Recent News
Education
Ph.D., University of Washington
Courses Taught
- BIOS 1000 The Animal Kingdom
- BIOS 4290 Marine Biology
Research Interests
- Lab: Wilson 205/208
Current funded projects include a collaborative study with Jose Giner (SUNY-ESF) on the metabolism of phytosterols by marine copepods and the effects of these sterols on copepod growth and reproduction. This study continues a recent line of research on the role of dietary sterols in copepod nutritional ecology, and is focused in particular on a number of novel phytosterols found in harmful algal species. A second collaborative study with Petra Lenz (University of Hawaii) is utilizing a functional genomics approach to understanding factors that control the seasonal cycle of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus, a critical species in the North Atlantic food web. We are using differences in gene expression patterns from laboratory manipulations of key environmental factors, such as food and temperature, to understand patterns observed in seasonally-collected field samples from the Gulf of Maine.
Biography
Patrick Hassett received his B.A. in Biology from Harvard University (1976) and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington (1986). He has held positions as a National Research Council Research Associate at the National Marine Fisheries Service Honolulu Laboratory, Research Scientist at SUNY-Stony Brook's Marine Science Center, and Research Associate at Arizona State University's Department of Zoology. He has been at Ohio University since 1995. Hassett's research interests are centered on the physiology and feeding ecology of zooplankton, particularly copepods (millimeter-sized crustaceans that frequently dominate the zooplankton). His research has taken him to a variety of habitats, from polar and sub-polar seas off the Aleutian Islands and Antarctica, to temperate waters of the North Pacific and Gulf of Maine, and sub-tropical waters of Hawaii, as well as to lakes of Wisconsin and Michigan. Much of his recent research has been conducted at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine.
Representative Publications
Hassett, R.P. and E.L. Crockett. 2009. Adaptation temperature is an important determinant of cholesterol contents in copepods. J. Experimental Biology 212: 71-78.
Hassett. R.P. 2006. Physiological characteristics of lipid-rich 'fat' and lipid-poor 'thin' morphotypes of individual Calanus finmarchicus CV copepodites in nearshore Gulf of Maine. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 997-1003.
Hassett, R.P. 2004. Supplementation of a diatom diet with cholesterol can enhance copepod egg production rates. Limnology and Oceanography 49: 488-494.
Hassett, R.P. 2003. Effect of toxins of the 'red-tide' dinoflagellate Alexandrium spp. on the oxygen consumption of marine copepods. Journal of Plankton Research 25: 185-192.
Hassett, R.P., B. Cardinale, L.B. Stabler, and J.J. Elser. 1997. Ecological stoichiometry of N and P in pelagic ecosystems: comparison of lakes and oceans with emphasis on the zooplankton-phytoplankton interaction. Limnology and Oceanography 42: 648-662