Dr. Jingchun Li is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, and she is the Curator of Invertebrates at CU Boulder’s Museum of Natural History. She is also a Packard Foundation Fellow and a National Geographic Explorer. Jingchun completed her B.S. in Biological Sciences at Capital Normal University in China and was awarded her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan. Next, Jingchun conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University with support from an NSF Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Afterwards, she joined the faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder. In our interview, Jingchun shares insights and stories from her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:18)
Some of Jingchun’s hobbies include rock climbing at a local gym with her lab members, spending time with her kids, watching musicals, reading, and playing board games like Setters of Catan.
The Scientific Side (3:58)
Jingchun studies how different species interact with each other and how that has influenced their evolution. Her work focuses mostly on mollusks like clams, scallops, cockles, snails, octopus, and squid. For example, she has recently been examining giant clams that use symbiotic algae to become photosynthetic. As a museum curator, Jingchuin manages the museum’s collection of nearly one million invertebrates. She is responsible for developing the collection, good stewardship, documenting relevant details about each specimen, and making specimens available to scientists and the public.
A Dose of Motivation (6:24)
One thing that motivates Jingchun is a desire to better understand weird things in nature. She is fascinated by the mysteries of the marine ecosystem and how much we still don’t know about it.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:31)
There weren’t many opportunities for Jingchun to immerse herself in nature in the city of Beijing where she grew up. However, in elementary school, she was introduced to the
Adventure series books by Willard Price, and these books left a lasting impact. The fictional books chronicle the experiences of two brothers who travel the world collecting animals for their father’s zoo. They go on cool expeditions and also contribute to animal conservation. Reading the books inspired Jingchun to explore the world, see different animals, and take care of them. This made biology a natural choice when choosing a major in college. Afterwards, Jingchun participated in an internship with the Chinese Academy of Sciences where she worked in a great lab studying cave spiders and other cave creatures in Southern China. She was amazed by the species she saw and learned about, including eyeless cave shrimp. Jingchun was also thrilled by the opportunity to describe a new species the lab discovered. Together, these experiences motivated Jingchun to study evolutionary biology, and she continues her work in this field today.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (21:51)
A major challenge in Jingchun’s lab comes from not knowing where to collect certain organisms or how to find them. Many of the invertebrate systems she works on are understudied, so we know relatively little about them. They have to rely on past literature and museum collections to figure out where to go to find particular species, how their populations are distributed, and what habitats they live in. From there, they plan their field work to find the species, but there is still a lot of uncertainty. Having evidence that someone found the species in one place fifty years ago doesn’t guarantee that the species is still there today. To do field collections, Jingchun and her team have to apply for permits and go through a lot of planning. On one trip, She flew to Australia, spent three weeks looking for a species of interest in the areas they expected to find them, and they didn’t find a single one. The silver lining is that even if Jingchun doesn’t find the species she is looking for, she and her colleagues still learn new things about the ecosystem and habitat that they are exploring. They take an abundance of notes and photos, return with other interesting creatures, and learn new things about the environment. Also, knowing the species may not be there anymore is another valuable piece of information.
A Shining Success! (25:31)
In one of Jingchun’s projects, they are studying how parasitism impacts the ecology and evolution of a native species of mud shrimp. The mud shrimp live on the west coast of the U.S. and have been heavily impacted by an invasive parasite. The parasite lives in the shrimp’s gills, feeding off their blood and growing really big. Female shrimp with these parasites are no longer able to reproduce, and this could lead to a collapse of the population. Jingchun and her collaborators have been assessing the populations of these native shrimp to determine the infection rates and population declines. They have trudged through a lot of mud collecting data in California, Oregon, and Alaska. Their new knowledge provides a deeper understanding of the system and may allow them to develop monitoring or conservation strategies for the mud shrimp.
Book Recommendations (3:12)
Most Treasured Travel (29:43)
Last year, Jingchun spent six months in Western Australia doing field work on sabbatical. She conducted research, in collaboration with Dr. Lisa Kirkendale at the Western Australia Museum, to better understand the evolution of the symbiotic relationship between clams and their photosynthetic algae. This project focused on the heart cockle clam. Jingchun spent time examining the museum’s specimens, and they planned a 10-day field expedition to visit under-explored marine habitats across Western Australia to collect new specimens. The marine biodiversity that Jingchun saw while snorkeling and diving was remarkable. They found their target species, and the expedition represented a successful collaboration with local scientists and indigenous groups who live in the habitats of interest. Jingchun will never forget visiting Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The bay has areas of water with very high salt concentrations, which harbor unique clams. There are entire beaches made up of shells from these clams, and it was amazing to see these animals living in the wild. Jingchun brought some back to the lab to study their population genetic structures.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:25)
When Jingchun was a postdoc in Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh’s lab, they had a “wall of rejection”. This was an entire wall in Dr. Cavanaugh’s office showcasing her own rejection letters and those of her trainees. These included letters about unsuccessful submissions for job applications, research papers, grants, and other opportunities. Having these failures on display helped normalize the experience and show everyone in the lab that rejection is just part of the process in science.
Also, during her recent sabbatical in Australia, Dr. Kirkendale, Jingchun, her PhD student, and her postdoc had to drive nine hours to get to Shark Bay to do their field work. Three of the four were very into musicals, and one was not. So, for nine hours, three of them listened to musicals and sang their hearts out while Jingchun’s postdoc sat in the back of the car trying to ignore them and write a paper. Some of Jingchun’s favorite musicals are Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.
Advice For Us All (40:40)
Work with others as much as you can, particularly other people who have different opinions from you. This can lead to new inspiration and more creative projects. Nowadays, it’s hard to do science without collaboration. Alone, you only have knowledge about a narrow piece of the field. If you want to answer big questions, you need to get expertise from people who have different knowledge and expertise. Science cannot progress without working together as a community.
Jingchun’s research program explores how biological interactions shape the distribution, ecology, and evolution of diverse organisms. Her lab primarily investigates marine mollusks—including clams, cockles—but also examines other systems, such as algae, plants, and bacteria. Using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates fieldwork, statistical analyses, and molecular techniques, she studies biodiversification at species, population, and genomic levels. As a curator, she is dedicated to bridging scientific research and public engagement through museum collections, exhibits, and programs. In her free time, Jingchun enjoys rock climbing, musicals, reading, and, most importantly, spending time with her family.
The post 811: Dr. Jingchun Li: Investigating Clams with Photosynthetic Algae, Parasites in Mud Shrimp, and Other Species Interactions that Shape Evolution appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
