Maria Pickering - Invasions Ecology Lab

University of California - Santa Barbara

This summer I worked in the Invasions Lab. I worked on a project studying the population dynamics and demographics of a US transcoastal invader, Rhithropanopeus harrisii, the white-fingered mud crab. This involved going out into the field and collecting crabs, and then processing them back in the lab. In lab I measured and sexed the crabs, and also helped determine size-specific fecundity by counting the eggs of the ovigerous crabs. I conducted two research projects, one of which I examined crabs from several sites (on both coasts) for parasites. Only one parasite species was found, Loxothylacus panopaei, a rhizocephalan barnacle, here on the East Coast. I also began a project looking at short-term crab collectors. I was trying to determine the colonization rates of Rhithropanopeus in collectors, using two sites, SERC Dock and Corn Island.

Funding provided by NOAA/Sea Grant