Spring 2008 — Vol. 61, No. 2

A poster of strangely beautiful sea life covers the door to the Moran Lab in Clemson’s Jordan Hall. Fitting for a research laboratory focused on marine organisms.

But, inside, hangs a huge satellite image of Antarctica, icy white on a still blue sea. A small table nearby holds a copy of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s South, the record of his last expedition to the South Pole. Snapshots of smiling people — in thick, layered gear with snowy backgrounds — appear around the lab.

You start to realize that the marine life favored by biological sciences professor Amy Moran isn’t going to be in warm water. Not even cool water.

In fact, the frigid waters of Antarctica provide the “perfect conditions” for research into what Moran calls some “basic biological questions”:

• What evolutionary and ecological forces created so great a diversity in such extreme conditions?
• How have human activities and environmental degradation impacted these marine organisms?

Her trek from Clemson to Antarctica has involved Clemson students, colleagues from across the country, National Science Foundation funding, appearance on NBC’s “Today Show,” cold-weather survival training and a whole lot of work.

Moran spent two two-month sessions (2006 and 2007) at McMurdo Station, the U.S. science and research center on the southern tip of Ross Island. She worked with a team of researchers, dived in the frigid waters and studied marine life in juvenile stages of development.

 

More specifically, her team concentrated on how the extreme cold temperature and high oxygen availability affect the metabolism and evolution of certain Antarctic marine animals.

“The more we know about the development of the marine life, the better we’ll be able to predict how the effects of human-mitigated changes in the environment will affect them.”

Moran shrugs off the question of the physical challenge but says that leaving her family — husband and fellow biological sciences professor, Peter Marko, and their young son, William — was very difficult.

Clemson’s Department of Biological Sciences faculty have a rich variety of ongoing research on aspects of marine life and environmental impact — projects that are adding to the body of knowledge while engaging Clemson students in hands-on discoveries.

For more information on some of these projects, go to www.clemson.edu/biosci/research/marinebio.htm.

As a professional, however, she says the sacrifice was “definitely worth it.” Moran finds as much joy in teaching as she does in research. She says, “When you can make discoveries and then share the experience firsthand with students, you bring research full circle. The University setting is the perfect place for the combination.”

To learn more about the Moran Lab and McMurdo Station expeditions, go to www.clemson.edu/biosci/faculty/moran/lab.