EEB Faculty Index

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Earth & Marine Sciences A308
Phone: 831.459.5358
Fax: 831.459.5353
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John S. Pearse Professor Emeritus of EEBiology B.Sc., University of Chicago  Ph.D., Stanford University Post-Doc: California Institute of Technology

Center for Ocean Health 100 Shaffer Road University of California Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831.648.9245 Fax: 831.648.9245 pearse@biology.ucsc.edu office hours

Reproductive Ecology of Marine Invertebrates and Nearshore Ecology

Our research has focused on understanding temporal patterns of reproduction in marine invertebrates (mainly echinoderms) in various parts of the world’s oceans: Antarctic, tropical Pacific, and nearshore northeast temperate Pacific. We have shown that regulation of gametogenesis is by photoperiod in many temperate and polar species, whereas lunar rhythms are also important for some tropical and temperate species. In addition, we have looked at hybridization among closely related sympatric species, questioning how such species maintain their genetic integrity. We also continue to explore brooding and speciation in Antarctic species. Currently we have begun looking at speciation and the possibility of sexual selection in banana slugs along the west coast of North America.

Our research in nearshore ecology has followed long-term changes in the rocky intertidal and kelp forests on the coast of California. Currently we are working to incorporate high school students and others into a long-term monitoring program both to expose students to this environment and to doing hands-on science, and to document changes as they occur. See: http://limpets.noaa.gov/

Selected Recent Publications

Pearse, J.S., R. Mooi, S.J. Lockhart, and A. Brandt. 2009. Brooding and species diversity in the Southern Ocean: Selection for brooders or speciation within brooding clades? In Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science, I. Krupnik, M.A. Lang, and S.E. Miller, eds., pp. 181-196. Proc. Smithsonian at the Poles Symposium, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.

Pearse, J.S., K.E. Vicknair, J.B. McClintock, and H.M. Feder. 2009. Long-term populations changes in sea stars at three contrasting sites. In Echinoderms 2006: Durham. L.G. Harris, S.A. Boetger, C.W. Walker, and M.P. Lesser, eds., Proc. 12th International Echinoderm Conference, CRC Press.

Leonard, J.L, J.A. Westfall, and J.S. Pearse. 2007. Reproductive biology and phally polymorphism in Ariolimax (Ariolimax) buttoni (Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1896) (Stylommatophora: Arionidae). Amer. Malac. Bull. 23: 121-135.

Pearse, J.S. 2007. Reproduction, Overview. Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores, M.Denny and S.Gaines, eds., pp. 457-465. Univ. Calif. Press.

Pechenik, J.A. J.S. Pearse, and P.-Y. Qian. 2007. Effects of salinity on spawning and early development of the tube-building polychaete Hydroides elegans in Hong Kong: Not just the sperm's fault? Biol. Bull. 212: 151-160

Van De Werfhorst, L.C. and J.S. Pearse. 2007. Trampling in the rocky intertidal of central California: A follow up study. Bull. Mar. Sci. 81: 245-254.

Nichols, S.A., W. Dirks, J.S. Pearse, and N. King. 2006. Early evolution of animal cell signaling and adhesion genes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103:12451-12456.

Pearse, J.S. 2006. Ecological role of purple sea urchins (invited perspective). Science. 314:940-941.

Osborn, D.A., J.S. Pearse, and C.A. Roe. 2005. Monitoring rocky
intertidal shorelines: A role for the public in resource management.
California and the World Ocean '02, conf. proc., O. T. Magoon, H.
Converse, B. Baird, B. Jines, and M. Miller-Henson, eds., Amer. Soc.
Civil Engineers, Reston, VA., pp. 624-636

Wasson, K., K. Fenn, and J.S. Pearse. 2005. Habitat differences in marine
invasions of central California. Biol. Invasions, 7: 935-948.

Muricy, G. and J.S. Pearse. 2004. A new species of Oscarella (Demospongiae: Plakinidae) from California. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 55: 600-614.

Pearse, J.S. and S.J. Lockhart. 2004. Reproduction in cold water: Paradigm changes in the 20th century and a role for cidaroid sea urchins. Deep-sea Res. II 51: 1533-1549.

Rahman, M.A., T. Uehara, and J.S. Pearse. 2004. Experimental hybridization between two recently diverged species of tropical sea urchins, Echinometra mathaei and Echinometra oblonga. Invert. Reprod. Develop. 45: 1-14.

Voigt, O., A.G. Collins, V.B. Pearse, J.S. Pearse, H. Hadrys, and B.
Schierwater. 2004. Placozoa - no longer a phylum of one. Current Biol.
14: R944-R945.

Foster, M.S., E.W. Nigg, L.M. Kiguchi, D.D. Hardin, and J.S. Pearse. 2003. Temporal variation and succession in an algal-dominated high intertidal assemblage. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 289: 15-39.

Leonard, J.L., J.S. Pearse, and A.B. Harper. 2002. Sex and banana slugs: Comparative reproductive biology of Ariolimax californicus and A. dolichophallus (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Invert. Repro. Dev., 41: 83-93.

Pearse, J.S. and I. Bosch. 2002. Photoperiodic regulation of gametogenesis in the Antarctic sea star Odontaster validus Koehler: Evidence for a circannual rhythm modulated by light. Invert. Repro. Dev., 41: 73-81.

Lessios, H.A., B.D. Kessing, and J.S. Pearse. 2001. Population structure and speciation in tropical seas: Global phylogeography of the sea urchin Diadema. Evolution, 55: 955-975.