Major
Environmental Science
Anticipated Graduation Year
2028
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The North Shore Channel (NSC) of the Chicago River is home to two invasive species of crayfish, the red swamp crayfish and the rusty crayfish. However, distribution data of these two species show that they do not occupy the same regions of the channel. I investigated whether this difference in distributions resulted from the temperature gradient present in the NSC. Specifically, I tested how competitive interactions between the two species changed in different water temperatures. I did so by placing one crayfish of each species in tanks of varying water temperatures and recording their interactions.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
John Bieber, M.S., Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences; Rachel Rogers, M.S., Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences; Reuben Keller, PhD, Ecology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
The Effect of Temperature on Competitive Interactions Between Two Species of Invasive Crayfish
The North Shore Channel (NSC) of the Chicago River is home to two invasive species of crayfish, the red swamp crayfish and the rusty crayfish. However, distribution data of these two species show that they do not occupy the same regions of the channel. I investigated whether this difference in distributions resulted from the temperature gradient present in the NSC. Specifically, I tested how competitive interactions between the two species changed in different water temperatures. I did so by placing one crayfish of each species in tanks of varying water temperatures and recording their interactions.