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Citizen Science Manual 9.9.2013.Pdf CITIZEN SCIENCE: LARVAL BLUE CRAB MONITORING PROJECT Docent Manual UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE MISSION ARANSAS NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE 1 Contents INTRODUCTION Project Overview _______________________ 3 Project Goals _______________________ 4 Background Information _______________________ 5 PROCEDURES Sample Collection _______________________ 8 Site Information _______________________ 10 Sample Analysis _______________________ 11 Crab Identification _______________________ 13 RESOURCES Frequently Asked Questions _______________________ 15 Citizen Science Contacts _______________________ 16 References _______________________ 17 APPENDICES Appendix A: Citizen Science Recruitment Flyer _______________________ 18 Appendix B: Potential Project Expansion _______________________ 19 Appendix C: Project Poster _______________________ 20 Photo courtesy of: http://sherpaguides.com/chesapeake_bay/natural_history/ 2 INTRODUCTION Project Overview The Citizen Science: Larval Blue Crab Monitoring Project was designed to monitor the spatial and temporal distribution of larval blue crabs throughout the Mission-Aransas Estuary. Blue crabs have been deemed, by Reserve stakeholders, a critically important species because of their roles as a main food source for the endangered Whooping Crane and for their economic value to Texas fisheries. Researchers have called upon volunteers to help collect data that researchers alone cannot collect. Without the help of these volunteers the Reserve would not have the ability to do such thorough sampling. These volunteers or, “citizen scientists,” enhance the research potential of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (Mission-Aransas Reserve) and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI). Volunteers use collectors to sample larval blue crabs from selected sites within the Estuary and then prepare the samples for later analyses by UTMSI staff. The collectors are constructed from PVC pipe that is covered with a sleeve of ‘hogs-hair’ air-conditioning filter. The collectors are suspended from docks or piers, just below the surface of the water. Sampling consists of pulling the collector from the water, removing the filter, rinsing the crab larvae from the filter with fresh water and concentrating the sample. Samples are preserved in ethanol and enumerated in the laboratory by UTMSI researchers. The sampling methodology was adapted from a previous project that was conducted by researchers along the East Coast of North America to study settlement patterns of blue crab larvae (Eggleston, 2010). Map of Mission-Aransas Reserve with larval blue crab collection sites. 3 Introduction Project Goals The goal of this monitoring project is to obtain information about the distribution and population dynamics of larval blue crabs. Citizen scientists will help resource managers increase their understanding of the changes in survival rates and migration patterns of blue crab larvae within the Mission-Aransas Reserve. Ultimately, by knowing more about how blue crab larvae behave, this project could help us understand why populations of this economically and ecologically important species are declining. In addition, this project will result in the formation of strong partnerships among UTMSI, the Mission- Aransas Reserve, local residents, and natural resource managers. Such collaborative research brings local citizens into the academic environment where they are encouraged to take ownership and responsibility for our local estuary and its resources. This project will set a precedent for future collaboration with residents and organizations that will benefit the environment and everyone involved. Photo courtesy of Sherry Halbrook 4 Introduction Background Information types of birds, including the endangered Whooping Cranes. According to a stock assessment by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 2007, there has been a long-term decline in the abundance of blue crabs in Texas coastal waters, from 1982 to 2008. This is despite a 28% reduction in fishing licenses issued since250 1999 (Sutton, 2007). 200 150 100 Calinectes sapidus is harvested commercially. The one on the Catch/hectare 50 right is carrying newly formed eggs. Eggs become dark brown before being released. 