Hi, Colleen here! I’m a Long Islander now living in Portland where I’m pursuing an AS in Biology at Clackamas Community College. This summer I’m working under the guidance of Dr. Shon Schooler, a lead scientist at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. My OIMB internship with Shon will focus on both the distribution and potential biotoxin levels of the European green crab (Carcinus maenas), an invasive species in Coos Bay. European Green Crab, Carcinus maenasSebastian, my lab partner, and I started our summer at OIMB a week early to make the most of June’s low tides. It was a quiet first week on campus but great for learning the ins and outs of crab surveying techniques. Surveying sites are dispersed throughout the bay so we hike or drive to a few sites each day while the tide is at its lowest. Once at location, we wade into the mudflats and set 6 Fukui traps baited with tuna innards, leaving them for 24 hours. The focus of these surveys is to better understand the distribution of the invasive green crab in Coos Bay so any native species caught in the survey process (ie. red rock crab, shore crab, Dungeness crab, sculpin) are reintroduced after counting. The green crab isn’t as lucky, their invasive status means we can’t reintroduce them into the wild. Instead, they’re taken back to the lab for further analysis on color, weight, carapace size, sex, and starting this week, biotoxins. One of the hopes for this summer's research is to find out if green crabs are safe to consume as a means of population control and our biotoxin testing will be used in this assessment. Fukui traps set along the water's edge.A lot of week 2 has been spent problem-solving our way through the biotoxin testing using ELISA kits. To date, our attempts have included testing green crab viscera and meat for signs of saxitoxin and domoic acid. There are still kinks to work out but we’re on our way to becoming a toxin testing machine team. **Big shout out to the assistance of Ph.D. candidate Taylor Dodrill for sharing her wisdom on ELISA testing of shellfish along the way** All in all, it’s been a pretty magical experience. Living on OIMB’s campus means I’m never more than a 10-minute drive from an epic tide pool, saltwater marsh, forest, or wetland and I’m always surrounded by wonderful people who are just as excited by all of this as I am. Here is a smattering of photos from experiences that melted my heart and brain -
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AuthorHello! My name is Colleen Walker. I'm a New Yorker now living in Oregon where I am pursuing an AS in Biology at Clackamas Community College. This summer I'll be studying the European green crab alongside Dr. Shon Schooler at the South Slough National Estuary Research Reserve. Archives
August 2022
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