Revealing the hidden diversity, abundance, and feeding interactions at the base of aquatic food webs - Livestream

There are millions of microscopic organisms in a cup of water from our estuary, yet we struggle to understand what they are, what they are doing, and what would happen if they disappear. From the bacteria, to primary producers and small aquatic crustaceans and everything in between, the planktonic organisms that form the base of aquatic food webs aren’t just passively drifting particles, they have unique behaviors and environmental roles that make them very interesting and important members of our ecosystems. Join Dr. Jungbluth to learn about the how and why of her past and recent explorations into the world of plankton. She will talk about developing a novel technique to measure plankton abundance and biomass using just an animal’s DNA. She will explore the diversity of organisms in the bacteria, phytoplankton, and microzooplankton that are fueling food webs in the San Francisco Estuary through dietary DNA sequencing. Finally, she will share her recent discoveries about similarities and differences in the diets of larval fishes, many of which are less than a centimeter long, that have important implications for our understanding of how the estuarine food web is functioning today.

Speaker: Michelle Jungbluth, Estuary & Ocean Science Center

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