SoSC Research Seminar on sonification of coronavirus and on Sea urchins

School of Science Research Seminar: A tale of two urchins: pelagic larval duration versus thermal tolerance

• Date: Tuesday 24th November 2020
• Time: 10:00am
• Zoom Link: https://uws.zoom.us/j/4841637742?pwd=cXVpNTQ3QXlXVGErUkxaSGMwYWJ1Zz09

Speakers:

• Sebastian Holmes, School of Science, Western Sydney University
• Mailie Gall, School of Science, Western Sydney University and Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services, Westmead
• Paul Rymer, School of Science, Western Sydney University
• Maria Byrne, University of Sydney

Abstract:

The two sea urchins, Heliocidaris erythrogramma & H. tuberculata, are common coexisting inhabitants of shallow subtidal rocky reefs. H. tuberculata has a broad (~3000 km) trans-Tasman distribution but in Australia it is limited to the New South Wales (NSW) coast (latitudinal range 11°). H. erythrogramma on the other hand, is found only in Australia but from northern NSW round the southern half of Australia into West Australia (~7000 km) (latitudinal range of 18°). Given the difference in the pelagic larval duration (PLD) (proxy for dispersal capacity) of the two species, H. tuberculata has a PLD, 21-45 d whereas H. erythrogramma has a PLD of 3-5 d, these distributions are counter intuitive to what we would expect. In this talk we will examine the population genetics of the two species and the thermal tolerance of their larvae, in attempt to elucidate the underlying mechanism responsible for these distributions. And Mark Temple School of Science, Western Sydney University Sonification of biological sequence data