Margaret Smith, Ph.D.
Area(s) of Expertise: Evolution of Development (Advising Area of Expertise: Biology, Pre-Medicine)
Courses Taught
- BIOL 1107K - Principles of Biology I
- BIOL 1107L – Principles of Biology I Lab
- BIOL 1108K – Principles of Biology II
- BIOL 1108L – Principles of Biology II Lab
- BIOL 4450 - Evolution
- BIOL 4480K - Development
- BIOL 4700 - Senior Seminar
Education
- Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Indiana University, 2008
- B.S., Genetics, University of Georgia, 2001
Research/Special Interests
Dr. Smith has a variety of research interests related to evolutionary biology, but her training has focused on the evolution of developmental mechanisms. At UNG, she is currently working with two systems, a very interesting insect system and sea urchins, both of which are amenable to a variety of evolutionary, ecological, and developmental questions.
She works with the wasp Copidosoma floridanum which parasitizes the moth eggs of Trichoplusia ni. She collaborates with Dr. Barding and Dr. Shanks on this work. Currently a group of students are working on understanding ecological factors, including parasitism by C. floridanum influence T. ni behavior. Another group of students is exploring how ecological factors, like diet and parasitism affect T. ni development. She also has a longstanding interest in C. floridanum development because it has very interesting development. It is facultatively polyembryonic, meaning that from a single egg, thousands of genetically identical offspring develop. It is also a eusocial insect, meaning that among the thousands of genetically identical siblings, some individuals differentiate into sterile soldiers and others differentiate into reproductive individuals. She studies how and why the development of such a complex life history strategy evolved.
She also works with sea urchin larvae because ocean parameters like pH and salinity interfere with skeletal development of sea urchin larvae. Students have shown this, and now she’s got a group interested in exploring different in gene expression that might underly these skeletal malformations. She collaborates with Dr. Webb on this project.
If you’re interested in any of these topics, please stop by to chat!
Publications
Here is a sample of publications representing my general areas of work. Asterisks indicate undergraduate authors:
Pace E*, Miller K*, Dalman N and M Smith. 2024. The effect of ocean acidification on sea urchin larval survivorship and development in Lytechinus variegatus and Arbacia punctulata. Georgia Journal of Science. Vol. 82, No. 2, Article 84.
Pearson L*, Meewes C*, Spencer S*, Ayala A*, Bailey B, Barding EE, Shanks R, and M Smith. 2024. An Addition to the Toolkit: An Ethogram for Trichoplusia ni. eBio, No. 10.
Smith, MS, Milton, I* and MR Strand. 2010. Phenotypically plastic traits regulate caste formation and soldier function in polyembryonic wasps. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23(12):2677-2684
Smith, MS, Collins, S* and RA Raff.2009. Morphogenetic mechanisms of coelom formation in the direct developing sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma. Development Genes and Evolution 219(1):21-29
Smith, MS, Turner, FR, and RA Raff. 2008. Nodal expression and heterochrony in the evolution of dorsal-ventral and left-right axes formation in the direct developing sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B 310(8): 609-622
Smith, MS, K Zigler, and RA Raff. 2007. Evolution of direct developing larvae: Selection versus loss. Bioessays 29(6):566-571
Snoke, MS and M Lynch 2006 Large effective population sizes in Paramecium. Molecular Biology and Evolution 23(12):2474-2479
Snoke, MS*, and DEL Promislow. 2003. Quantitative genetic tests of recent senescence theory: age specific mortality and male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster. Heredity. 91:546-556
Work Experience
- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Georgia, 2008-2010