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0:00
Michael Kaufman: okay, everyone welcome to another edition of College of Science Virtual seminar Michael Kaufman: Um, as usual. Uh, I'm still Michael Kaufman. But I always say my name. I don't really know why I do that, because everyone Michael Kaufman: has heard me say this a million times. Um. We're doing this in hybrid mode today, and it's interesting. We have exactly two of us sitting here watching uh the seminar in person uh Jessica Castillo-Vardaro, and myself, and Maya is over there,
0:29
Michael Kaufman: as you can see. Um Michael Kaufman: and uh, but it looks like we have another uh twenty two people online, which is a great turnout and maybe an indication that people like to do these virtually so we'll give it a try, Michael Kaufman: anyway. Um, thanks for joining us. Let me give you a little bit of background on Maya like I usually do. Maya got her BS in evolution and ecology from UC Davis Michael Kaufman: some time ago.
0:58
Michael Kaufman: And then went on to do her Ph.D. in Integrated Biology with a focus on the Morphology and Ecology of Stomatopod Crustaceans. I think I got that about right Michael Kaufman: at UC Berkeley. Once, she finished at Berkeley. She was a visiting fellow at the Nowis Marine Laboratory in Panama. One of many exciting locations. It looks like she's been. I'll mention those in a minute. She was a postdoc at Scripts Oceanography,
1:31
Michael Kaufman: and then the Director of Training activities for sustainable oceans for the NSF National Research Trainer Traineeship on Coastal and Marine at the Coastal and Marine Studies Institute at UC Davis. Before interviewing for Michael Kaufman: a job here. It sounds like State University. She interviewed in Fall of 18.
1:53
Michael Kaufman: and delayed her start by a semester to Spring of 20, which happened to be the semester when all hell broke loose around here. So she got to be in person with all of us for about three months before the place shut down. Michael Kaufman: Uh, and she was just saying to me, if she doesn't think she's done an in person seminar uh since joining out of this day. Would that be correct? Yeah, I think that's right. Um. Just to give you an idea of the exciting places where um
2:22
Michael Kaufman: marine biologists get to go. Here's a sampling of the field station experience that Maya has. Michael Kaufman: She has been to the Galapagos Michael Kaufman: maui um French polynesia uh the Great Barrier Reef in Australia several times. Uh, let's see Stabric Island also in Australia, the Panama uh Tropical Research Institute. Uh and uh, closer to home Catalina Island.
2:51
Michael Kaufman: Uh: So today Maya is going to tell us about graphics, relationships in the bentos beating more file morphology and ecology of macro invertebrates. And I had to think for a minute.
3:16
Maya deVries: I will try this sitting down, but it may stand up for those of you on zoom. But thank you all so much for coming. I um Maya deVries: really appreciate it and love these seminars, and i'm really excited to finally give one. So thanks for having me. Um, yes, as um Maya deVries: dean kaufman mentioned um. These I work on um,
3:44
Maya deVries: but also a bunch of other critters that i'm gonna tell you about today from all the amazing places that um that I've been lucky enough to go to um, and this is a man to shrimp, and it is about a foot long. So this is actually our biggest Manchester from species. It's about this big Maya deVries: um, and it has these amazing predatory pendages that it unfurls and captures um fast moving prey like fish
4:12
Maya deVries: and other crustaceans that are flying, flying, swimming over its burrow, and so it lunges out of its sandy borough and captures prey.
4:20
Maya deVries: Um! And I am really excited about studying man to strength um in the context of feeding morphology and ecology, because they have these, like really specialized feeding appendages that they use to do a bunch of things, and that allows us to understand kind of the evolution of um, how animals feed what they feed on, Why, they feed on certain things, because everything in the world has to acquire energy from everything in the world. Everything living in the world has to require energy
4:50
Maya deVries: you from something and um. Maya deVries: And so feeding morphology can really drive the amazing biodiversity we see on earth. And that's why i'm really excited about this topic. Maya deVries: Um, so manta shrimp. A lot of them live in these beautiful coral reef habitats. Um! If you were to put on your mask and snorkel and go diving here. Um! You would see, of course, all these amazing colorful fish and corals. Um, but you would also see
5:22
Maya deVries: a bunch of kind of tunnels and crevices, and uh man to shrimp are poking their lies out of many of these um and of course, um! Maya deVries: This environment is just this huge core. We are huge three-dimensional structures again with many tunnels and crevices. And um.
5:45
Maya deVries: They are all susceptible to the oceanographic patterns that we see on earth. So um nutrient flow, light availability. And then, of course, in the context of global climate change. Coral reefs are especially susceptible to ocean warming and ocean certification.
6:04
Maya deVries: Um. And so i'm really interested in how animals feed on the and um defend themselves from uh feeding attacks um and trophic dynamics in general. That means food web dynamics. So who we zoom? And then how environment relates to all of those things, and I look at that and coral reefs, of course, but also kelp for us. So we're gonna talk mostly about Corey's today, But we will talk a little bit about kelp for us as well, and the exciting Cal force work that I've been able to start
6:34
here at San Jose. State
6:37
Maya deVries: um. So this interplay between feeding interactions, influencing food web, dynamics and environment influencing food Web dynamics leads to kind of the two questions that guide my work. Um. And that's how do morphological feeding specializations and predator defenses contribute to trophic dynamics and ecosystem function? But then also, how do environmental disturbances influence trophic relationships and again um looking at those primarily, and these two exempt our habitats
7:07
Maya deVries: um coral reefs and and kelp for us.
