Heidi Waite

University of California, Irvine | UCI · Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Under climate change, marine organisms will need to tolerate or adapt to increasing temperatures to persist. The ability of populations to cope with thermal stress may be influenced by conditions experienced by parents, by both genetic changes and transgenerational phenotypic plasticity through epigenetics or maternal provisioning. In organisms wit...

This study determined the quantity and diversity of microplastics in water and soft tissues of eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and Atlantic mud crabs (Panopeus herbstii) in Mosquito Lagoon, a shallow, microtidal estuary along the east coast of central Florida. One-liter water samples had an average of 23.1 microplastic pieces (n = 15). Crab...

Marine and estuarine crabs brood attached eggs, which hatch synchronously releasing larvae at precise times relative to environmental cycles. The subtidal crab Dyspanopeus sayi has a circadian rhythm, in which larvae are released within the 4-h interval after the time of ambient sunset. Previous studies demonstrated that the rhythm can be entrained...