Rosenberg Institute Seminar Series - Jason Hodin

Jason Hodin, Senior Research Scientist, Friday Harbor Labs, University of Washington

Orienting to the Stars: Rewilding an apex predator for nearshore ecosystem health

Abstract:  Twelve years ago, seastar wasting disease impacted dozens of seastar species in the NE pacific, but the apex predatory sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) worst of all. Soon thereafter kelp started to decline dramatically in Northern California due largely to purple urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) overpopulation resulting in part from the sudden sunflower star disappearance. In 2019 we began to explore restoration breeding for sunflower stars at Friday Harbor Labs, where remnant populations exist. In this talk, I will review our successes in full life cycle breeding and the biological and ecological insights our breeding has revealed. I will also discuss our initial efforts at wild release and monitoring of lab raised stars. Looking to the future I will outline a vision for targeted breeding efforts for features like disease resistance, and suggest a view of sunflower stars, eelgrass and kelp as the power trio of NE Pacific nearshore ecosystem health. 

Bio: Jason Hodin is fascinated with metamorphosis, leading him to move from studying insects for his PhD to echinoderms afterwords. His years of effort carefully raising sea urchin and sea star larvae through metamorphosis led him to be tapped by the Nature Conservancy of California to attempt restoration breeding of the sunflower star. He has assembled a team of mainly post-Bac research assistants that raises yearly cohorts of seastars and explores basic life history questions, outplanting approaches, individual photo based reidentification, among other topics. Hodin is a Senior Research Scientist based at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs.