Hello, and thank you for visiting my blog! My name is Renee and I am a biology and dance double major entering my junior year at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. While I go to school on the East Coast, I actually grew up in Washington State, in a small town called Walla Walla. Although about 5 hours from the ocean, I still remember visiting the Oregon Coast on family vacations when I was younger and I was definitely fascinated by tide pools and the intertidal in general. However, I never thought I would pursue this and go on to study marine biology, or even biology at all. But my intro bio course freshman year of college reminded me how much I enjoy studying the sciences, and I took a field marine biology course during the summer and fall of my sophomore year which involved intertidal field work in Maine. This was my first interaction with marine science, and I couldn’t get enough. I went on every single trip into the field because I couldn’t wait to learn and help with other research projects. After that I was hooked, and am thankful to get the opportunity to study and live like this for 9 weeks at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology! Not only am I looking forward to gaining knowledge and experience in the field and lab, I am excited to be able to practice research and experimental design, under the guidance of Shon Schooler and the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. I will be studying the invasive species of European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas. This crab was first found on the east coast in 1817, and only came to the west coast in the 1990’s. It is important to monitor this invader to be able to track how the presence and abundance is fluctuating and predict how the green crab will influence the ecosystem as it becomes established in the South Slough Estuary. This week I have been continuing data collection for a project monitoring the population of green crabs that has been going on since 1998. I have been out in the field every morning crabbing! 6 Fukui traps with canisters of bait are staked at each site, then revisited the next morning to record what has been caught. Dungeness crabs (Metacarcinus magister), Shore crabs (Hemigrapsus oregonensis or H. nudis), and Red Rock crabs (Cancer productus) are counted and then returned to the wild. Green crabs on the other hand, are collected and taken back to the lab where we record certain measurement to look at sex, size, weight, and color. It has been fantastic to get out in the field so quickly and jump into a project that has such application. It has also helped me as I start to consider my own ideas for possible research pathways and try to come up with a question that I can research in the short time I am here, but also allows me to generate relevant data that can aid in the knowledge and management of green crabs. I can’t believe how much I have learned in just a few days and have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this experience! A bucket full of green crabs! This photo also features crab traps on the left, and a box of equipment on the right to measure physical features of each site, such as salinity and water temperature. And of course, my muddy boots! Navigating the mud never seems to get much easier and have been thankful for the chest-high waders if I am stuck or off-balance :)
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AuthorHi! My name is Renee and I am a rising junior at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. I am a double major, studying Biology and Dance. I am so excited to be a part of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology’s summer REU program and to work with Shon Schooler and the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Archives
August 2019
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