This summer, more than 80 students and faculty kept campus abuzz with the hum of hands-on field and lab research. The Seaver Summer Research Community’s work covered topics in biology, health and human sciences, mechanical engineering, computer science and more disciplines across the college. With such a diversity of research projects to choose from, we spoke to some of the students about their unique summer experience. Today, we spotlight environmental science major Cassandra Erickson ‘25, mentored by associate professor of biology Christina Vasquez.
Describe your research in a way that a high school student would understand it.
In order to better understand how climate change may be impacting marine species, we selected a species of mussel to experiment on. Mussels are considered an indicator species, meaning they are often indicators of an ecosystem’s health because they will be more visibly impacted by slight changes to the environment. In this case, we are exploring how changes in salinity (the saltiness of the water) impact Mytilus galloprovincialis, an invasive species of mussel. Specifically, we measured the amount of algae they eat (their clearance rate) and the amount of oxygen they consume (their metabolic rate). Previously, our experiments had shown that when the mussels are exposed to really low salinity water for a short period of time, their clearance rate and metabolic rate is decreased well below normal. This is likely because, in response to the low salinity, the mussels are closing their shell to reduce their exposure to the stressful conditions. This most recent work involved exposing the mussels for a longer period of time. Similar results were observed, with very low salinity water causing such a low metabolic rate that most mussels did not survive past seven days. Most of them died after extended exposure to that salinity level. Salinity levels only slightly lower than average did not significantly impact the mussel’s metabolic rate, meaning they were able to tolerate a certain range of salinity levels outside the normal seawater salinity.
Why would someone outside your field be interested in your project?
This project is interesting, even for people outside of the scientific field, because of its real-world implications. Whether or not mussels can survive in low salinity conditions is not pertinent for the average person. However, if climate change continues to alter environmental conditions in this way, then a growing number of species are going to be impacted. It is so vital that we understand how each of these species will be individually affected so that we can better understand what kind of cascading effect it will have on us and the resources we need to survive.
Will your work this summer lead to any foreseeable outcomes (i.e. publications, presentations, poster sessions, patent applications, etc.)?
The work that was conducted this summer was a continuation and expansion of the experiments done during Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Collectively, these results are set to be published and the majority of the writing for that publication will be completed during Fall 2024.
Do you plan to continue your project in the future? If so, when?
This summer served as the final piece for the osmotic stress study we had been conducting for the past year. No further work will be done on this specific project. However, we will likely continue with the development of a new study involving mussels.
