About Dr Kevin Kocot
Dr Kocot is based at the University of Alabama and the Alabama Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on the biodiversity, systematics, and genomics of understudied invertebrates using molecular (DNA barcoding, and transcriptome, whole and mitochondrial genome sequencing) and morphological (SEM, histology, and high-resolution micro-computed tomography). For more information, please visit the Kocot lab website (https://www.kocotlab.com/).
Big Questions about Small Animals: Integrative Taxonomy, Systematics, and Genomics of Meiofauna
Research in the Kocot lab is driven by an interest in invertebrate animal biodiversity and evolution. We seek to help characterize the incredible diversity of non-vertebrate animal life and understand how it came to be. To do so, we leverage tools like genomics, bioinformatics, and phylogenetics, but we are also classically trained invertebrate zoologists who get to know our study organisms using morphological approaches like histology, light and electron microscopy, and computed tomography. Most research in the Kocot lab is focused on Mollusca, the second most species-rich animal phylum and one of the most morphologically disparate groups of animals on Earth. In particular, Aplacophora is an ecologically important and phylogenetically significant clade of worm-shaped marine molluscs, but many (most?) species are very small (meiofaunal) animals. As is the case for many groups of invertebrates, the number of aplacophoran taxonomists, which has always been small, has declined in recent years. Meanwhile, known but undescribed species continue to grow in number, vastly outweighing those named to date. In this talk, I will discuss our ongoing efforts to help advance meiofaunal invertebrate taxonomy, systematics, and genomics using both traditional and modern approaches.