New System Developed By Scripps Researchers

Tracing the origins of marine animals can be extremely difficult, especially in the free-flowing, soup-like conditions of the ocean, but obtaining this information is vital not only for understanding these organisms but for managing and conserving them as well. Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have developed a novel approach for tracing the life roots of marine larvae, some of the most difficult organisms to track due to their microscopic sizes. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Bonnie Becker, Lisa Levin, Joel Fodrie and Pat McMillan describe a new process for studying mussel larvae through "elemental fingerprinting," a method in which chemical signatures in ocean water are used to construct geographical birthplace maps and baseline profile information about the tiny creatures...