Echinoderms are the phylum of animals which includes sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and their relatives. Found in all the world’s oceans, echinoderms are usually integral parts of their ecosystems.
Dr. Allen’s current research focuses on the ways that echinoderms respond to changes in their environment as early embryos, larvae and juveniles. During these vulnerable stages of their lives, echinoderms exhibit surprising strategies for survival that defy much of what we thought we knew about them, including fundamental questions like: how many animals come from a single egg? The talk will focus on work on echinoderms from Maine, Washington and Australia and will explore how the natural curiosity of Dr. Allen and his students can be harnessed to understand fundamental principles of biology and ecology and how ‘rule breaking’ by echinoderms may be critical to their survival in times of environmental stress.
Dr. Allen is an Associate Professor of Biology at William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina and his BS from Bates College (Lewiston, ME). His research on echinoderms and other marine invertebrates focuses on the surprising ways that animals grow and develop in a complex world. Dr. Allen works primarily in near-shore coastal ecosystems that are natural laboratories for understanding how animals respond to a changing world. Dr. Allen’s work occurs primarily in rocky intertidal and coral reef habitats and his favored organisms for research are echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and their relatives). In addition to his research, he teaches courses in zoology, marine ecology and marine invertebrate biology.
