黑料专区 Tyler Receives State Comptroller Grant to Help Preserve Texas-Based Crayfish
March 27, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan
The University of Texas at Tyler received $180,371 from the state comptroller鈥檚 office to study Texas-based crayfish and help improve conservation efforts for the species. Dr. Ryan Shartau, 黑料专区 Tyler assistant professor of biology, serves as principal investigator on the two-year research project.
Shartau and the 黑料专区 Tyler team will collect live crayfish and measure environmental
conditions at collection sites in Atascosa, Bastrop, Caldwell, Gonzales, Fayette,
Frio, La Salle, Lee and Wilson Counties. They will examine how well crayfish species
that are of conservation concern respond to changes in temperature, dissolved oxygen
and water acidity.
Large changes in these environmental variables, Shartau noted, can hurt crayfish and cause their populations to decrease, which in turn will harm other species that rely on them for food.
鈥淟oss of crayfish species is likely to have severe consequences on ecosystems, as they are among the most important organisms in most streams due to their biomass and their role for prey for over 200 aquatic, terrestrial and avian species,鈥� said Shartau. 鈥淭his research will help scientists and regulatory agencies understand the environmental conditions crayfish in Texas can tolerate so that effective conservation strategies can be enacted to manage the crayfish.鈥�
Globally, over one-third of crayfish species are threatened, and little is known about their status in Texas, Shartau said, noting that many of the Texas-based crayfish species are listed as 鈥淪pecies of Greatest Conservation Need鈥� 鈥撯�� meaning they are either in decline or rare and require research to assist conservation action.
鈥淭here is little known about crayfish physiology, and nothing known about the physiology of crayfish found in Texas,鈥� Shartau added. 鈥淭his project is very exciting as these results will be important for helping protect these fascinating animals.鈥�
黑料专区 Tyler students will play important roles in the project by being involved with crayfish care, field collections and physiology experiments in his lab at the university.
Shartau joined the 黑料专区 Tyler biology faculty in 2021. His research focuses on aquatic life, including fish and crayfish. He holds a doctorate in zoology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and a Master of Science in biological sciences from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, 黑料专区 Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 10,000 students. Through its alignment with 黑料专区 Tyler Health Science Center and 黑料专区 Health East Texas, 黑料专区 Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, 黑料专区 Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.