KRUG LAB - EVOLUTIONARY AND LARVAL ECOLOGY OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES
Julia Vo, M.S. 2013
Julia's thesis examined the population genetic consequences of a reduced larval planktonic period in two related species of Caribbean sea slugs, to determine whether the duration of the swimming larval period explains differences in the level of gene flow between populations. Oceanographic models indicate currents should transport tiny larvae thousands of miles, but only genetic data can test
whether these models reflect the actual level of migration between island populations. Larvae of E. velutinus (called E. tuca in her thesis)
delay metamorphosis until they encounter their adult host algae Halimeda, and can swim for up to two weeks, whereas larvae of the co-occurring Elysia crispata have no settlement requirement, and metamorphose prior to, or within a few days of, hatching. Julia's results demonstrated exceptionally high phylogeographic structure in E. crispata, and relatively less structure in E. velutinus, as predicted from their different pelagic larval durations. However, neither species showed barriers to gene flow where predicted by biophysical coupling models of ocean circulation, nor were breaks in the same place for these two closely related, ecologically similar species.
​
Julia's interests grew out of a Molecular Ecology class she took at UC Berkeley, which led her to undergraduate research on the phylogeography of endangered tree frogs from Australia's wet tropics with Dr. Craig Moritz. She later worked on population genetics of molluscs and fish from the magnificent marine lakes of Palau in the lab of Dr. Mike Dawson at UC Merced before joining our lab at Cal State L.A.