Areas of Research
Research in my labs focuses on learning how benthic communities of animals, plants and microorganisms are established and maintained on the 71% of the earth’s surface that is covered by salt water. Thus, we study the development, settlement and metamorphosis of larvae of invertebrates that are major macro components of the communities. Studies in my labs and many others have revealed that bacteria residing in all surfaces in the oceans provide very site-specific cues for recruitment of many species from all major marine phyla. We investigate what it is about biofilm bacteria that induces specific larval recruitment into the communities. Our work is of necessity multidisciplinary, combining studies of larval development, microbiology and molecular biology to arrive at insights into recruitment. We have established useful ‘model species’ that allow precise, experimental, laboratory studies of the settlement phenomena and dissection of bacterial molecules to learn the nature of the inducers. Our models include the globally distributed biofouling serpulid tubeworm Hydroides elegans, the Indo-Pacific coral-eating nudibranch Phestilla sibogae, and the Indo-Pacific coral Pocillopora ‘damicornis’. The first two are maintained continuously in the lab, while the coral can be brought to the lab and its larvae collected as they are released from the parent colonies.
