Marine Invaders: Green crabs and other local invasive species

Presenters:

Dr. Carolyn Tepolt, WHOI Biology Department - Invasive Species on Our Shores, Presentation Slides

 

Dan Martino, co-owner, Cottage City Oysters - Invasive Species in Aquaculture, Presentation Slides

 

Date:  December 2021

 

Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities

• NOAA Live! 4 Kids recorded webinars:  These are ~45 minute recordings covering a variety of topics.  You can use the keyword search function to find video clips to use in your class.
  • NOAA Live! - Hitching a Ride: How to Spot and Stop Marine Invasive Species, March 23, 2021.
• “Invader ID” Smithsonian Environmental Research Center:  Identify fouling organisms that settle on tiles that have been placed in coastal areas around the US.  There is a tutorial to walk you through the task and then you can have your students  filter by characteristics to help you identify the organisms. Learn more about the project here.
• What is an Invasive Species?:  This NOAA National Ocean Service video (35 seconds) offers a short, concise overview.
• “Invaders!” PBS game for grades K-5:  In this game you identify and remove invasive species from around the world.
• Invasive Species 101:  This National Marine Sanctuary video (1minute 46 seconds) gives a quick overview of invasive species.
• “Invasive species” lesson plan for grade 6:  This NGSS lesson plan has the students pick an invasive species in their state, research it, and use the engineering design process to design a solution to mitigate the impact of their invasive species.
• “Tracking the invasive veined rapa whelk” lesson plan for grades 9-12:  In this lesson, your students will determine the risk of a successful rapa whelk (Rapana venosa) invasion for four hypothetical estuaries.
• iNaturalist:  You can have students search their favorite invasive species, see where they are located, learn about local species, contribute to the ID of local records, and contribute to local records by posting photos of species you find. (Community supported science)
• Download id cards for common marine invasive species found in New England
• New England’s Marine Invasion poster:  This colorful watch list of 4 marine species comes with contacts for ME, MA, and NH if you happen to spot one of these species.  Take a photo and report your findings.
• Genetics classroom activity using skittles: This activity is one that Dr. Tepolt put together to illustrate genetics concepts using an invasive species example.

Background and Resources

• Flipping the “genetic paradox of invasions”. 2021  This WHOI article describes the 2021 Tepolt article in Molecular Ecology listed in the “deeper exploration” section.
• Dr. Tepolt’s WHOI webpage
• Cottage City Oysters website
• Northeast Marine Introduced Species (NEMIS): This Northeast Sea Grant Programs site has information on species of concern, pathways and prevention, as well as volunteer diver monitoring.
• MIT Sea Grant’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to Non-Native Species:  This colorful guide can be printed out and has a ruler along the bottom for scale.  It identifies 19 species of the many marine non-native (introduced) species that may be found along the New England coast. (see included pdf)
• Invasive and Exotic Marine Species - NOAA Fisheries website:  Find general information about invasive species and links to current news, what you can do, and how you can learn more.
• Problem to Plate - Let’s eat invasive green crab: This site has information about green crabs and details on how to cook, store, and clean them.
• SEMAC - Southeastern MA Aquaculture Center: Find the best management practices for shellfish aquaculture in MA. You can also find the data on shellfish aquaculture production in MA.
• USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species sighting report form:  You can use this form to report sightings in your area.
• East Coast Shellfish Growers Association:  This has a lot of useful shellfish aquaculture information to use with your students before you introduce the topic of how invasives affect the industry. Under “grower resources” there is information on biofouling control, disinfecting used gear, gear comparison study, rookie mistakes, best management practices, and more.
• Go Terrestrial with these lists of nonnative species on land: Invasive plants in MA,
• Current Aquatic Invasive Species in MA:  This is a list of mostly freshwater invasive species.
• Marine Invasive Species Program at the MA Office of Coastal Zone Management:  You can find valuable information about monitoring programs, download marine invasive species id cards, and find out valuable information.
• Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Website: Visit this site to learn more about aquatic invasive species on Nantucket, local marine fouling organisms, as well as information on their iNaturalist Monitoring Projects. (Community supported science if you live locally)
• “Lake Michigan Shipwrecks and Aquatic Species” Story Map:  This story map will provide students with an interesting look at how zebra and quagga mussels moved from Eurasia to the Great Lakes and how that impacts shipwrecks.

Deeper Exploration:  Scientific Journals

• Tepolt, Carolyn & Grosholz, Edwin & Rivera, CE & Ruiz, Gregory. (2021). Balanced polymorphism fuels rapid selection in an invasive crab despite high gene flow and low genetic diversity. Molecular Ecology. 10.1111/mec.16143. (see included pdf)
• Tepolt, Carolyn & Darling, John & Blakeslee, April & Fowler, Amy & Torchin, Mark & Miller, Whitman & Ruiz, Gregory. (2020). Recent introductions reveal differential susceptibility to parasitism across an evolutionary mosaic. Evolutionary Applications. 13. 10.1111/eva.12865.  (see attached pdf)
• Tepolt, Carolyn & Palumbi, Stephen. (2020). Rapid Adaptation to Temperature via a Potential Genomic Island of Divergence in the Invasive Green Crab, Carcinus maenas. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 8. 580701. (see attached pdf)

Papers referenced in Dr. Tepolt’s talk:

• Bloch, Christopher & Curry, Kevin & Fisher-Reid, M. Caitlin & Surasinghe, Thilina. (2019). Population Decline of the Invasive Asian Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) and Dynamics of Associated Intertidal Invertebrates on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Northeastern Naturalist. 26. 772.
• Dunne JA, Lafferty KD, Dobson AP, Hechinger RF, Kuris AM, et al. (2013) Parasites Affect Food Web Structure Primarily through Increased Diversity and Complexity. PLOS Biology 11(6): e1001579.
• Eash-Loucks, Wendy & Kimball, Matthew & Petrinec, Kathryn. (2014). Long-term changes in an estuarine mud crab community: Evaluating the impact of non-native species. Journal of Crustacean Biology. 34. 731-738.
• Grosholz E, Ashton G, Bradley M, Brown C, Ceballos-Osuna L, Chang A, de Rivera C, Gonzalez J, Heineke M, Marraffini M, McCann L, Pollard E, Pritchard I, Ruiz G, Turner B, Tepolt C. Stage-specific overcompensation, the hydra effect, and the failure to eradicate an invasive predator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Mar 23;118(12).
• Pimentel, David & Zuniga , Rodolfo & Morrison , Doug (2005). Update on the Environmental and Economic Costs Associated with Alien-Invasive Species in the United States, Ecological Economics.Volume 52, Issue 3, Pages 273-288.