7:12
Maya deVries: Um, But I wanna first start by kind of looking at the broader picture of why, I think feeding interactions are so important. Beyond that, you know, everything needs energy um to survive. Um! But Also, there's this really kind of fundamental tenant in evolution and ecology, that morphological specialization. So how specialized your body is? Um leads to a narrow diet and the classic example of this are the Galapagos
7:42
Maya deVries: Finches. So probably many of you have heard or heard of or seen Galapagos finches. They have these um Maya deVries: amazing beak morphologies that they use to either um crush seeds like small seeds or large seeds. Um like the small ground fin the meeting grump into the large ground. Finch. Um, but then they also eat cactus flowers and insects from trees, and their beaks are highly specialized to do this. Maya deVries: Um. But then,
8:11
Maya deVries: if we look at just kind of the small medium and large ground fines we know from amazing work in the late seventies. Early eighties. Um. By Peter R. And Rosemary Grant um in the Galapagos that Maya deVries: environment really drives morphological changes. And so here is um
8:32
Maya deVries: kind of the classic study that they did where they looked at the distribution of beak sizes before a massive drought, and after a massive drop that happened in the late seventy S. And the go up with silence. Um. And basically you see, Maya deVries: shift in the distribution of big size from small to large. So the big sizes become larger because um basically
8:55
Maya deVries: all of the um finches could eat the small seeds, but um! Only the large ground we just could you the large ones. And so you have kind of selection towards the large uh big size. And so environment really changes and can influence the morphology that we see in the environment.
9:15
Maya deVries: Um. And so another animal that's often touted is having highly specialized morphology, our stomatopod for stations or mantis shrimp Maya deVries: um great pronunciation. Um. So yes, there are five hundred plus known species. They're found tropically and subtropically, and they have highly specialized feeding ecology again. Um, they become really famous in the past. Um,
9:41
Maya deVries: yeah, I mean, since I started working that on them, and they really uh well like mid to, you know. Two thousand and five, I guess I started working on them. Nobody knew what they were in two thousand and five. But now I ask a room full of people. In fact, you all can raise your hands if you want virtually
9:57
Maya deVries: um. And here. But yeah, if you've heard of man to shrimp, raise your hand. Um, Now, like almost everyone knows what they are. I have two participants, three participants. Awesome. Um, five, six. Okay, this is looking much better. Um: yes. Yeah. So most people know what they are. They become very popular in um in uh Maya deVries: pop culture and media. And here is one of my favorite examples of Manchester from in the Media Um.
10:26
Maya deVries: This is a comic by the oatmeal, and you see this Manchester shrimp like smashing the claw off of this crab, saying, And now your dinner, um! And so it's this raptorial appendage that's highly specialized Here you can see it down here in this animal as well. Um, Maya deVries: and it's it's in uh all of these. And also I should say that these Manchester were scale to size, two really really small ones, and really big ones like we were talking about
10:51
Maya deVries: earlier. So I actually have a of the mantra. I'm doing just the thing I showed you. So it's going to. Here's its little hammer oops. Maya deVries: Sorry here's its Maya deVries: hammer, and it's going to smash the claw off of that crab. It just did it. So this is the high speed video. It's filmed at about five thousand frames per second slowed down so you can see it um again. It's gonna rotate forward. Smash the claw off of this crab, and the vlog goes flying across the tank.
11:19
Maya deVries: Um! So this is one of the fastest movements ever recorded in the animal kingdom. It's going about twenty-three meters per second that's about fifty miles an hour. This this little hammer here
11:31
Maya deVries: um. And so i'm really excited about, of course.
11:44
Maya deVries: Yeah. Great question. So the how long does it take to go from um kind of a cock to pensions to a release dependence. So the strike speed um! The average is about three to five meters per second for that species, but of course it varies. I'm Sorry. Sorry. Uh milliseconds. Most like It's three to five milliseconds, twenty-three meters. Per Second.
12:11
Maya deVries: Yes, yes,
12:16
Maya deVries: yeah. Three to five milliseconds. Yes, Maya deVries: right and it's Yeah. Well, it usually rotates kind of past. But yeah, it's. Appendage does not fly off its arm, which is actually amazing, and of itself, too. Yes, there is a whole set of amazing Maya deVries: research studies about that that I won't go into, but would love to talk more about, because it is amazing how they don't lose their pendage. Basically
12:40
Maya deVries: Mhm, Yes, right. So we have the cool morphology which i'll talk about a little bit um, and then um, and then, of course, the feeding interaction. So um!
12:54
Maya deVries: What is this predator? Prey? Dynamic? What's happening to the prey? Item: what's happening to the predator? Maya deVries: Um. Maya deVries: And so But of course the speeding interaction is just one feeding interaction among a huge web of a bunch of animals eating each other. Um! And of course, that happens in an environment. So that's happening in this case in a coral reef.
13:16
Maya deVries: So we can look at these dynamics between feeding interactions on the individual level and scale it to the trophic dynamic level and the environment level. Maya deVries: Um. So here are a couple of more videos. So this is oops I want best muted. Maya deVries: Oh, well, Maya deVries: um. This is filmed at thirty frames per second. Maya deVries: Um! Maya deVries: So this is real time, so you can see what a smash looks like in real time.
13:47
Maya deVries: And Then here is the Maya deVries: appendage rotation again. So here's the strike again. Slow down so you can see it. Um! There was one flash of light upon impact, and there's going to be another right here.
14:00
Maya deVries: Um! Right there. So yes, a little bit later. There's so. There's two flashes of light, one on impact one about eleven seconds later. And that's cavitation. So to tell you even more how like amazing this appendages Basically, the pendulum is moving so fast through water that it creates an area of low pressure that forms an air bubble. When that air bubble implodes it releases energy in the form of light and heat that's comparable to the sun, and that's cavitation. Maya deVries: Um,
14:28
Maya deVries: yes, and it's um there's an analogy that I've heard that I really like um If a Manchester were human size, and if it were to throw a baseball with the same kinematics that it's using here, it would launch that baseball into orbit around the earth. Maya deVries: So good thing, they're not human-sized. Maya deVries: Um, Maya deVries: Yes, and so um!
