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Lectures

Live from Antarctica: In search of worms and gooey invertebrates

About this event

UPDATE: Due to delays boarding our research vessel we are postponing this event until our research team is aboard the vessel. For those who have already registered, you will automatically get reregistered for the new date. For anyone who hasn't registered yet, please do so! We will continue to provide updates to those whose emails we have through this registration page.

The Antarctic continental shelf is one of the most remote and understudied marine ecosystems on earth. The seafloor here is teeming with invertebrate life: worm species large and small, microscopic mollusks, sea spiders, sea stars, and sea cucumbers (oh my!), all coexisting together on the vast muddy bottom.

Most invertebrates in the Southern Ocean are unknown to science, and every expedition uncovers troves of new species and unique body types. Using new DNA sequencing technologies, scientists are also trying to piece together the unique evolutionary history of Antarctic ecosystems and understand how polar invertebrates may be related to species in other ocean regions. 

Join a "dream team" of invertebrate taxonomists and evolutionary biologists searching for new species around Eastern Antarctica. They'll give you a quick tour of their deep-sea research ship, answer your questions about their work, and more on March 6 at 1 pm ET. The audience for this event is grades 4 to 12, but all are welcome! 

Register today at http://bit.ly/3JYAF7s.  

You can also learn more about the research team before the event at https://www.hollybik.com/research.