0 Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus¸ are an Aransas San Antonio All Other Bays economically and ecologically important species in Graph showing downward trend in Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) Texas. They support a multi-million dollar commercial of Blue Crabs. Courtesy of Dr. Mark Fisher, Texas Parks and Wild- crabbing industry and are a major component of life Department. the estuarine food web. The 3.5 million pounds Loss of habitat, over-fishing, by-catch, and harvested in 2010 was well below the historic average reduced freshwater inflows have all been suggested of 6.3 million and nowhere near the 11.9 million as potential factors contributing to the decline of pounds landed in 1987 (TPWD 2010). Under normal blue crabs. At a blue crab conference hosted by the circumstances, these landings generate around $12 Mission-Aransas Reserve in 2012, it was suggested million annually for coastal economies. Blue crabs that high mortality among larval crab populations also serve as prey items for other crabs, fish, and many may be the primary factor in explaining blue crab declines, but further research is needed. Blue crabs are a critical food source for the endangered Whooping Cranes that migrate from the Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to spend the winter in the Texas Coastal Bend. C. sapidus life cycle migration within the upper, middle, and Photo courtesy of David McCool. lower estuary. Figure courtesy of Zack Darnell. 5 Introduction The blue crab is found in a variety of different in the spring. Females store sperm from the males coastal habitats in Texas, including the upper, middle, and are capable of releasing multiple broods of eggs. and lower estuary and adjacent waters of the Gulf Females tend to travel to higher salinity waters to of Mexico. Growth and development of blue crabs release eggs and young crabs will then work their consist of a series of larval, juvenile, and adult stages way back into the bays and estuaries as they mature in which a variety of morphological, behavioral, and (Darnell, 1959). physiological changes occur. Blue crabs are found in a wide range of In Texas, zoeae (the first larval stage), are salinities and are not generally considered a good believed to be found mainly in the open Gulf, where indicator species for freshwater inflow. Attraction to humic (terrestrial) acid residues in the water from terrestrial runoff and aquatic plants may explain how larval blue crabs find inlets to the estuary and how they migrate in the water column to maximize transport into the estuary. There is a possibility that blue crab larvae found deep in the estuary are from crabs that released their clutches within the estuary as opposed to out in the Gulf (Rittschoff, 2011). The vertical migration of these larvae within the water column is an important variable to consider. In Georgia, it has been found that the majority of both megalopae (86.8%) and juvenile (89.3%) blue crabs C. sapidus megalopae. Photo courtesy Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. were recovered in bottom samplers at the low-salinity sites during August and early September (Bishop their distribution within the water column determines 1896). In North Carolina it has been suggested that their eventual transport back into the estuary. Crab larval blue crabs settle to the bottom in lower salinity larvae have been observed at the surface of the water ebb tide and rise to the surface during higher salinity column where they are thought to be riding incoming flood tides (Forward, 2003). However, the salinity of currents. They have also been observed settling at the the estuaries in Texas does not behave in the same bottom of the water column which may prevent them way, due to limited freshwater inflow. from being swept in an undesired direction. In the coastal waters of Texas, Callinectes spp. Blue crabs have been observed entering megalopae have been found throughout the year. the estuary as megalopae (the second larval stage), King noted three spikes of megalopae in Cedar Bayou, during which time they adopt a more benthic Texas, occurring in January-March, May-June, and (bottom dwelling) existence and settle into areas October (Daugherty, 1952; More, 1969; King 1971). of the estuary that provide shelter and food. After Another important variable to consider in this study settlement, megalopae change into juveniles that is the existence of two separate, almost identical, will undergo a number of post-larval molts before species of Callinectes larvae found in the Mission- reaching sexual maturity. Blue crabs typically breed Aransas Estuary. Stuck and Perry (1982) provided in the fall and summer and females release their eggs useful information for distinguishing the megalopae 6 Introduction and early adult stages of the two species, C. sapidus and C. similis. C. sapidus is the species of interest in this study. C. similis is commonly known as the lesser blue crab and is not commercially fished. Analysis of archived plankton samples from Mississippi and Louisiana coastal waters has provided information on the seasonality of C. sapidus megalopae in the northern Gulf (Stuck and Perry, 1982). C. sapidus megalopae were rarely found in samples before May. These data suggest that the reported winter peaks of Callinectes larvae
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