by me), because invertebrates are fascinating and beautiful.

In that spirit, I will leave you with this cartoon made in fall of 2011 (remember Occupy Wall Street?) by some talented invertebrate biologists at the Oregon Institute for Marine Biology:

 

How many of these animals can you identify? Do you know what phylum they belong in? Which is our closest relative? Answers will be forthcoming in future posts.