CRABEY Lab students participate in Research Symposium

Taylor was presenting her work on how the boring polychaete worm Polydora websteri affects eastern oyster condition. We were interested in attempting to quantify the area of blisters and relate that to condition. Taylor used ImageJ to conduct the analysis, and found some interesting results. Of the ~100 oysters Taylor examined, only 3 didn't have worms. It seems as though the number of blisters had a more negative relationship with oyster condition than the blister index (blister area/total shell area). The lab hopes to continue pursuing this question in the future with new students.

Matthew was interested in behavioral responses of marsh periwinkle snails (Littoraria irrorata) to blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) predators, and whether that response varied by collection site. Interestingly, snails did not exhibit expected antipredator responses - there were no differences between predator present and predator absent treatment, although there was considerable variability both within and among populations. One exciting thing Matthew did find, however, was that the average height the snails climbed in the lab was highly correlated with the average height that snails were found at the collection sites.

All in all, 27 students participated in the Undergraduate Research Symposium. We at the CRABEY lab are looking forward to more presentations in the future!