Terra C. Hiebert, PhD
Like most students at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, marine invertebrates and their larvae are the focus of my research. In particular, I study the small and often overlooked phylum Nemertea - the ribbon worms. One aspect of my dissertation research is matching nemertean larvae with their respective adults. For about two years, I gathered plankton samples regularly, usually from the fishing marina docks in Charleston, OR. I have identified the larval form of over 30 nemertean species and, in doing so, produced this identification guide. Intriguingly, many larvae could not be identified to known species and, instead, revealed that there is a surprising amount of previously hidden diversity right around our small marine lab.
I hope that the guide serves useful for plankton enthusiasts from a variety of backgrounds or persuades a busy graduate student to take a stroll to the marina every now and again to take a plankton sample. I also hope that this website may serve as a means with which to better understand the regional distribution of nemertean larval forms and species. Most importantly, I hope that visitors to this website will come away with amazement and respect for marine invertebrates and their beautiful larvae.
Svetlana A Maslakova, PhD – Principal Investigator and Project Leader
Svetlana designed this project as an ideal exercise in basic molecular techniques for undergraduate students enrolled in her course, Marine Molecular Biology. Since the nemertean fauna was believed to be well described in this area and consisted of 65 reported species, she thought matching larvae to adults would be straightforward. This exercise soon became an extensive PhD research project including a reassessment of species-level diversity, new species descriptions and this larval identification guide – which is the first of its kind for nemertean larvae.
Marie K. Hunt, MS
Marie is a master's student that joined the Maslakova lab in 2013 and the focus of her research is the remarkable development of a lecithotrophic pilidiophoran larval type (pilidium nielseni) which was discovered in 2012. This work involves rearing larvae from fertilization to metamorphosis in the lab in addition to lots of time spent looking through plankton samples. We’ve found that there are at least five species that exhibit this unique larval morphology and Marie's research may shed light on the evolution of the pilidium larva. She recently discovered yet another species with this unique larval form and she participates in larval identification by keeping her eyes on the plankton, particularly in winter months.
Laurel S. Hiebert, PhD
Laurel has been a member of the Maslakova lab since 2008 and will be completing her PhD degree in the winter of 2015. By virtue of taking the Marine Molecular Biology course offered at OIMB, she participated in the flagship nemertean larval identification project. Laurel's PhD research focus is the novel pilidial form and the underlying mechanisms responsible for decoupling larval and juvenile bodies. She uses a comparative approach including both the hoplonemertean, Pantinonemertes californiensis and the pilidiophoran, Maculaura alaskensis, both species who's larvae we've identified.
George von Dassow, PhD – Senior Research Associate
While George’s research focus is the self-assembly and function of the cytoskeleton during early embryonic cell division, he also spends a considerable amount of time observing plankton. Furthermore, he encourages others to do the same and is frequently heard saying “anything interesting in the plankton?” or “have you taken a plankton tow lately?” As a result, he has contributed to nemertean larval identification by finding larvae, feeding and raising them and documenting them using photo and video microscopy. In particular, George contributed to the identification of the unique sock-shaped pilidium larva (pilidium recurvatum) as the larva of the genus Riserius.
Acknowledgements
We thank the following people for finding and bringing us larvae and help in the field or laboratory: Richard Emlet, Brittney Dlouhy-Massengale, Leeah Whittier and students in OIMB's Marine Molecular Biology class who participated in this project by participating in that course.
Marine Molecular Biology class, Fall term 2013.
Leeah Whittier, COSEE intern summer 2013, takes a plankton sample off the marina in Charleston.