14:52
Maya deVries: So this is another species. This is a spear So this is that big animal that you saw on the title slide. Um, here it's going to capture this shrimp on a stick in real time. Maya deVries: Um showed a couple of times, Maya deVries: and um! Here it is slowed down again. So this is film to three thousand frames per second. Um! Again slow down, so that the Maya deVries: this movement is much slower as you can see the linear velocity is like tenth of the speed of the
15:23
Maya deVries: smasher, and the layer. Acceleration is like magnitude slower. But basically the appendage um is doing a different movement. It's opening up, and then it's rotating forward and capturing the shrimp on a stick between these two parts of the appendage. So the behavior is different, but also this animal isn't capable of producing as fast of strikes um,
15:43
Maya deVries: and that's to do with the spring elements, and it's appendage. So both of these animals produce these fast movements, using a spring and a latch system. It's basically like a bone arrow. Metaphor. Um. So you know, you pull really her on um on the bow, and then, when you release it, the arrow shoots forward. That's essentially what's happening here except depended stays on the animal, and there's a whole bunch of again, really cool mechanics associated with how this works, and why these animals are
16:13
losing their appendage. Maya deVries: Um! But I am more excited about what they're eating. Um. So I basically have just told you that smashers are super fast and powerful, and spears are fast and far reaching, so they can reach really far to grab a base of prey swimming over their burrows. Um!
16:33
Maya deVries: Generally we think that smashers eat hard shell prey, so they produce these really high um forces because they're producing high accelerations that yield high force, and that allows them to like, break snail shells and eat hermit crabs and do things that are generally hard for other animals. Um! And then we think that spears eat fast and far from um soft, bodied, evasive prey, like I was showing you before, and generally we see smashers in hard, substrate habitats and spears and soft substrate Have
17:03
ts Maya deVries: um. Maya deVries: So i'm really interested in the smasher, and what it eats. Um. And hopefully I've convinced you now that smashers have highly specialized morphology for producing these amazing movements. Maya deVries: And so the question is, do they have a narrow diet, only hard shell prey, or a wide diet that includes soft body prey, and I've used um stable isotope analyses of diet to understand what animals are eating. And so basically you compare the um
17:35
Maya deVries: stable is what values of tissue from the predator to those of the prey. And then you can figure out what these animals are eating. Maya deVries: Um, I specifically look at one species New gonadactylus breed, and I right here. Um! It's about an inch long. So this is not to scale um, and it's one of the smaller species, but it does produce those amazingly fast movements
17:57
Maya deVries: uh and where I work, and it's an sony shopper Research Institute. Um. This is actually on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, and the Panama Canal is about three miles behind me if you're if you're looking at this view and in Galeta, then Pamela canals behind you. Um! Maya deVries: And so um! And it's a really unique place to work because we have coral, revel, um and c. Grass all in the same kind of habitat. They're sort of next to each other, and so you can. Um,
18:28
Maya deVries: and these replicate replicate plots which is really interesting. So we can collect animals from these two different habitats and get a really um comprehensive idea of what they're eating in nature which is hard to do. Maya deVries: Uh, yeah, So this is a re-flat, I should say, and there's a lot of wave impact, and That's why it's a core rubble habitat um The um wall of the reef is here, and um Maya deVries: it's actually not great. Um, it's not in the best.
19:01
Maya deVries: Yeah, it It experiences a lot of wave activity, but it also does experience a lot of pollution and human um interference. So it it's. Certainly there are nicer reefs to dive on It's kind of what's become pretty out there. Interesting Maya deVries: Hope you all can't. I don't know if you can hear the band, he said, Maya deVries: Um, the Maya deVries: um Maya deVries: yeah, it's become Maya deVries: kind of emblematic of Caribbean reefs today. So many Caribbean reefs are not. Um.
19:36
Maya deVries: They look a lot like this, and they're actually not super healthy. Um. So that's where I work Manchester. I love it, though I do really well in this global habitat where reefs are not necessarily thriving, which is interesting. Maya deVries: Um, Maya deVries: And so we have um.
19:54
Maya deVries: So here I'm. Showing you the stable is to values of the mannership and their prey. And usually, if you're not used to looking at these plots, we plot um carbon on the x-axis and the um uh stable as to values of nitrogen on the Y. Axis.
20:11
Maya deVries: Oh, thanks! Maya deVries: I don't think. Can you guys hear it? I can't read the chat, but because of how this is set up.
20:23
Maya deVries: Um! Maya deVries: So we have um the mean Maya deVries: pay items state like I use of nitrogen and carbon um Maya deVries: the mean prey uh mean values for the prey items, and then we have all the individual manuscript that I sample in the dots in both horrible and cgress habitats, and you can kind of look at these blocks Maya deVries: Um, and you can kind of guess what these animals are going to consume primarily. Um. But you can also use um
20:58
Maya deVries: Excellent statistical models. Um, Specifically Bayesian mixing models to understand the proportional contribution of each prey. Item to the diet, and for those of you who are really interested in Bayesian mixing models. Um, I'm. Not including any of that here, but I love talking about it so any of you would like to talk about it further. I'm excited. I used a number. I ran these in a number of different ways, and they all kind of showed me the similar result, which is this:
21:25
Maya deVries: that Um. So here we have all of the prey items on the x-axis, and then we have the Median proportion um of the diet Maya deVries: of each of the prey items, and I think. Obviously they seem to eat a lot of plans, but they also seem to eat a lot of fish which was Maya deVries: surprising, based on the literature. So remember that we thought that smashers were probably going to be specialists on hard shell prey. But here we have an animal where it looks like they're um
21:56
Maya deVries: their main, or one of the things they really like to eat, or fish, which is a soft body, and it's a prey item, which is something we thought that spear is mostly eight. Um. And I think that they're eating a lot of both of these, and they eat a lot of fish, because fish are Super. Pr. Tenacious. They're actually easy for them to eat once they can get them.
22:13
Maya deVries: And they also these animals move. Their appendage is really fast, so they don't have all of the cool morphology and the spines for capturing prey. Um, but they're able to move fast enough to either smash it or um spirit with the tip of their appendage. Um!
