CALENDAR
ANNOUNCEMENT
APALACHICOLA RESEARCH RESERVE HOSTS FREE SEMINAR
ON MUD CRABS
~Learn how parasites can
turn mud crabs into zombies in Gulf and Atlantic waters~
WHAT:
“Invasion of the Body-Snatchers:
How Parasites Shape Their Hosts
in the Gulf and Beyond”
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 9, 2015
2–3 p.m.
WHERE: Apalachicola
National Estuarine Research Reserve
108 Island Dr.
Eastpoint, FL 32328
The public is invited to learn about the world of parasites and
mud crabs at a free seminar by Dr. Carolyn
Tepolt, a biodiversity genomics postdoctoral fellow from the Smithsonian
Institution, who will be discussing her current research project being conducted in the
Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The
seminar will focus on the ways Tepolt uses marine species invasions as natural
experiments in rapid adaptation by examining how quickly populations of
known age and origin respond to new conditions. In the Gulf of Mexico,
barnacle-like parasites tunnel into mud crabs and turn them into “zombie
nursemaids” for the parasite's offspring. This parasite infects about 1 to 5
percent of crabs in its native Gulf habitat, but has invaded the mid-Atlantic
where infection rates are often more than 70 percent. Using field ecology,
laboratory infection trials and genomics, Tepolt explores how this parasite
shapes the evolution of its crab host.
Tepolt
received her doctorate in biology from Stanford University in 2014, her Master
of Science in zoology in 2004 at the University of Otago and her Bachelor of
Science in chemistry and biology in 2002 from the College of William &
Mary. Tepolt’s background is in molecular ecology and her previous research
includes the conservation genetics of endemic New Zealand birds, invasion
genetics of many species as a contractor at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the genetic basis of tuberculosis susceptibility in humans.
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