Today we gave our presentations in our invertebrate class. Each student presented an invert of their choosing. Some of the animals included the the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, the elephant snail Scutus antipodes, the common octopus, the nudibranch, the seastar Pisaster ochraceus, and the nautilus. Presentation styles included powerpoint talks, movies, or a combination of the two. Many students included short videos of their organisms in action, either eating, moving, or attacking. The focus of the presentations was to discuss problems facing invertebrates having to do with global change, from climate change or human involvement. Each student also had to give possible ways that the organism would deal with the problems, adaptations or changes in behavior that would have to occur in order for the organism to respond.
My organism of study was Pisaster ochraceus a keystone sea star found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Although the sea star contains calcium carbonate spicules, when exposed to higher temperatures and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide the tissue mass doubled in size, showing that this organism has to potential to respond positively to the warming sea waters. Problems that this organism may face would be declines in its prey species, which are calcified organisms who may not be able to make shell material when carbon dioxide concentrations rise.
Overall, it was a great experience to learn about many different species, and to see how global change is affecting them currently and in the future.
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