Embryonic development is a genomically encoded construction process in which cells acquire their identities and build organs within a three-dimensional embryonic environment. A central question in developmental biology is: once cells know who they are, how do they construct the organs they are set to form? We address this question by studying the relatively simple system of sea urchin skeletogenesis, focusing on the interplay between gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that specify cell identity and cytoskeletal and adhesion protein networks that drive cell behavior and morphogenesis.

The mechanisms that maintain biodiversity have long been a central focus of ecology, and this area of research has taken on increased urgency as the pace of global change accelerates. I will discuss the importance of habitat-forming foundation species as key mediators of biodiversity patterns in space and time using one classical ecological concept and one recent extreme event. In classic work conducted on rocky shores, UW's own Bob Paine famously demonstrated that a keystone predator, Pisaster, promoted diversity by preventing a competitively dominant mussel from monopolizing space.

Behavioral thermoregulation is an important defense against the negative impacts of climate change for many ectotherms. One such example is the fiddler crab Minuca pugnax, a species that occupies thermally unstable mudflat habitats, where it uses behavioral thermoregulation, including burrow retreats, to manage body temperature (Tb).

Understanding diversity in nature requires not only elucidating the mechanisms that underlie it, but also understanding the fitness consequences of variation. Reptiles and amphibians have unique life histories, but their patterns of aging are under-studied despite the potential to answer unique questions about the evolution of senescence. We take advantage of long-term mark-recapture datasets to untangle the drivers of longevity and rates of aging in these groups.