22:30
Maya deVries: And I think they're eating a lot of clams because they actually clams. Um are kind of. They live very closely, if not on the same core rubble pieces that these animals live in. So I think they're just really accessible and easy to get. They're also pretty easy to open and smash. Um! Maya deVries: So that's my guess of why these animals are consuming um. These pre items primarily, and that's something that i'm really excited to
22:58
Maya deVries: understand more fully at this point. It's mostly just hypotheses. And I really want to understand, Okay, What? How are they eating these animals in nature? Maya deVries: Um: So this so Reed and I lives on its own. It's one of one of a few smasher species that live in this habitat. Um. But what happens if it's in the same habitat as a spear, does that change its diet?
23:21
Maya deVries: Um. So here's another place where I've worked um. The gums off specific research station run by Uc. Berkeley in Maria French, Polynesia. Um. And my field site is right here in front of the station. Maya deVries: And again, if you were to put on a mask. Go for a snorkel. You would see um a lot of coral rebel and kind of coral bombies like this, and you'd see probably a lot of little mantis from eyes peeking out of these core rubble pieces.
23:48
Maya deVries: And this is an amazing place, because it is one of the few places in the world where you find smashers and spears occupying the same habitat, so they actually live together in the same habitat. Maya deVries: Both bears and smashers occupy cavities. The core rubble crevices, which is surprising, because again, usually you see spears and soft, but in soft, substrate habitats. Um. But this is a really exciting natural experiment to be able to compare a sphere and a smasher
24:17
Maya deVries: um diet um with where where these animals have the same access to prey. Um! And where, uh, Maya deVries: uh, they live in the same kind of environment and um as well. So these these animals are really small. They're the smaller guys. Um, so uh, and then we have this match for species and the spear species. Maya deVries: And um,
24:51
Maya deVries: and so here again we have um this time i've plotted uh carbon on the x-axis, and we have spears and yellow and smashers in blue, and then we have all of the um Maya deVries: mean prey values pay items as well, and Then we see the portal contributions um to the diet over here, after running the busy mixing models, and again, clams seem to be really important for smashers.
25:19
Maya deVries: Um, and spears seem to eat them too, but spears really seem to like fish. So when you put spears and smashers together, possibly um. You see a situation where Maya deVries: smashers are kind of forced to eat hard shell prey and spears um can, because spears are better at eating the soft bodied, more desirable fish prey. Um!
25:45
Maya deVries: And so this is a question that i'm really excited to continue to pursue. Um, because again, these are these are different species, different parts of the world. Um, but they're all related, and they're again. They're five hundred species of manager strip. So, really we need to look at this in a phylogenetic context. Maya deVries: And um, we need to to better understand these diet morphology relationships. But I But I think what we're starting to learn is that um
26:12
Maya deVries: is that spears likely competitively exclude um smashers from consuming um Maya deVries: the soft body prey. Maya deVries: And Maya deVries: so the
26:30
are consuming in twenty percent. Maya deVries: Yeah, Mhm. Again, the clams live in this like on the same boroughs that they kind of attach to the same cavities that these animals do, and spheres can smash. Um. So yeah, yeah, sorry they can do it. They're not nearly as forceful. It takes them a lot longer. But again, clams are much easier to consume than a snail for example.
26:56
Maya deVries: Mhm yes, these are good questions, and uh kind of along those lines you can take these numbers and look at uh, what's called a specialization index, so you can kind of compare How special is they are on a um Maya deVries: on a a continuous kind of metric that is the same. Um,
27:20
Maya deVries: uh, you know, regardless of what they're actually eating. It's more just like, okay, how specialized are they? And spears come out as more um uh generalized and less specialized than smashers, which I think is really neat. Um! Maya deVries: And again, more reasons why i'm excited to to get back to Maria and understand the system better. Maya deVries: I think all mentorship are opportunistic way more than we originally thought. Yes, that is very true.
27:48
Maya deVries: That's a definitely a good way to put it.
27:53
Maya deVries: Um! So so they Ha! These animals have morphological specializations, both spears and smashers, and that allows them to consume otherwise and accessible prey. So smashers can eat hard. Shell prey when soft body praise not available spears can, too, Maya deVries: So the the reverse. They can eat um hearts. Okay, when software is not available, and they're really good at consuming soft wedding, Frank
28:17
Maya deVries: And I think again that this is like the result of consistent competition for prey.
28:25
Maya deVries: Um, Okay. So now we understand a little bit more about feeding interactions. Um, especially when uh we think about competitive interactions as well. And then um! How this kind of fits into broader trophic dynamics. Of course we've mostly looked down here. We Haven't looked so much it was eating Manchester from That's also for future work.
28:45
Maya deVries: Um, But I also really want to know how environment influences these feeding interactions, and then how that, how that can influence trophic dynamics as well. Maya deVries: Um. So what I have become really interested in is ocean certification. Um. And we know that ocean cification can affect calcified structures. We also know that the ocean is becoming more aesthetic with climate change. So the more co two we pump into the atmosphere. Um, the more um
29:13
Maya deVries: the the the more carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs, and that lowers the peach of the water, the ocean becomes more acidic, and that affects calcified structures. So basically um, the structures are Maya deVries: um can like literally dissolve in the water. But also what's what's really happening is that there's less calcium carbonate available in the water for these animals to build Maya deVries: um crustaceans which are over here are a little bit different. Crustaceans
29:52
Maya deVries: can show the response. We would expect that it just described, but they can also show no response to ocean certification conditions in the lab, or they can show sometimes even like a more robust and kind of thickening of their of their like, a more calcified, thicker exoskeleton. And so it's really interesting thing about what crustaceans are doing, especially, of course, manta shrimp
30:18
Maya deVries: um because Manchester um. I alluded to this, but they produce their insanely fast movements um Maya deVries: because their exoskeleton behaves like a spring. So you would think, if they're going to be affected by P. A. Lower Ph. In an increase in temperature with global climate change and the warming of the ocean, and that was justification that's really could affect
30:43
Maya deVries: how their appendage behaves like a string. It can affect the structure, mental composition, material properties, and that could then influence what these animals are eating. Um Maya deVries: um in in in the habitats where they live. Um! And so um Again I looked at you voned out to the spring night for this work.
