How copepods thrive on southern cuisine

Mmmm southern cooking… Fried chicken and biscuits, shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee… I could go on for quite a while. But actually I’m talking about the natural diet of small crustaceans called copepods. And I’m talking farther south…much farther.

I was recently awarded funding from the National Science Foundation through the Office of Polar Programs to study the biology of Antarctic copepods. I will join a field expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula, an environment and ecosystem that is rapidly changing. Antarctic copepods have developed particular feeding and behavioral strategies to survive in their very seasonal environment, but it is not known how each of these species will respond to environmental change. The overall goal of this project is to examine and compare these adaptations across species and to understand how each species responds to short-term changes in food availability.

I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to visit this remote region of the world (!!!). But I consider myself even luckier to bring this exciting project into my lab and to have the opportunity to peek inside these Antarctic critters. We’ll be using transcriptomics, enzyme assays, microscopy and lipid profiling to examine how their biology responds to natural environmental gradients and experimental manipulations (yep, I’ll be putting the copepods on some crash diets). Like a kid building sand castles, I’ve been designing and dreaming of this project for the past three years.

These days I’m largely focused on the logistics of getting things ready. So far, I’ve made 9 different visits to various doctors’ offices and clinics to get medical clearance. I’ve pored over the experimental details with equipment suppliers and the excellent logistics support team within the US Antarctic Program. Most recently, I’ve been obsessing about cobbling together a compact, sturdy frame to hold all my buckets of copepods using parts readily available from Home Depot. I’ve sent in my measurements for everything from ultra-cold-resistant gloves to boots and a neck gaiter. I told my family that my Christmas list consists entirely of merino wool base layer clothing. Excitement is building!

I wanted to share a quick announcement of this project, but lots more should be coming in 2019. Among other things, I plan to collaborate with our Graphics Department to develop some interactive animations related to the project. Stay tuned!