The weekend of the fourth has passed. It was a much needed time to recharge after a stressful and eventful week. On Saturday Catalina, Flynn, Sherlyn, Ytxzae and I used the taxi service for the first time to go out to Coos Bay. We hit the grocery store where I reupped on some much needed toiletries, stood in the drive through of a Dutch Bros (there is no inside, living the true West Coast experience), and hit up 7 Devils Brewery Co. for a late lunch. I don't remember much of Sunday, though I think I spent that day finishing up Ozark and kicking it back. Monday, the day of the fourth, the wonderful dining hall staff cooked us up a much appreciated picnic with fried chicken, and hot dogs. Some of us went over to OIMB beach and soaked up the (rare) UV index 9 sun. Despite the warmth, the ocean was still cold enough to make my feet numb just about instantly. In other news, the inevitable has happened - I had to change my project. I am disappointed I had to move away from the biotoxin testing, but it allowed a new project to be developed. I really enjoyed the process of using ELISA kits and the patience, focus, and precision that they require of you. Maybe one day I'll get another try with them. My new project is taking me in quite a different direction. While digging through some literature related to crab traps, I found a study that used LED lights in addition to, or in place of bait when trapping snow crabs. They found that when only an LED light with no bait is used, the catch rates were similar to a trap using bait! These findings inspired my new study. My new study is going to consist of two parts. First, a behavioral study where we will determine what color of LED lights the crabs are attracted to. I will have more information on this in the following weeks, as I build the setup, and flesh out the methods! The findings of the behavioral study will then be used in a field study. I will be doing a similar setup to our normal trapping routine, but at each site will be using traps with our normal tuna baits, traps with only LED lights and no bait, and traps with dog food as bait. This will help us to compare their catch rates and determine what works most effectively for the convenience each type of "bait" offers. My new study is going to consist of two parts. First, a behavioral study where we will determine what color of LED lights the crabs are attracted to. I will have more information on this in the following weeks, as I build the setup, and flesh out the methods! The findings of the behavioral study will then be used in a field study. I will be doing a similar setup to our normal trapping routine, but at each site will be using traps with our normal tuna baits, traps with only LED lights and no bait, and traps with dog food as bait. This will help us to compare their catch rates and determine what works most effectively for the convenience each type of "bait" offers.
The goal of this study is to help streamline the baiting methods used. While the tuna scraps used at the moment are effective, they are smelly, require freezing and thawing, and could drive away potential volunteers who (very understandably) don't want to take scissors to tuna intestines from helping. The ability to use either cat food (much more pleasant), or LED lights (reusable, cheaper in the long run than cat food), could help make a difference in green crab trapping for management or research purposes. I am very excited about the LED idea, if you could not tell.
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AuthorHey! I'm Sebastian Velazquez, a Biology (Ecology) student from Spring City, Pennsylvania. I am spending the summer studying invasive European Green Crabs under the guidance of Shon Schooler. Archives
August 2022
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