31:04
Maya deVries: Um! And this was back at Scripts Institution of pornography. We had um three treatments. Um had locate high temperature, low P. And an ambient treatment, and then we had Manchester and all these little cuts down here for our header tanks floating to the cups, and we left them Maya deVries: to stew in these conditions for three months and six months, and then we looked at their pendage. Afterwards we also did um
31:26
Maya deVries: uh some physiological stress response analyses to see how stress they were in these conditions. Um, but I just wanted to show this, because i'm really excited to build a similar system at San Jose State. Um, I think when some of the moving and shifting happens around here. Um! We'll have more querying space, and i'll be able to to do this things like this here, which i'm really excited about,
31:49
Maya deVries: and we are doing some of this at Mouse Landing, which i'll talk about later, too.
31:53
Maya deVries: Um. So very briefly. Um, we have kind of the take home message results from this work. Um! And so you can look at the amount of calcium in the exoskeleton, the amount of magnesium in the ex skeleton, because magnesium is also really important for building um. Maya deVries: These calcified structures. And then you can do material properties, test where you look at the hardness and the stiffness of the of the exoskeleton.
32:19
Maya deVries: And basically we found higher magnesium, which means a different kind of calcium carbonate basically in low ph treatments at six months. So these animals might be kind of shunting around elements differently in order to construct their exoskeleton in the presence of ocean cification, and but it didn't affect um the material properties which is really interesting. So these animals um were able to maintain their exoskeleton in terms of the material properties. What we don't know, and what we're analyzing now
32:48
Maya deVries: is, whether or not This affects the strike because it could also affect muscle, physiology and things like that. So we have high speed video of these animals from these conditions as well that we're analyzing to understand, Maya deVries: regardless of the ex skeleton, was the strike um affected.
33:07
Maya deVries: And so um, Maya deVries: basically though it seems like Manchester, are really tolerant to these conditions. Um, in the physiological studies that we did we like dropped some animals down to Seven Point three, and they were like whatever they didn't seem to care which is really low. P. To seven point three is very low for animals generally. Um,
33:28
Maya deVries: and so they might be fine. Um! But the hard shell prey that they consume in the future. Um! That are predicted to break more easily in and future ocean conditions may not be fine. Um! They may have a pretty big influence on um the Maya deVries: trophy ecology of the system, simply because they're probably going to be winners in this new or acidified ocean. So we think about often winners and losers. Um in terms of
33:58
Maya deVries: um climate change in the ocean, and I think these animals are probably going to be winners, and I think that could greatly affect the trophy ecology of the system.
34:08
Um!
34:09
Maya deVries: And so the kind of broader things that I think we've learned from this work is that specialized morphology broaden's diet, and we see that um in Manchester shrimp that's actually similar to the cyclic fish, which also are super specialized. They have, like some some species have with one species, has, like a jaw that's highly specialized in eating the scales off of the left side of other fish, and yet the majority of its diet is actually like algae and plankton, and other an and other
34:39
Maya deVries: innocence. Um! And then also um more recent work to when we talked about before, so that Galapos finches also have a broader diet, and that they only really need to specialize in times of um starvation or um a low abundance of the of their preferred prey. And so I think that's probably what's going on with Manchester. Maya deVries: Um. And I think Manchester are also really important trophic links between macro invertebrates and other entertaining organisms. Um
35:08
Maya deVries: um like these, because we know that they consume a bunch of different prey, and They're also consumed by a number of different predators, like line fish and um groupers and octopuses and sting rates. So I think that they're probably really kind of key links in the food web. And I'm excited to look at that further, too. Maya deVries: Um, Maya deVries: Okay. So
35:31
Maya deVries: I think we understand that morphology and behavior can inform broader ecological theory. Um, I think we're also learning that the trophic dynamics of cryptic organisms like man to shrimp that usually you don't see, because they're hiding in their boroughs. Um are important drivers and ecosystem function. Maya deVries: Um, And the environment is really important because you can have shifts in feeding abilities and trophic dynamics due to climate change.
35:59
Maya deVries: Um. So, briefly, I wanted to talk about taking the time um cryptic fauna as important drivers of ecosystem function. So you know, man to shrimp live in this tiny little cavity. But of course there's like bunch of tunnels and crevices all over the race, Maya deVries: and there's a bunch of animals living in them, and we don't even know what they are a lot of them. So coral reefs are um twenty-five
36:23
Maya deVries: of the world's biodiversity. But we've probably only described about ten percent of the species living in a coral reef. And so there's a whole ecosystem inside the reef that we don't even know what's going on there.
36:37
Maya deVries: And so we're starting to explore that. Um! So we're starting to figure out who lives inside and cryptic habitats, and what roles do they play. Um. So we Here's one of my grad students, Anna Rostein sticking a gopro inside for crevices, and this is what it looks like inside there. Maya deVries: Um. And here is a uh gopro also with a ph and temperature. Um sensor that that we stick in the reef. And this is all in Alley
37:04
Maya deVries: um and basically um, Anna and I have done a quick kind of analysis of the literature, and so based on um Maya deVries: kind of uh, you know, a a number of publications uh about cryptic habitats. Um! We've seen kind of an increase interest in this topic. Um, Maya deVries: but most of it is about who lives inside reefs, and there's very little on the ecology. And what's actually happening inside the reef.
