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R/CBT-22
The effects of environmental contaminants on the progression of Perkinsus marinus in the eastern oyster
Principal Investigator:
Robert S. AndersonStart/End Year:
1994 - 1995Institution:
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceCo-Principal Investigator:
Eugene M. Burreson, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceTopic(s):
- Oysters
Description:
The main objective is to test the hypothesis that pollutant stress may predispose aquatic organisms to infectious diseases or accelerate the progression of the disease. The host-parasite system proposed is Crassostrea virginica - Perkinsus marinus; the environmental toxicants under study will include a lower MW polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (naphthalene) and tributyltin. An attempt will be made to associate pollutant-induced changes in disease progression to changes in cell-mediated immune function.
Funding Start Year
1994
Funding End Year
1995
Program Announcements
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Featured Fellow
Nina Santos
Nina Santos is a Ph.D. student at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. For her dissertation, she is focused on small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids – an understudied yet important part of many estuarine and coastal food webs.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
