UROP Project

Investigating the impacts of salinity on oysters through predation and physiology

ecology, marine, predator-prey, abiotic, climate change, coastal, estuary, biology
Research Mentor: Donaven Baughman, He
Department, College, Affiliation: Biological Sciences, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: dbaughman@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Biological Science, Environmental Science
Project Location: 3618 US-98, St Teresa, FL 32358. Florida State University Coastal & Marine Lab
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

This project is part of my Ph.D dissertation and uses a combination of experimental aquarium tests and field research to investigate the effects of salinity regime (low, medium, high) and predation risk on oysters. Specifically, we will investigate how salinity stress and predation risk combine to alter energetic uptake and expenditure, and how these changes in energetic allocation may impact the performance of oysters in terms of growth, survival, and reproduction.

Research Tasks: Tasks included with this project include the care, maintenance, and tracking of individual oysters that are grown in the lab in aquarium systems, and in the field in predator-exclusion cages. Specifically, we take care of the aquaria systems that the oysters live in by conducting daily water changes, adjusting salinity levels to stay within treatment range, and feeding oysters their daily ration of food. Additionally, we take care of the oyster predators who are housed in separate aquariums, and use the predators in oyster aquaria to expose the oysters to predator cues during their development.

Other tasks include data collection on the growth rate, weight, and other morphological characteristics of oysters (i.e. shell area, shell thickness, etc.), collecting data on water parameters that the oysters live in (pH, temperature, salinity, ammonia, nitrate levels), and collecting data on oyster metabolism by measuring their filtration rate (amount of algae filtered out of the water) and energy use (oxygen consumption rate).

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Data collection -- required
Reliability -- required
Measurement/lab skills (i.e., using scales, calipers, pipettes, beakers, etc.) -- recommended
Aquarium maintenance (i.e. water changes, algae scrubs, water parameter testing) -- recommended


Mentoring Philosophy

My mentoring philosophy would be to teach the student researcher any skills necessary to complete their portions of the project, and assist them in creating a research project of their own in which they learn important ecological skills during their contributions to their own project, as well as through assisting in my project. I imagine that after a few weeks of training, the student would have a relatively good handle on the general tasks to be completed, and would be granted an amount of independence when contributing to my project. I do not want to micromanage the student, but I want to know that the work is being done thoroughly, consistently, and accurately. Through these standards, our science will be conducted reliably and effectively.

Additional Information


Link to Publications


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