October 16, 2019

12:00 LSB 2320

Holly Moeller
Department of Ecology, Evolution &; Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara

" Trade, Borrow, or Steal: How acquired metabolism fuels ecological opportunity and evolutionary innovation "

Acquired metabolismmetabolism that is not encoded within an organisms genome, but which is instead obtained through interactions with other speciesmediates species interactions that shape both community composition and function. Further, these acquisitions provide the substrate for evolution, enabling organisms to achieve higher fitness by accessing novel niches. In this talk, I’ll highlight the widespread significance of acquired metabolism to terrestrial and aquatic communities. First, I will describe how multispecies mutualisms allow single tree genotypes to thrive in variable environmental conditions. Second, I’ll explore acquired metabolism in kleptoplastidic (chloroplast-stealing) plankton, and how obtaining the capacity for photosynthesis has allowed for the evolutionary diversification of modern phytoplankton.

Host: Van Savage