37:36
Maya deVries: And so uh, but what do we know about crevices and the apology of premises based on this literature. Um, is that there's a lot of turf algae, which is this gray, brown, fuzzy staff Maya deVries: um, and there's also calcified for line algae, which is we call Cca, and it looks like this Pepto bismo type. Stuff
37:57
Maya deVries: um, and it's really important for cementing reefs together. And so Anna is really interested in how much Cca is inside of reefs. That's kind of helping cement three together. First, how much is outside of the reef? Maya deVries: Um, and then sponges are, of course, also really important for pumping nutrients, and also making nutrients available for other organisms. Um, in the reef. Maya deVries: So we kind of look at Turf cca and sponges in the reef right now.
38:28
Maya deVries: Um! And so with an amazing group of wonderful undergrads, We're all now graduated here at Kimsey state. Um. We looked at a bunch of this gopro video, and we found that most of what you see inside of crevice is turf. Maya deVries: Um. But you do see a lot of cca, and these are um. These are fourteen different sites across Mali, where I stuck with gopro and reefs um and sponges pretty low and abundance.
38:56
Maya deVries: But it gets kind of interesting because Anna went back to Mali in um last January and also in August, and she, unlike me, turned her camera around in many different directions, and she found that the crevice wall looks a lot different than the top of the crevice or the crevice roof. If you stick your gopro, and if you turn it to look at the roof. Maya deVries: Um, we're seeing a lot more um sponges and cca than you do on the wall. Um,
39:27
Maya deVries: And that's basically what this is showing here. We also looked at personalia, which is another algae um Maya deVries: which we're still figuring out. Why, that's important. Um. And also and it is working um Maya deVries: uh to use machine learning techniques to quantify the um percent cca cover um, And this is in very close collaboration, in fact,
39:53
Maya deVries: mostly doing the work of Dr. Phil Heller and computer science. So so Anna is analyzing the videos with our techniques where we like literally point and click on dots, and that in the computer, and that. And then we can calculate percent cover from that. But Phil is has come up with this amazing automated way to tell us the percent cover of Cca in A in a photo, which is what's going on here. Um, it's basically colored all the Cca patches
40:22
Maya deVries: by itself. The computer has, I guess, Um! And the stuff can be way more accurate way for us to do this, and it's gonna create um. It's not gonna be as much manpower not take as many hours. We're really excited about this um,
40:37
Maya deVries: and then um. Anna is also comparing the distribution and abundance of key groups, the groups that we talked about inside the reef and the exposed reef. Um. So we can basically quantify everything that I talked about outside of the region inside the reef and compare the two Um, and this is her amazing team and Maui in January twenty-two um
41:00
Maya deVries: and here is Dr. Phil in the middle, so you he probably looks familiar. Yes, and I didn't get to go. But we're all we're going back this January. So i'm very excited. Maya deVries: Um, yeah. And it just a wonderful team. Um, Sophie. Um, Lou, A wonderful undergrad got to come with us and then lost landing, and then we also have five reduced scripts. Oceanography, Um! And one of the grad students got to come with us, too, and it was just apparently a wonderful trip.
41:29
Maya deVries: Um! So that that is kind of the basics of what's happening inside the reef. But i'm really excited to look at these questions and help for us as well. Um! A quick kind of Maya deVries: ecology, one hundred and one on kelp for us is that um! They're here in California. They're super important and critical um for California marine ecosystems,
41:52
Maya deVries: and usually we think of them looking like this like these big, beautiful forests, the redwoods of the sea, not as long lived. But um certainly very tall. Maya deVries: Um. But sometimes, for example, very recently, it looks a lot more like this urchin parent. So this is actually the exact same site as this picture and um, Maya deVries: and it was taken. I think it was a year later. And now um! So kind of
42:20
Maya deVries: Usually we see dynamics where you have kelp for us, kind of flipping back and phase shifting to urchin barons and then face shifting back. Um, But uh, since kind of two thousand and thirteen, two thousand and fourteen, with um disease, and warm the warm water Blob. I don't know if any of you remember that. But there was a huge warm water blob that came in and kind of hung around California. Um!
42:45
Maya deVries: It destroyed the kelp for us. Um! And also these urchins came in we're able to come in and just chomp down all the um, all of the help for us. And so now they're slowly starting to come back. This is a really important question in California right now, of how do we restore our help for us? Maya deVries: Um. Maya deVries: And so
43:08
Maya deVries: how are urchins really good at decimating help for us. Um. Well, they're really good at reproducing, but also they have amazing John Morphology. So this is their five part job that they use to, you know. Cut cut down kelp horse, but also scrape algae off of rocks.
43:27
Maya deVries: Um and seasons also are thought to have highly specialized mythology like you see here, but they consume many different things as well. They love Cal, but they will scrape algae from rocks and eat um even, you know, in other urgent species you find, like little macro invertebrates and their guts and things like that. Maya deVries: So i'm. Really curious how this calcified structure of the jaw is going to respond to future conditions. Um!
43:54
Maya deVries: And we know that when these animals are starved they're able to maintain their um, their airstalls lantern, or their jaws. Um! How is that gonna change with ocean certification? Are they going to actually be impacted? So people Haven't really looked at their calcified structures and the impacts of that on um Maya deVries: um from oceanification and um,
44:16
Maya deVries: And that's really important. If we want to think about how resilient our kelp for is going to be in our future ocean. And um! Sam Stein is my former and graduate soon. She just graduated last spring, and then, Ryan, how is he? Is um starting to continue to look at this question of um
44:35
Maya deVries: of this urchin help force dynamics, and how they're eating influences. Cal. Force ecology so briefly, Sam, and collaboration with wonderful undergrads. Um! And we have a collaborator at um California partner, fish and wildlife, and also reef check, which is a citizen science group. Um.
