Siena Mckim
she/her
I'm a PhD Candidate in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department University of California Santa Barbara. My research interests include the evolution of silk in Crustacea like amphipods, tanaids, and ostracods; the evolution of arthropod glandular systems; and silk behavior.
Research Focus
Silk is an incredible material that has evolved over 3o times convergently only in arthropods, like insects, spiders, and crustaceans. Marine silk producers, crustaceans like tiny amphipods and tanaids, have received little attention yet may hold the secret to how this adaptation keeps evolving in the largest group of animals on our planet. For my PhD research I study the origins and evolution of silk in crustaceans utilizing histological staining and imaging and RNA-seq methods. I work with specimens found globally from my local ecosystems in Santa Barbara California to Bocas Del Toro Panama to New Zealand, and Antarctica.
Ongoing Projects
In addition to research with my own data collected I am working on publishing a literature review on silk-producing crustaceans where for the first time, a phylogenetic hypothesis on the evolution of crustacea silk is proposed. I also classify crustacea silk within a canonical and non-canonical silk framework as described in Walker et al. 2015. Descriptions of crustacean silk gland systems are also discussed. The image adjacent is an excerpt from the paper!
Recent
Presentation
I presented my talk A Thread on The Convergent Evolution of Crustacea Silk at the 2024 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Seattle, WA. This was a complimentary session to the Convergent Evolution Symposium. I proposed that silk has convergently evolved in Crustacea at least 6 times and presented candidate genes involved in silk production in corophioid amphipods. The silk used by crustaceans, tanaids, and amphipods, is similar to the silk produced by silk moths
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Made by Emily Lau
Research Highlights
August 2024 I attended the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Confusing Crustacean: Peracarid Systematics, Collection, and Preservation Workshop in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. We collected and identified over 500 crustaceans and continue to develop a Panama Peracarida field guide. This was one workshop part of the ongoing NSF project Backbone of Peracarida where researchers around the world work to resolve the phylogenetic relationship of peracarid crustaceans. Here is one of my contributions to the Panama field guide where I highlight the products and structures peracarids produce in Panama. Available in English and Spanish. To learn more visit Peracarid.org.
