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The introduced Australasian burrowing isopod Sphaeroma quoianum (= Sphaeroma quoyanum) is a common mid to high intertidal inhabitant of Coos Bay, Oregon. S. quoianum are prodigious burrowers and inhabit a variety of substrata including: mud, clay, and peat banks, decaying wood, sandstone, styrene plastic floats (Styrofoam) and more. In some areas, dense aggregations of burrows riddle marsh banks and sandstone terraces, which appear to exacerbate the rate of shoreline erosion. |
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Sphaeroma quoianum in sandstone |
Masters Research While I was a Masters student at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, I examined some basic ecological questions regarding Sphaeroma quoianum in Coos Bay, Oregon. My initial work determined the estuarine distribution of S. quoianum within the intertidal zone of Coos Bay and the possible limiting factors. Next, I investigated how isopod and inquiline (burrow cohabitant) density changes between substratum type (marsh banks, wood, sandstone) and between month of the year (August, January, April). During the NSF funded EAPSI fellowship I conducted a comparative study of the distribution, density, and habitat use of S. quoianum in two native embayments (Port Phillip Bay, Victoria and Tamar Estuary, Tasmania) and Coos Bay, Oregon. The final aspect of my research determined the substratum preference of S. quoianum when offered marsh bank, wood, sandstone, and styrofoam substrata. ======================== I am continuing to study the ecology and invasion of S. quoianum for my dissertation at Portland State University. Currently, I am examining the erosion rates in burrowed and unburrowed areas, how the burrowing rates differ between substrata, and the possible facilitative effect of burrows of S. quoianum on some other non-native species. ======================== Three of my Masters thesis chapters have been published and a fourth is in review. Please see my CV for citations. I will post Abstracts and/or .pdf copies when permission has been obtained from the publisher. |
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S. quoianum burrows in a stryofoam float. |
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Dense aggregations of S. quoianum burrows appear to undercut and facilitate the collapse of marsh banks |
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