URAP

Daniel Okamoto - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Climate change is dramatically altering the oceans. These changes include increases in sea surface temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and primary productivity. We use experiments and field data to assess how these changes affect the physiology, growth, reproduction, and behavior of marine animals. We have numerous samples from past experiments and...

Daniel Okamoto - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

In kelp forests, food resources are a key contributor to a kelp forest inhabitant’s fitness. Recently, sea urchin herbivory has been shown to rapidly reshape the food landscape within these forests, converting areas of high productivity to desert-like ‘urchin barrens’. We aim to study food assimilation as it relates...

Daniel Okamoto - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

This URAP opportunity focuses on the energetics of host-parasite interactions in a model zooplankton-fungal parasite system. Over the course of Fall 2025- Spring 2026, we will conduct several experiments that test how variable food resources shape host and parasite fitness. Students will have the opportunity to connect and...

Daniel Okamoto - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Seaweeds (e.g., kelp, nori) are important primary producers, food sources, and essential fish habitat around the globe. While many species are resilient to climate change, many important species are also exhibiting declines in recent years and especially in response to marine heatwaves. We are conducting laboratory experiments and fieldwork focused...