44:56
Maya deVries: So Sam looked at um, John Morphology in a kelp forest, but then also into urchin barons, and she compared um kind of jaw length to test diameter ratio. So she measured um. She took photos of the jaws. Basically, brief check sends us a bunch of jaws that they collect from all of these sites, and then we um process the jaws, and then we measure the length of the job, the with the curved length and the area right. Now we're really interested in the length, because that's something that
45:26
Maya deVries: eh? People have looked at in the literature since the fifties. Um! And you can look at jaw length over, test diameter as can to understand how John Morcology might be changing Maya deVries: um in kelp forest encryption barons Maya deVries: and she basically found that you have longer um relative jawlings. Sorry The x-axis down here is test length, and then, Jolling, I know you guys can't see it um but um
45:53
Maya deVries: uh we have relative jaw links, and we looked at that um in the summer and the spring of twenty twenty, one and um! Maya deVries: The jawlinks are larger and urchin barons in the summer versus the spring, probably because nutrients are less available. Um! Maya deVries: But then that changes in a help for us. So in a kel for us we have smaller um draw links and the presence of health. Um, Probably because in the summer kelp for us are doing a little bit better. Um. And um
46:26
Maya deVries: uh, yeah, So I should say generally, what people find in the literature is that you have um smaller jaws in the presence of Cal. So this is consistent with that, and the reason why we think we see the seasonal change is because um waters are calmer. Often in the spring help is kind of pulled um out of Maya deVries: pulled out of the water because of um Maya deVries: because of uh increased storms. But we have less of that in the summer.
46:55
Maya deVries: Um. So now Ryan is really excited to learn more about how um John Morphology changes temporarily and with celp color cover, but also um latitudinally and with ocean acidification. And so this is kind of twofold. But basically reef-check has a number of different sites, all of them down California. So we're trying to get samples from all of those sites to understand this uh kelp, forest urchin, jaw dynamic
47:24
Maya deVries: along California, but also we have upwelling. So every spring we have Maya deVries: the the intensity can vary, but we have upwelling, which brings cool, acidified, nutrient, rich waters to the surface. Maya deVries: Um, and that's really important for for our help for us.
47:42
Maya deVries: Um, but also it kind of can be a proxy for ocean certification, because it's really acidified water, and we can look at how um we can compare merchant jaws during the spring um during upwelling times to other times um to see how ocean certification might be affecting the structure. Maya deVries: Eventually we want to do um. Maya deVries: Of course, ocean cification experiments like what we did what I did with mantra. Um, we're just not quite there yet, in terms of
48:12
Maya deVries: Yeah, we're just not quite there yet. So we're We're taking this approach of using upholding as a proxy to start Maya deVries: um, Maya deVries: So we can understand again this interface between feeding interactions and trophic dynamics environments. Um, Maya deVries: by kind of looking at these broader oceanographic patterns, and this really important key feeding interaction.
48:37
Maya deVries: Um! And then really, quickly, what's actually the most um active part of my lab right now, but the part where I have the least data project where I least data um is this project looking at the co-culture of abalone and seaweeds, and whether or not, when you grow seaweed and abalone together, can you ameliorate those negative physiological and by bio-echanical responses to ocean certification. So um abalone are super important also in Kelp Forest. They actually
49:07
Maya deVries: actually in a healthy kelp forest. They're competing with urchins, and they're competitively excluding them from Kelp Forest, so they're helping to keep purchasing populations down. But of course, in an urchin, Baron, they are very outnumbered, and the fact versions consume them as well. So Maya deVries: um. And and what you're seeing here in this graph is that um Maya deVries: um
49:30
Maya deVries: basically since the nineteen forties um till now abalone have all populations of abalone have crashed, and, in fact, you cannot fish for commercially or recreationally, you cannot fish for abalone in California anymore. The fisheries completely shut down. So we have a real problem where we need
49:50
Maya deVries: abalone both in the Cal forest and also for us, because they're really important um traditional food source, but also like they they're just really culturally important food source for Californians. Um: both native and um,
50:05
Maya deVries: not native Californians. Um: Yeah. Basically what's so interesting When I talk to students. They're like, really. I had no idea. I will only run a big deal here, and it's like, Yeah. Well, that's because they were pretty much all gone by the time you were born. Um! And so um!
50:22
Maya deVries: So we're trying to. When you grow seaweed and Avalon together. The thought is that see weeds because they uptake Co. Two because they're photosynthesizing. They can buffer the seawater um, And so we know that I've only grow better from um past experience experiments by my wonderful collaborators, Scott, Hamilton and my gram down at Moss Landing. Um, But does this also improve the mechanics of the shell? Maya deVries: And so that's what we're working on.
50:48
Maya deVries: Yes, um. So Noah Colander is my grad student. He's based in Mlml: i'm not landing um, but he's working on this Maya deVries: um he's running this entirely huge food, the amazing experiment that we have going on there, and we have wonderful undergrounds. Um! Me and Diana, who come and they help measure the animals. And again, So this is a healthy um
51:10
Maya deVries: abalone understanding electron microscopy. And this is an abalone under acidified um conditions. So you can see there a lot of differences in the shell, and this is this previous research on European um abalone. But we expect to find something similar in Red Avalon, which is what we're looking at.
51:27
Maya deVries: Um. So again we're growing seaweed and abolished together in these huge tanks that allow us to tumble the seaweed and created lovely environments for seaweeds and abalone um. And then we're measuring Evelyn growth, stress, response and shell structure and function. Maya deVries: Um, Yeah. And so right again, we can look at these two habitats to understand these interactions better. Maya deVries: I think I will leave it there too much of time. Thank you. Thank you all so much.
51:59
Michael Kaufman: So I've got uh my mic on now, hopefully people can hear me. Um, Michael Kaufman: it's question time, Michael Kaufman: and uh let's see. Michael Kaufman: I always like to ask one. I'm gonna ask one. Um:
52:18
Michael Kaufman: Oh, yeah, this is what I was gonna ask. So when you raise abalone in the Michael Kaufman: um in the tanks at the agricultural facility. Are they suited to go out into Michael Kaufman: the population in the help for us? Maya deVries: That is really great, uh great question, and we don't know, and that is um I you know. I bet you Scott Hamilton and my Graham would have a much better um answer to this.
