TITLE:
Mitigation of Hypoxic Ecosystems Using Hemolymph Analysis of Callinectes sapidus and Procambarus clarkii in Relation to Spartina Grasses
AUTHORS:
Natalie Bush, Edward Bush, Christopher Green, Julie Anderson, Pamela Blanchard, Nathan Bush, Jennifer Conover
KEYWORDS:
Coastal Restoration, Barrier Island Mitigation, Marine Ecology
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.6 No.8,
July
21,
2016
ABSTRACT: In the
past 80 years, Louisiana has lost over one million acres in land, affecting plants
and crustaceans that live in these environments. The first objective of this
research was to determine the relationship between diffused oxygen in water and
time with the behavioral and physiological health of Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) and Procambarus clarkii (crawfish). After 24 hours, manual dexterity,
or the amount of time it takes for a crustacean to flip itself over increased
under hypoxic conditions. Hemolymph was extracted and tested for lactate,
glucose, and protein. Crawfish were also exposed to this same procedure. An
additional crawfish study comparing Spartina plants to assimilate oxygen for aeration compared to mechanical aeration
was conducted. The hypoxic groups for all three studies at the 0.05 level had a
significantly greater manual dexterity time and greater amounts of lactate and
glucose. The protein was significantly higher in hypoxia-exposed crawfish.
Time and aeration affect the health of crustaceans, and plants were shown to
effectively provide normoxic oxygen levels at a similar level as mechanical
aeration. These studies support the importance of marsh grasses for the coast
and crustacean viability.