MCLA Blog

Biology Professor Anne Goodwin sends greetings from Panama, where she is conducting field research on sea squirt populations:

Sea squirts are invertebrate marine animals that grow on solid underwater surfaces. Although as adults they are attached organisms, their juvenile forms are free-swimming. Both juveniles and fragments of adults – which in some cases can regenerate new organisms - can easily spread to new sites in water currents and with boat traffic. Certain invasive species are particularly dangerous, in that they spread easily, have few or no predators, and can grow on top of other attached marine animals, including clams and mussels.

The Liquid Jungle Lab is a new research station off the Pacific coast of Panama, near Pixvae. A group of researchers, including sea squirt specialist Mary Carman from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, came to the site two years ago. They found only three species of sea squirt, all in low abundance and none invasive. Given the relative proximity to the Panama Canal and the increased boat traffic associated both with the research station and with a construction site on the island, it is almost certain that other species will spread to the area. By monitoring this site over time, the process of invasion can be documented systematically – an exciting possiblity.

I, together with an undergraduate student who had taken my Zoology course, have joined Mary Carman’s team in conducting a survey of sea squirts at various sites near the Liquid Jungle Lab. Our goal is to document the sea squirt populations and determine if non-native species of sea squirt have invaded the area since the last expedition. To do this, we are identifying and counting the sea squirts in 30 m2 transects, measured by holding quadrats (see picture) against underwater rock faces. We intend to return to the site every two years to monitor the progress of sea squirt invasion.