Website

The lab has an official website! Check it out: http://adams.marine.rutgers.edu/
Lab name is still pending vote by the students in the lab. We have two new undergraduates joining the lab this semester. Let the science begin!

Spring Semester starts with a blast

Between holidays and winter break, its been lonely and quiet on the Rutgers' campuses the past few weeks. The cold, snowy blast delivered by Winter Storm Janus ushered in 'Spring'. The first day of the spring semester was called off early and the second day started late. Today is the first full day of 'Spring' topping out at 18 degrees F. Welcome back!

While I'm excited to have everyone back, the quiet and break was nice - we enjoyed sledding in the snow; family came to visit from California; I submitted my first preproposal (ever) to NSF Integrative Organismal Systems Division; and we got in two new species of sea urchins in from the Florida Keys - Lytechinus variegatus and Arbacia punctulata. Both of these species are successful across a large geographic range - are there local adaptations? Does development change in response to the environment? So many questions about how they can thrive under such variable conditions.

(c) Florida Museum of Natural History, Arbacia punctulata

A. punctulata is found along the Western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Cuba and throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They are found in shallow water with rocky, sandy or shelly bottoms.

L. variegatus is also found along the US eastern seaboard from North Carolina around Florida into the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. However, L. variegatus prefers sea grass beds.

Whats in a NAME? Part II

Here are some suggestions that have been put forth. Chuckle, giggle and then vote in the poll to the right! Additional suggestions are still welcome.

MEDDLe Lab      Marine Ecology, Dispersal and Development of Larvae

LED Lab              Larval Ecology and Development

ILE Lab                Integrated Larval Ecology

MADD Lab          Marine Adaptation, Dispersal and Development

MEDDLe Lab      Molecular Ecology, Dispersal and Development of Larvae

DevEL Lab           Development and Ecology of Larvae

DADS Lab           Disperal and Development in the Sea

LEAD Lab            Larval Ecology and Development

La Da Dee            Larval Dispersal and Developmental Ecology

Back to the East Pacific Rise

The office is pretty quiet right now - between people just starting to trickle in from the holidays and the local mass exodus to the East Pacific Rise. I don't get to go back this time - to my tromping grounds as a graduate

(c) WHOI

student - but my office neighbor, his students and postdoc have just arrived. 'Dark Life at Deep-Sea Vents'. As the expedition name suggests, they will be focused primarily on life at vents... but not the life I usually study. You have to go smaller than even my tiny larvae, to the microbes - the core of the ecosystem there. The microbes convert the chemicals to the energy that fuels the abundant oases of life at vents.

Join Dive and Discover Expedition 15 here:
http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/