UT Tyler Researchers Coming Here to Study Crayfish

The University of Texas at Tyler received $180,371 from the state comptroller’s office to study Texas-based crayfish and help improve conservation efforts for the species. Dr. Ryan Shartau, UT Tyler assistant professor of biology, serves as principal investigator on the two-year research project.

Shartau and the UT 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.

“Loss 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,” said Shartau. “This 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.”

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 “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” –– meaning they are either in decline or rare and require research to assist conservation action.

“There is little known about crayfish physiology, and nothing known about the physiology of crayfish found in Texas,” Shartau added. “This project is very exciting as these results will be important for helping protect these fascinating animals.”

UT 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.