The Caving Rescue Expedition
Monday, March 19, 2007
| The Caving Trips..... Saturday, March 17 was different from the usual Caving trips our lab has taken in recent months. In the usual fashion, the van drives to pick up students (mostly graduate) and heads south to the Somerset, KY area. Our plans usually include seeing the many wonders that can be found underground and then capturing a few cave crayfish to be housed back in the lab at the University of Kentucky. My advisor and I are interested in looking at similarities and differences between surface crayfish and the blind, pigmentless cave crayfish found in small pools below ground. After exploring, I and a few others would collect a few of these crayfish for transportation back to the lab, the collection process taking no more than 20-30 minutes. While the population was abundant, we searched for the larger ones and excluded any females that may be gravid (carrying eggs). These trips were fun and exciting as caving often is. Until this past Saturday, I have always enjoyed myself. Why I care..... My research looks at environmental and physiological stressors that may differ in these two species. So you could say that I have developed a respect and admiration for these little creatures. Working with them daily brings about a fondness that you can't possibly escape. Why the need for the rescue..... The water level being dropped in Lake Cumberland has caused those small pools that these crayfish have lived in for possibly 20 years or more to dry up. The remaining pools are shrinking as we speak and crayfish density is increasing. Anyone that understands crayfish know that high density cannot be maintained. They will and do eat each other, especially in areas of high density. So, when one wonders why the crayfish have disappeared and no carcases are to be found, this is your answer. It is truly sad to see once heavily populated areas to have very few left and in many cases, none to be found. We have lost crayfish that have survived day in and day out in many environmental conditions, only to be wiped out by a man made dam. Why you should care..... The press was there as a environmental factor piece (here). I hope this helps to open peoples eyes to the impact we have on the environment around us. Not only is that area impacted, but research that could further our understanding in chemo-sensory differences, as well as environmental effects has been compromised. But more importantly, we have lost hundreds, if not more, native crayfish from our caves. The rescue.... The rescue was a success for the ones we could find. They are now housed in small pools with food available. Many may think that these crayfish are lucky, which is true, but I feel sad for them. They are living in a man-made environment far removed from nature. Here is where they will stay for a minimum of 7 years until the dam can be rebuilt. We are giving them a fighting chance, but again, only time will tell the true impact of human behavior. |
Labels: Crayfish, Environment
posted by Sonya @ 3/19/2007 11:18:00 AM,
