Jake Warner, an assistant professor in UNC Wilmington's Department of Biology and Marine Biology, is leading a research expedition to McMurdo Station in Antarctica to study the genomic adaptation of sea urchins to the Antarctic environment. Warner's team includes Kristen Boddy, biology and marine biology doctoral student; Ken Halanych, UNCW Center for Marine Science executive director; and Auburn researchers Ryan Range and Jennifer Fenner.
"UNCW is a world leader in coastal resiliency research, and this research isn't limited to our own coasts but extends to our world's seas and oceans, including the Southern Ocean," said Warner. "This project helps us understand how life has adapted to one of the most challenging environments on the planet."
is routinely used
as a model organism
for Antarctic biology.
The project seeks to identify changes in the DNA of Antarctic sea urchins that enable them to adapt to the extremely cold waters of Antarctica. These sea urchins live under the sea ice and are collected by ice divers who cut holes in the five-foot-thick ice to retrieve the specimens. The divers then transport the sea urchins to a research lab at McMurdo Station, a National Science Foundation research base on Ross Island, Antarctica.
Warner and Boddy conducted preliminary research in November with plans to return in 2025.
"Studying how these sea urchins have adapted to the Antarctic environment helps us understand how organisms can survive and grow in extreme environments," said Boddy.
The project is funded by an extramural grant from the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. Warner's team recently published their preliminary findings in the Genome Biology and Evolution.
