Petra Lenz’s Work on Alaskan Zooplankton Is Profiled in Research Features
In the far reaches of the sub-arctic North Pacific, scientists are using genetic profiling of high latitude zooplankton to better understand complex regional oceanography and commercial fish stocks. The Gulf of Alaska supports successful commercial fisheries, but productivity depends on robust fish populations, which in turn depend on a ready supply of zooplankton. Novel genetic sequencing of zooplankton RNA is allowing Professor Petra Lenz and her collaborators to investigate controls on adaptive physiology and population structure in the face of a changing climate.