“USING GENOMICS TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE”

Dr. Mike Herman, Department of Biology, Kansas State University

Dr. Herman is using resident nematode populations sampled from the Konza Tallgrass Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, Kansas to link the responses of organisms to environmental change at the genetic level. He hypothesizes that different species may have varying genetic capacities to respond to changes in the environment; either by differences in the genes they possess or in how those genes are regulated.  Learn more at his website.

Nematodes have successfully adapted to nearly every ecological niche from marine to freshwater, from the polar regions to the tropics, as well as from the highest to the lowest of elevations. They are ubiquitous in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments, where they often outnumber other animals in both individual and species counts, and are found in locations as diverse as Antarctica and oceanic trenches. They represent, for example, 90% of all life on the seafloor of the Earth. (cited from WIKIPEDIA.ORG)