Hall Research Group

Approach

We work primarily with various waterfleas of the genus Daphnia

  • A Daphnia under the microscope

    The Hosts

    For over a century, Daphnia has been a powerful model organism for understanding the genetics of infectious disease and local adaptation. Their short generation time (12 days), ease of culturing, and ability to reproduce clonally is ideally suited to evolutionary genetics, as genotypes (i.e. clones) can be replicated extensively.

  • Pasteuria spores

    The Pathogens

    Daphnia are host to numerous pathogens including bacteria, fungi, microsporidia and helminths. One of the most common pathogens of D. magna is the spore-forming bacterium Pasteuria ramosa. Pasteuria is extremely virulent, resulting in complete castration of the host and a vastly reduced life expectancy.

  • A freshwater rock pool

    The Environment

    Daphnia are small (1–5 mm), transparent crustaceans that occupy a range of freshwater habitats — from rocky coastal rock pools to desert ponds and mountain lakes. Many populations have repeatedly evolved differences in life-history traits: Daphnia from rock-pool habitats develop faster, reproduce earlier, and die sooner.