Sociality - the suite of socially learned behaviors specific to a group of animals – is increasingly recognized as an integral strategy to the evolutionary ecology of many non-human animals. This is especially true in marine environments, where there are few barriers to dispersal, and top predators must find other ways to segregate and identify their niche space. In this hour I will share four examples of recent and ongoing research projects that incorporate the lens of sociality into our understanding of the evolutionary ecology of cetaceans.

How do vertebrate embryos develop to form the adult organism? Coordinated cell movements during gastrulation are key to laying down the early embryonic body plan. The cells migrate by two distinct mechanisms that I will describe. They can migrate on extracellular matrix or on their neighboring cells. In zebrafish embryos, endoderm cells migrate on the yolk extracellular matrix to form the organs of the gut.

Osmoregulation and ion regulation are essential features for normal physiological functions in animals. Using integrative approaches to describe coordinated cellular and organ-level mechanisms with physiological traits, my research broadly examines fundamental features that allow invertebrate animals to adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions. My talk will focus on work examining the interplay of anthropogenic disturbances and ion regulation in two different arthropod groups, amphipods and mosquitoes.

Molluscs are familiar invertebrates, from the humble garden slug, to the colorful shells picked up on the beach, to the mercurial shell-less octopus. Being one of the largest, most diverse, and beautiful groups of marine animals, molluscs have been cultivated by humans for centuries for the valuable materials they make (think pearls) and for the nutritious food they provide (menu items such as pulpo, escargot, moules).