Congratulations to Emmerson Wilson and Kieran Murphy for this review of the ecology of Ciona. Four closely related species have been recently recognized, but no one had fully parsed out how all the past studies of ecology apply to the different species. About 8 years ago, Kieran began this process as part of his MSc, and then Emmerson picked up the project more recently. Hopefully this proves useful for those continuing to work with this widely studied species.

Wilson, E.R., Murphy, K.J., and Wyeth, R.C. 2022. Ecological Review of the Ciona Species Complex. The Biological Bulletin. doi:10.1086/719476.

Congratulations to Alex Young, now alumnus from lab, working on his PhD at Dalhousie University. This project drew together work with Dan Jackson in Germany, as well as Roger Croll and Griffin Beach at Dalhousie University. Quite simply, we’ve (finally) solidified the evidence that the antibody used extensively to study putative dopaminergic neurons in gastropods for decades is in fact labelling what we think it is. Moreover, Alex has given an example of how switching to in situs will be important in future work studying the neuroanatomy of gastropods.

Young, A.P., Beach, G.A., Croll, R.P., Jackson, D.J., and Wyeth, R.C. 2022. Tyrosine hydroxylase messenger RNA corroborates protein localization in the nervous system of the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. Invertebrate Biology e12367. doi:10.1111/ivb.12367.

Both applied research projects in the Wyeth Lab are in the news! Our collaboration with Graphene Innovation & Technologies, studying biofouling and fouling-release properties of non-toxic, graphene-based coatings for ship hulls got some coverage on the StFX News feed (linked to our recent funding success through the MITACS Accelerate program). Meanwhile, our work studying lobster responses to potential alternative baits was highlighted by Oceans North.

Grace Walls just jumped another hurdle towards her PhD, (easily!) passing her comprehensive exam. Kudos Grace!

The second successful MSc defense of the summer! Ella Maltby did a fantastic job presenting her work (to a huge Zoom audience) on contaminants in local lobsters and the potential for using behavioural bioassays to do future monitoring for contaminants in lobsters. Both were initiated as part of the effort to remediate Boat Harbour, and will inform future science helping to return it to its natural state. Thanks also to co-supervisor Jim Willliams, committee members Tony Walker and Ken Oakes, and external examiner Rita Mroz who helped guide her to this end point.

This one was a real team effort, with six different students contributing collectively to data collection, analysis and or manuscript prep. So, congrats to Amelia, Katerina, Ella, Michelle, Alexa, and Emmerson! The findings were really straight forward. We worked with We’koqma’q First Nation aquaculture, and tested the effectiveness of a various commercial options for non-toxic antifouling on aquaculture netting against the crazy mussel fouling that occurs at their site. We found little or no performance enhancement over standard (control) nylon netting. Done.

MacKenzie, A.F., Basque, K., Maltby, E.A., Hodgson, M., Nicholson, A., Wilson, E., Stuart, R., Smith-Palmer, T., and Wyeth, R.C. 2021. Effectiveness of several commercial non-toxic antifouling technologies for aquaculture netting at reducing mussel biofouling. Aquaculture 543: 736968. doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.736968.

Areej Alansari has defended her thesis, studying the navigation behaviour of the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. The short version is that she discovered that the snails can cope with quite a variety of flow conditions while seeking out odour sources. It’s taken a bit longer than planned because of hiccups from foreign relations and pandemic, but a fantastic achievement. Thanks also to commiteee members Jim Williams and John McKenna, and external examiner Tim Rawlings.

Way to go Areej!