Dr. Yaamini Venkataraman

Yaamini venkataraman, phd

Marine Physiologist and Foodie

about yaamini

Dr. Yaamini Venkataraman is a postdoctoral researcher who works at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. Before that, she got her PhD in marine biology at the University of Washington. She became interested in marine biology after volunteering for two summers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium as a teenager, near where she grew up in Cupertino, CA. Her time at the aquarium taught her about the power of connecting science with people, and this led her to the University of California, San Diego where she double majored in Biology and Environmental Policy. Through her research, she gets to work with people from various disciplines, including those impacted by her research. In addition to her scientific research, she is also passionate about educational outreach and making science more equitable. Yaamini has been involved in many projects to bring marine science to young people, and has developed and taught a course on colonialism and white supremacy in aquatic and fisheries science. In her free time, she loves trying out new restaurants and cooking new recipes!

Image credit: Million STEM

What does Yaamini study?

The laboratory that Yaamini worked in at UW focuses on learning more about the physiological responses (changes in an organisms’ body processes, like breathing, digestion, circulation, etc) of marine organisms to environmental change like ocean acidification, warming water, or pollution. In her PhD, Yaamini studied how environmental changes impact not only individual oysters, but also their larvae. Now, Yaamini is focusing on other aspects of how environmental conditions affects their physiology (how their bodies function). She's interested in how temperature stress and low-oxygen levels affects both the overall health and the molecular health of European green crabs, Caribbean corals, and Atlantic killifish.

An Atlantic killifish, or Fundulus heteroclitus

Photo by Joel Sartore

A European green crab, or Carcinus maenas

Image credit: Emily Grason/Washington Seagrant

What does she love about her job?

"I love my job because I get to do something that's interesting to me and matters to other people while working with an awesome team. Science is very team-based, and I'm lucky to have a good supportive team."

How did she know she wanted to be a scientist?

"As [someone from the California Bay Area], I grew up going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was always floored by the intricacies of the organisms themselves, but also how complex their environments were. However, a career in environmental science wasn’t a common aspiration for a first-generation Indian-American. I was unsure if I was betraying my heritage and my immigrant parents’ struggle by exploring marine science instead of conceding and pursuing something 'safe', like medicine or engineering. I continued to pursue opportunities in marine science, hoping that by learning more about my passions, I would be able to convince them of their importance." (1)

Yaamini loves oysters!

Image courtesy of Yaamini Venkataraman

Yaamini's Research

During her PhD, Yaamini did a study investigating the impacts of ocean acidification on oyster reproduction. Ocean acidification is caused by higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air--when the atmosphere mixes with the water, the CO2 mixes in and is converted to carbonic acid, which lowers the pH of the ocean. Negative impacts of lower pH conditions (seawater is naturally slightly basic, so “acidification” actually means moving closer to neutral in this case) have been well documented across lots of different kinds of marine life. In oysters and other shellfish, it impacts shell development because it makes it more difficult to get calcium from the seawater and turn it into calcium carbonate (the material their shells are made out of).

Several teams of scientists have investigated what happens when shellfish reproduce in low pH conditions. Some species’ larvae were able to better survive low pH conditions when their parents reproduced in those conditions (as opposed to when their parents reproduced under “normal” conditions). In other kinds of shellfish, though, larvae whose parents were exposed to low pH were more vulnerable to ocean acidification than larvae whose parents were exposed to “normal” conditions.

A Pacific oyster larvae viewed under a microscope. The image on the left is an oyster under "normal" pH conditions, and the one on the right shows cracks in the shell due to acidification.

Image courtesy of Emma Timmins-Schiffman

An adult Pacific oyster that has been opened up for research.

Image courtesy of Yaamini Venkataraman

As conditions in the ocean change and fluctuate, and scientists and policymakers work toward alleviating ocean acidification, Yaamini was interested to know how a past exposure to low pH could affect the larvae of an oyster. She studied two groups of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas)--one was exposed to ocean acidification conditions for 7 weeks, and the other to “normal” or “ambient” conditions. This time period was before all the oysters were sexually mature. Both were then held at ambient conditions for 8 weeks, and then for another 4 weeks as they matured and prepared to spawn. The oysters were mated in different combinations of treatments (ie a male from group 1 with a female from group 1, or a male from group 1 and a female from group 2, etc). Yaamini’s most significant finding was that female oysters who had been initially held in acidified conditions produced significantly fewer offspring. Understanding that being exposed to acidification, even well before sexual maturity, can impact an individual's offspring and thus the next generation of the species, fills in a piece of the puzzle of our understanding of ocean acidification and its impact on marine organisms.

Understanding the threats facing oysters is important to more than just oysters. They are critical for ecosystem health. One reason for this is the role they play in filtering the water, as illustrated by the video above.

Interested in a STEM career? Here's some advice from Yaamini:

In an interview with Million STEM, an organization that highlights women in STEM, Yaamini said, "The best advice I ever got was to keep writing. I always thought STEM careers solely involved conducting experiments or data analysis, but I find myself spending a significant amount of time writing. I kept my science communication skills sharp as a journalist in high school and biology journal editor in college, and now I write for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuary. Find a way to write that’s fun for you and keep at it. You’ll be thankful when you’re writing a paper or grant proposal!"

Works Cited

“Yaamini Venkataraman.” Million STEM, https://www.1mwis.com/profiles/Yaamini-Venkataraman.

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