University of Gothenburg
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Leon Green Ekelin

RESEARCHER

Department of Biological & Environmental
Sciences
Mail
leon.green@bioenv.gu.se
Visiting address
Medicinaregatan 18
41390 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 463
40530 Göteborg

About Leon Green Ekelin

ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTATION IN FISH GAMETES

 

I'm studying the effects of environmental change on fish gametes (eggs and sperm). As environments change, organisms can acclimate and/or adapt (through genetic changes in their offspring). Since eggs and sperm cells are more sensitive, environmental effects will likely occur earlier in these cells, with stronger impacts than in an adult animal. This makes gametes from animals with external fertilisation likelier to change when exposed to new environments.

By which way an animal copes with its changing environment can vary widely, but most vertebrates (animals with a backbone, such as fish) still have very similar cellular processes. Figuring out how these cellular regulations are turned on genetically, to what extent they can change, and whether it is heritable or not are important questions to answer.

In my research, I'm is using the invasive fish round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) as a model, to look at if and how this species adapts their gametes to cope with different levels of salinity along its expansion range in the Baltic Sea.

 

My work is a part of the CeMEB research platform.

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS:

  • Environmental adaptation of fishes physiology and behaviour.
  • Evolution and speciation.
  • Sperm physiology and larval development.
  • Scientific outreach.
  • Developing scientific diving techniques.  

 BACKGROUND: I did my bachelors in Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and the University of Gothenburg. After my studies I did a career for a few years in under water film production with Tierra Grande Films. In 2011 I started my research education under the tutelage of prof. Fredrik Jutfelt. After a few years of ocean acidification research, I've now focused my studies on environmental adaptation during fish reproduction. My PhD project is supervised by prof. Lotta Kvarnemo, who makes sure I add upp the "ecology" in ecophysiology!

On my "free time" I enjoy photography, birdwatching, keeping coral reef aquaria and SCUBA diving.