Stanford University
Hopkins Marine Station
PISCO scientists at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station (HMS - http://www-marine.stanford.edu/) specialize in population genetics, ecological physiology, and biomechanics. Summer training courses are also offered at HMS.
Summer Course in Biomechanics and Ecological Physiology
The summer course in biomechanics and ecological physiology began in 2001 and is offered in alternate years. It is organized by Professors Palumbi, Denny and Somero. One of the major roles of the Hopkins Marine Station in the Consortium is to provide formal training in the contemporary theories and methodologies of biomechanics, ecological physiology, and population genetics, and to ensure that this training is made accessible to ecologists, biological oceanographers and conservation biologists who require this breadth of expertise in their work. The course offers lecture and laboratory analyses of the impact that physical, chemical, and biological factors have on marine organisms, and how these factors influence patterns of organismal distribution.
Support for tuition, housing, and travel ensures that the course is available to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty from North America and overseas who can best take advantage of the training. The course is open to the research community as a whole, and students in the Consortium are particularly encouraged to participate.
Topical Technical Workshops
Alternating years with the Summer Course, workshops are offered at Hopkins Marine Station (or, if more appropriate, at another PISCO campus) to provide students with hands-on training in a specific research methodology. The technique chosen for each workshop will be one that is new to the field of marine ecology, is not covered in the Summer Course, and presents promise for practical use in an interdisciplinary approach to the field. Through these workshops, faculty and students in the Consortium can stay abreast of the latest techniques.
Additional Educational Opportunities
A major objective of the educational program at HMS is the training of postdoctoral scholars and graduate students in cross-disciplinary methods of investigation. The Consortium supports resident postdoctoral researchers who are gaining expertise in biomechanical and/or physiological-biochemical-molecular theories and methods. This training complements their backgrounds in conservation biology or ecology. Demand for the type of graduate training in integrative marine science offered at Hopkins Marine Station has increased greatly. Increasing numbers of first-rate doctoral students are aware of the excitement and importance of research that integrates approaches used in biomechanics, ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Support for doctoral students allows Hopkins to expand this integrated intellectual focus and provide a formal education in cross-disciplinary research.
Opportunities are also available for undergraduates to begin this type of training through coursework at Hopkins Marine Station, and to conduct biological research. Outreach is offered to students on the Stanford University main campus for the interdisciplinary program in marine biology at Hopkins. We regularly communicate with the Biology, Human Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Earth Systems majors concerning study at Hopkins as part of their degree programs. Hopkins Marine Station offers opportunities for research, small classes, and integrative approaches to organismal and molecular biology, neurobiology, ecology, biomechanics, and fluid mechanics. The Consortium supports undergraduates' participation in biodiversity assessments or other consortium research projects, and approved research projects that are consistent with the focus of the Consortium. This exposure to research commonly motivates these students to choose biological research as their career path. In cooperation with the Stanford Learning Laboratory, Hopkins has developed Distance Learning classes, available on Stanford main campus through video link. Deep Sea Biology and Marine Conservation Biology have been offered as joint Hopkins-Stanford lecture and discussion seminars.
Who We Are
Principal Investigators
Dr. Mark Denny's research focuses on biomechanics, applying physics and engineering to biological investigations: for example, investigating the principles that guide the evolution of size, shape, and materials in animals and plants in the wave-swept intertidal zone.
Dr Steve Palumbi’s research combines molecular genetic techniques and oceanographic data to study the flow of genes along the west coast of the US. Determining the point of origin, the direction, and the distance traveled by dispersing marine organisms feeds into studies of natural selection, MPA design, and fisheries management policy and practices.
Dr. George Somero's research program focuses on physiological, biochemical, and molecular adaptations of animals to the marine environment. Of special interest are adaptations that play pivotal roles in establishing biogeographic patterning with latitude or vertical position. The thermal tolerance limits of physiological processes, and the extent to which these limits can be modified during exposure to short-term temperature change are of particular concern in view of increasing water temperatures.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Eric Sanford - Our research combines physiological and ecological approaches to investigate how temperature variation affects rocky intertidal communities. We are conducting field and laboratory studies that examine correlations among water temperature, enzyme activity, respiration rate, and predation intensity in the sea star Pisaster ochraceus. In addition, in collaboration with Lars Tomanek, we are examining how heat stress impacts the vertical zonation and physiology or the turban snails Tegula funebralis and T. brunnea.
Dr. Lars Tomanek - The intertidal zone is characterized by physical stresses that are extreme to most marine invertebrates. This leads us to question how organisms that live in the intertidal zone are able to cope with these stresses, such as thermal stress encountered during low tide. Snail species of the genus Tegula provide an ideal study system to address this question: although they share a similar genetic background because of their relatedness they occupy widely differing thermal niches along the intertidal to subtidal gradient. Differences between these species in the physiological, biochemical and molecular responses to thermal stress are therefore likely to be adaptively important. Such interspecific differences to various thermal environments provide insights into how organisms may react to global climate change, as well as other thermal fluctuations.
Dr. Chris Harley - My research focuses on the relationships between the environment and the distribution of marine plants and animals at multiple levels of biological organization. At the level of the individual, I am collaborating with Mark Denny to determine the heat budgets of barnacles and limpets, and then relating these heat budgets to the distributions of invertebrates in the field. At the population level, I am investigating the role of emersion time and thermal stress in setting the upper limits of invertebrates and algae through space and time. At the community level, I am studying the role of thermal stress in altering the interactions between filter-feeding invertebrates and their predators and parasites. Finally, at the landscape level, I am collaborating with Kate Smith at U.C. Santa Barbara on a project that relates the local environmental tolerances of species to their geographic range size.
Doctoral Students and Teaching Assistants
Current and incoming graduate students supported by the Consortium include Kimberly Heiman and Luke Hunt. Joanna Nelson works as a teaching assistant for biomechanics and statistics courses at Hopkins, focuses on undergraduate education, and coordinates the workshops and courses hosted by Hopkins.