Historical Geobiology Research Group Erik Sperling

Physiology summer at Friday Harbor

During the Summer 2021, graduate student Andy Marquez and post doc Murray Duncan traveled to the Friday Harbor Labs in the San Juan Islands of WA for three months to conduct respirometry experiments on various marine invertebrate species. Their primary goal was to explore how ocean warming and deoxygenation synergistically affect the biogeography and body size of marine ectotherms. Focusing on species of ecological and paleontological importance, they worked on purple urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), pink scallops (Chlamys rubida), brachiopods (Terebratalia transversa), and Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas). Their data will help us better understand how marine animals have responded to changes in Earth’s climate throughout Earth history and how marine animals are responding to climate change today. Thanks to the FHL staff and the Wescott Bay Shellfish Company (website here) for a fun and productive summer!

Tidepool
Images from Clallam Bay, WA where Andy and Murray collected purple urchin from tidepools at low tide.
Urchin
Images from Clallam Bay, WA where Andy and Murray collected purple urchin from tidepools at low tide.
Equipment
The respirometry equipment (designed by Murray Duncan) that was used for data collection this summer.
Murray Duncan
Murray Duncan aboard the Friday Harbor Labs’ research vessel, Kittiwake, trawling for brachiopods.
Pink scallops
Pink scallops, Chlamys rubida
Oyster beds
Wescott Bay Shelfish Co., a local shellfish farm that worked with Andy and Murray to explore how hypoxia tolerance and temperature sensitivity of Pacific oysters scale with body size (images from https://www.westcottbayshellfish.com)
Sorting shellfish
Wescott Bay Shelfish Co., a local shellfish farm that worked with Andy and Murray to explore how hypoxia tolerance and temperature sensitivity of Pacific oysters scale with body size (images from https://www.westcottbayshellfish.com)

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