Lisa Crockett, Ohio University professor of biological sciences. Photo credit: Kristin O’Brien.
You probably knew that fish are cold-blooded. But did you know that fishes in Antarctica have body temperatures of negative 1.8 degrees Celsius? And some Antarctic fishes even have white (not red) blood. How do these remarkable animals thrive at freezing temperatures, and how might they fare as some regions of the Southern Ocean warm at an unprecedented rate?
The research of Lisa Crockett, Ohio University professor of biological sciences, focuses on what physiological and biochemical processes limit the ability of Antarctic fishes to tolerate increasing temperatures, and how climate change is likely to affect the fauna of the Southern Ocean. She and her students recently returned from “the ice,” where they gathered samples from the deep ocean. While some analyses were done in Antarctica, others are being conducted back here in Athens.
Crockett will present a Science Café talk about this work, “Secrets and Perils of the Southern Ocean,” at 5 p.m. on Wed., Sept. 20, in the Baker Center Front Room. Crockett and her students will share some “secrets” about their Antarctic adventures and discuss some of the “perils” that these animals face. They also will pass around some samples of what they recently have collected.
Science Cafés are part of Ohio University’s Café Series, Wednesdays at the Baker Center Front Room. The series provides a venue for students to informally share their interests during a conversational exchange with faculty presenters, staff and the Athens community. Free coffee is offered to the first 50 attendees, and participants who ask questions can win a free t-shirt.
The series is supported by the Ohio University Research Division and Sigma Xi.
Learn more! Watch the 1-minute Café Series video: