Marissa (Velarde) Wu

Marissa (Velarde) Wu

M.S. Biology expected 2019

Investigating the effects of physiological and reproductive behaviors of red abalone, haliotis rufescens, on gamete dispersal.

 

Graduate Research Thesis Committee:

Dr. Danielle Zacherl (PI), Dr. Doug Eernisse, and Dr. Kristy Forsgren

Career Background:

I earned my B.S. in Marine Biology at California State University Long Beach in Spring of 2011. Since then I have been fortunate to work in the Aquatic Nursery at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and most recently as an assistant Aquarist at the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium.

Research Interests:

I am a graduate student in Dr. Zacherl’s lab with a working project thesis involving the reproductive behavior and strategies of the native red abalone, haliotis rufescens. Abalone are free spawners that broadcast their gametes into the water column where they fertilize in the currents. I am mainly i:nterested in the mechanisms behind abalone broadcast spawning and how variations in these mechanisms can effect gamete dispersal in the water column. I am also interested in how artificial spawning induction versus natural spawning might effect the spawning mechanisms and the volume of gametes released.