52:45
Maya deVries: Um, uh my answer is that we don't know, and that is actually a future direction. It's kind of part of the big Noaa grant that we just got to work on this um, but it's really where I would love to see this go. So Restoration aquaulture, I think, is really important. Um!
53:05
Maya deVries: And so right now, what I didn't say is, we're working on juvenile stage. So we just want to know we can get these animals through the juvenile stage kind of really critical Um, it's a critical state for them when we see a lot of loss. Um. Maya deVries: And then yeah, once they're kind of adults, are we gonna be able to outplant them? Um, and we would love to be able to do um after we see how this works is to take the white abalone which we talked about a little bit
53:33
Maya deVries: before the talk. Um, but White Avalon here, like the first Federally um uh listed endangered invertebrates, and they're still endangered. And there's a huge restoration program for them. So we want to see if this technique will work for them to help out plant those later as well. But yeah, that's where I would love to see this go in addition to improving Maya deVries: our sustainable seafood as a resource. Um,
54:00
Michael Kaufman: And i'm gonna ask one more if it's okay. Um, You showed the before and after of that help forest that had been decimated by the um Michael Kaufman: by the urgent.
54:14
Maya deVries: That's the crazy thing um Maya deVries: trying to remember the dates exactly, but like twenty, nineteen, twenty, twenty um! Everyone was just depressed and saying, No like It's gonna take years for help for us to come back, and especially on the north coast, where we have the species of kelp that takes longer to come back and re-establish
54:40
Maya deVries: things are looking better in Southern California. But here in Northern California is a little more difficult anyway. Um, um! It's still not great out there, but it is surprisingly better, and help us going back faster than we expected. Um! So that's good news, and it takes a lot. It takes like a big storm
54:59
Maya deVries: and kind of sweeping away all this. So there's actually space for help to resettle um. Disease can also knock out urchins. Um! I heard their collection programs now, too, right? Yes, and that's also really exciting, and something that um Scott and Mike are both really involved in as well. Um, and that's who we're working with, too. So reef check works with divers
55:20
Maya deVries: um They, you know these people are. They used to dive for a whole bunch of things, and now there's nothing to die for except for purple urchins, and so they're diving for purple urgent. We're um Maya deVries: uh, they're processing them on shore, and a lot of them are trying to send them to um
55:39
Maya deVries: to places in California where they're actually ranching them up. So they're trying to make a fishery out of the gonads of these virtual baron orchards, which actually have very few go nuts because they're starving. They're not making eggs. Um! They're trying to ranch them up to to to make that a viable um food source Maya deVries: as well. Michael Kaufman: Okay. So I have a at least one hand up. It looks like Madeline Marin's as her hand up. Um, Madeleine, Do you wanna
56:11
Michael Kaufman: unmute yourself. Madeline Marens: No? Sorry that was on accident. No, I actually have a question. Madeline Marens: Oh, go ahead, Madeline. Oh, can you hear me? Okay, Actually, I didn't have a question that was from, I think,
56:34
Michael Kaufman: Okay? And then there's an anonymous attendee who asks: Sorry if you ask, answered this already. But why are urgent's decimating the count for so much. Maya deVries: Oh, sorry that wasn't clear um. They're just really good at consuming help for us. And so um
56:52
Maya deVries: yeah, there's actually I wanted to have time to show this, but I didn't you can um Google urchins and kelp for us, and there's an amazing Bvc Video: um like a David Attenborough. That shows um just how amazing they are at using their jaws to basically like chop at the hold fast, which is where Kel pulled on to the substrate Maya deVries: rocks and that kind of thing. So they're really good at chopping. Hold fast, and then, like entire um help, hold fast to split away um. And
57:28
Maya deVries: so they're really good at chomping help. And they're also really good at reproducing. So they are. Um, Maya deVries: yeah, just constantly uh reproducing the really good at staying alive in these urchin barons as well, and very, very little food. And so they're able to keep their populations going. Um, which also keeps help for us down. So kelp for us. Aren't able to recruit back because the urchin variance just exist there
57:55
Michael Kaufman: Right? Michael Kaufman: Okay, uh Hilary first has around the Hillary. Maya deVries: So Hilary is what um Michael is saying. I don't know if you can hear. Can you hear me? Hilary Hurst: Um, I don't know if you can hear me. Hilary Hurst: And Do you think that there will be enough of the unaffected prey to maintain the man to shrimp populations, or do you think it's going to eventually catch up to them. Maya deVries: Oh, interesting! And um!
58:37
Maya deVries: I hadn't thought about that. But I think that Manta shrimp are gonna be just fine. I think that they can eat so many different things, you know. I think I still probably didn't look at their entire um Maya deVries: um. You know Maya deVries: the entire number of diversity of pre that they're able to consume. So I think um that they Yeah, I think they're going to be okay.
59:04
Maya deVries: But you know who knows? It's a really good question. And also we don't really know how these animals these unaffected animals are. They really gonna be unaffected? You know, there's a lot of research also on like fish behavior and the influence of oceanification on fish behavior. Um, and like predator escape response and that kind of thing. So um, yeah, these are all still really big questions. Hilary Hurst: Thanks. Thanks.
59:30
Michael Kaufman: All right. Uh, I'm gonna offer up one last chance for questions, Michael Kaufman: but also our perspective. We're more than five minutes past the hour and give people the opportunity to go. Do other stuff on a Friday afternoon. So um
59:46
Michael Kaufman: seeing done, I think Michael Kaufman: Looks like we're all done uh what I think. Uh, Maya, One more time for a great talk Michael Kaufman: inspire you a lot of questions, and uh look forward to hearing more about your work in Moscow and again here in your lab uh over the coming years. Michael Kaufman: Thank you all so much. It was so fun. Michael Kaufman: All right. Good to see everyone have a good weekend.
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