Underwater In Salem Sound Lecture Series

This event is free and open to the public. Attend in person or register virtually with Abbot Library.

Speaker: Estefany Argueta, PhD Candidate in Dr. Lisa Komoroske’s lab at UMass Amherst and UMass Amherst Gloucester Marine Station at Hodgkin’s Cove

Presentation title: Swimming North: How Fish Adapt to Climate Change

Talk Description: We’ll explore research about black sea bass, a fish species that’s making its way into the Gulf of Maine’s warming waters. As our oceans continue to warm, understanding how marine life adapts to these changes becomes increasingly important for our coastal communities and ecosystems. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans, creating a unique natural laboratory for studying how marine species respond to climate change. Our research combines fish physiology and genetics to understand how black sea bass are successfully colonizing new territories.

You’ll learn about the dramatic changes occurring in the Gulf of Maine’s ecosystem, the journey of black sea bass as they expand their territory from Cape Cod into Maine’s waters and how marine animals use both short-term adjustments and long-term adaptations to survive in new environments. We will explore scientific methods used to study fish physiology and genetics and discuss what these findings mean for the future of our local marine ecosystem and fisheries

Speaker Bio:Estefany Argueta is a PhD Candidate in Dr. Lisa Komoroske’s lab at UMass Amherst. She received her bachelor’s degree in animal ecology with a focus in fisheries and aquatic science from Iowa State University. Her passion for research has taken her across the globe – from the cold waters of Alaska to the tropical shores of Brazil, with stops in Chile, North Carolina, Oregon, and Massachusetts. In the Komoroske lab, she studies how animals adapt to changing environments, focusing particularly on cold-blooded creatures (ectotherms). Her current research spans two exciting projects: studying how green sea turtles in Brazil cope with climate change through their mating patterns and investigating why Black Sea Bass are expanding their territory into the warming waters of the Gulf of Maine.