Lydia Dykema

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Area of Concentration

Marine Biology

Abstract

Marine-associated arthropods are subject to a wide array of environmental challenges. While they risk desiccation on land, they are subject to a variety of threats in water ranging from its chemistry and physical characteristics to predation. Aratus pisonii, Ligia baudiniana, and Anurida maritima– semiterrestrial marine-associated arthropods– demonstrate tidal-driven daily rhythms that minimize their time in the water. Their existence at the land-water interface nevertheless forces them to enter the water at times where it is critical that the animals be capable of moving quickly and effectively back to land. Through this study, I sought to understand what locomotory forms and behaviors these animals demonstrate in or on the water versus on land. By filming numerous experimental trials where the animals were subject to both terrestrial and aquatic conditions, I compared quantitative parameters of their movements and produced descriptions of behavior and locomotory forms where descriptions were non-existent or lacking. I found that all three arthropods were highly capable of moving under (or on in the case of A. maritima) water where they achieved velocities comparable to or even greater than their velocities on land despite the presence of hydrodynamic forces that resisted their movement. This was accomplished through modifications to their standard gait or by adopting a completely separate locomotory technique. Flaws in my methodology contributed to less than representative values for the mean velocities and accelerations the arthropods demonstrate across media but I nevertheless gained significant insight into the extensive capabilities of these animals and the modifications they make to move through drastically different environments.

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