Gilbert completed his B.S. from Cal State LA in the fall of 2004. As an undergraduate, he performed a year-long study of how larvae of the sea slug Alderia willowi respond to chemical cues released by the host algae they feed on as adults. He showed that larvae respond to increasingly dilute cues of habitat suitability with age when they are prevented from feeding, but not when the larvae could maintain their energy level by feeding. We revised a 50-year old “Desperate Larva Hypothesis” to apply to larvae with specific settlement requirements, and published Gilbert's work in Marine Ecology Progress Series (PDF). After graduation, Gilbert began a fellowship at the National Institute of Health in Washington D.C.
Current Contact -- gilbert_botello@yahoo.com