Culture Café – ‘GEMS of Hull: Geology, Environment, Marine Science and Us - Tales from Yorkshire and beyond’.

Title: ‘Worms On Film: from the Humber mudflats to the Cambrian Explosion’. 

Speaker: Catherine Mascord, Dr Krysia Mazik, and Dr Liam Herringshaw. 

Date: Saturday 1st December 2018.

Venue: University of Hull, Business School, Allam Lecture Theatre

Time: 11am – 1pm

As burrow-dwelling denizens of very sticky sediments, rag worms are easily disregarded. They are, however, a) iridescent and beautiful when extracted from the mud; b) enormously economically significant, as bait; and c) ecosystem engineers vital to the functioning of estuarine and intertidal habitats right across the world. As such, they are worthy of both respect and research. In this talk, we will explain how we are using the burrowing behaviour of worms from the Humber mudflats to try and understand how the earliest animals began moving into marine sedimentary environments, during the Cambrian Explosion of life, around 541 million years ago. If you’re lucky/unlucky, we might even bring in some worms for you to admire.

Catherine Mascord, PhD Student, Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull.

Catherine is working on the ‘Worms On Film’ project. Her research combines experimental analysis of burrowing worms in modern marine environments with geological investigation of the early evolution of burrowing animals, and their interactions with microbial mats. Prior to arriving in Hull, Catherine was a geology undergraduate at Durham University, where she was one of the Faculty of Science’s Rising Stars, presenting her research on early jellyfish at the 2017 research symposium, and also the recipient of a BP Scholarship in 2013-14, enabling her to conduct independent research into the Carboniferous geology and palaeontology of Northumberland.

Dr Krysia Mazik, Senior Benthic Ecologist, Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (IECS), University of Hull.

Krysia is an applied ecologist, interested in the structural and functional ecology of marine and estuarine benthic communities, sediment processes, pollution, toxicology and data analysis. Her work has investigated the impacts of petrochemicals on benthic community structure, bioturbation and sediment erosion patterns; recovery processes and dynamics in soft sediment habitats; impacts of climate change on features of conservation interest; and evaluation of indicators of environmental status. Krysia has produced more than 80 technical and advisory reports to government agencies and industry, aiming to understand and manage issues in the marine environment.

Dr Liam Herringshaw Lecturer in Geology and Deputy Director of Admissions for Geology and Geography.

Liam Herringshaw is a lecturer in the School of Environmental Sciences. He is primarily a palaeontologist, but knows nothing about dinosaurs. His research focuses on marine palaeoecology through time, particularly how burrowing sea creatures have affected - and been affected by - the sediments they live in, from the earliest worms burrowing into sticky muds, to crustacean tunnels in oil reservoirs. Liam also has an unhealthy fascination with fossil starfish, armoured worms and shales.

Cost: Free Admission – All welcome but booking is required in order to guarantee a place and to enable us to ensure we have an adequately sized room booked for the session. 

Enquiries:  Jackie McAndrew - Monday to Weds - OpenCampus work days. 

Email: opencampus@hull.ac.uk

Telephone: 01482 466585

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About the OpenCampus Programme

The OpenCampus Programme is the University of Hull's open access adult lifelong learning education programme.  You can attend one session or all the sessions in a series.  Sessions are informal and friendly and are not traditional public lectures.  We do not charge for admission to sessions so we utilise the University's normal teaching spaces when they are not required for student teaching (lecture theatres and seminar rooms).  We try to provide access to one of the University Cafes as part of the experience, but cannot guarantee this. We try to time sessions to meet the needs of the majority of our learners. We like to accommodate the needs of all attendees (seen and unseen needs) by having a comfort break at each session.   We may offer specialist one off sessions for which we may make a charge.

We may also share other events at the University that may be of interest to our typical OpenCampus learners.