My experience in the Collin Lab by Alexandra De León

Hi! My name is Alexandra De León. I’m an undergraduate in Marine Biology at the International Maritime University of Panama. I am currently working on my thesis in the Collin Lab since April 2019, which is titled: “Variations in the diversity and abundance of holoplanktonic gastropods (Gastropoda: Pteropoda and Littorinimorpha) in relation to environmental parameters during the dry and rainy seasons in the Gulf of Panama”.

Before having the opportunity to work at the Collin Lab, I had the chance to participate in different projects that included coral reefs, mangroves, sea turtles, bony fish and elasmobranchs, but I had never worked with plankton or in a laboratory! So, at first it was quite challenging because there were a lot of new things to learn, but at the same time it was exciting to start studying a whole world of marine microorganisms that most of the time go unnoticed despite their ecological importance in oceanic ecosystems.

The organisms with which I am working on my thesis project, are commonly known as Pteropods or sea butterflies. I prefer to call them holoplanktonic gastropods, since in my project I’m considering two different orders. I'm not going to dig into more taxonomy, since it is a bit complicated and maybe I’ll just save that for another post. So instead, look how beautiful and unique they are!

Right: A Gymnosomata or sea angel, an  example of a pterapod without shell. Left: Atlanta, a sample from the order Littorinimorpha. 

Pictures of two samples from the order Pteropoda. Right: Hyalocylis striata. Left: Cavolinidae.

Since my very first day working at the Collin Lab, everyone has given me their trust and support.  Throughout these months I’ve been able to learn a little bit from all the members of the laboratory, which I consider is one of the most important parts of working in a place like STRI. Having the opportunity to do my thesis at the Collin Lab, has certainly been an enriching experience as a future professional and researcher, and I’ll be forever grateful for it. I still have a couple of months ahead to finish my field data collection and I hope to get my bachelor’s degree next year.

Thanks for reading.
- Alexandra.