Investigating the effect of salinity on mud crab parasite communities (original) (raw)

Investigating the effect of salinity on mud crab parasite communities

Project Title: Investigating the effect of salinity on mud crab parasite communities

Date: 7/2018-12/2018

Principal Investigator(s): Carolyn Tepolt, Zachary Tobias

Affiliations: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Department of Biology

Summary: The flatback mud crab, Eurypanopeus depressus, is a common estuarine crustacean from the Gulf of Mexico to New England. It is affected by a range of parasites that may vary with the environment. The goal of this project is to characterize the parasite communities within E. depressus along salinity gradients throughout the Northeast. Studies have shown that some crab species may use low salinity water as refuges from marine parasites. We will investigate how these crabs may have adapted to low salinity in response to pressures from parasitism using ecological field surveys and transcriptomic analyses.

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