This blue crab, donated by Marine Science Center graduate student Tanya Rogers, is a new addition to OGL.
If you've dined on Southern seafood, you might recognize the blue crab as a star menu item in Maryland and New Orleans. Blue crabs are a warm-water species, but as sea temperatures rise, they might be able to thrive in more northern regions of New England. What could the blue newcomers mean for our local crabs and other species? Will they provide a new commercial fishery or will they devastate existing marine life?
Graduate student Tanya Rogers in Dr. David Kimbro's lab at the Marine Science Center aims to find out how these invaders could impact local species. She's studying the interactions between blue crabs and green crabs, which are an invasive European species that is already established in New England.
OGL is also interested in invasive species. Thanks to Tanya, the blue crab is the latest addition to our biorepository. Newcomer species can have huge impacts on ecosystems, so OGL seeks to track biodiversity over time and use genetic samples to help research on ecology and climate change.
