Main Research Themes

Understanding the feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes is necessary for making robust predictions about the future of our rapidly changing planet. Work in our lab focuses on the effects of temperature on pelagic copepods, some of the most abundant animals in aquatic systems. Their unique combination of ecological importance, wide distributions, and tractability as a laboratory model system opens up many opportunities to ask big questions with these little crustaceans.

Illustration of a wave carrying copepods, with a temperature gradient bar rising from blue to red

 

Work in the lab falls into several broad categories. Check out the Publications page for a list of papers.

Thermal Limits

Close-up micrograph of a translucent marine copepod 

Physiological Ecology

Micrograph of copepods and other plankton in a sample 

Spatiotemporal Patterns

World map of sea surface temperatures 

Eco-evolutionary Interactions

Schematic of a copepod choosing between two food sources, with a question mark, over a warm-to-cool color gradient