MSI Public Lecture Series

Dr. Ed Buskey

Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 7:00 PM
The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Visitor Center Auditorium

"Swarming Behavior, Bioluminescence and Copepods on Strings: These Are a Few of My Favorite Things"

Copepods are the most common form of zooplankton in the sea.  These 1-2 mm long animals form an important link between phytoplankton and fish in the marine food chain.  Copepods have evolved a number of remarkable adaptations to avoid making personal contributions to the food chain.  Dr. Buskey's research seeks to understand the role of behavioral adaptations of copepods in avoiding predation.

Plankton are by definition organisms that "drift with the currents".  However, some copepod species form swarms that may help them avoid predation. Dr. Buskey will discuss his research on a copepod species in Belize which forms dense swarms among the prop-roots of mangroves. They maintain these swarms at great energetic cost, swimming for hours in currents that move at up to 25 body lengths of these small animals per second, just to avoid being swept into the mouths of fishes waiting beyond the prop-roots.

Several deep-sea copepod species produce clouds of glowing bioluminescent fluid to ward off predators. Making a bright light in the otherwise dark deep sea might seem like hanging out a neon sign that says “Eat me”, but Dr. Buskey found that the timing of this flash was the key. To study these deep sea copepods in the laboratory, Dr. Buskey glued them to a thin wire and exposed them to precise vibrations to simulate the approach of predators. He found that the copepods showed escape responses to the vibrations, but only produced bioluminescence when the signal was very strong. By making a bright flash in the eyes of deep sea fish, the copepods can temporarily blind and confuse their predators and avoid being eaten. Dr. Buskey has also discovered the remarkable ability of copepods to reach speeds of more than 800 body lengths per second.

Dr. Buskey is a professor at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute where his research studies include zooplankton ecology.  To learn more about Dr. Buskey’s research go to:  www.utmsi.utexas.edu/staff/buskey