Erin Meyer
Hickman LabEmail: emeyer@berkeley.edu Phone: (510) 642-9865 Her research: "The focus of my research is a large, intertidal gastropod, Cittarium pica, that ranges from Bermuda south to
Venezuela. This snail has gained importance as a food source in recent years, yet very little is known about it."
Her path to science: "Having a love of invertebrates, I applied for, and received, an NSF internship to study in Bermuda. At the Bermuda
Biological Station for Research (BBSR), I assisted Kathy Coates in studying the local population of C. pica."
The work ahead: "Now, Carole Hickman, Kathy, and I will expand the study to try and understand the basic population genetics of C.
pica throughout its range — tissue and shell samples from the isolated populations of the snail will be collected and compared. In the early 1800s, Bermuda's population of C. pica disappeared, but individuals collected from the Turks and Caicos Islands were reintroduced to Bermuda in 1982. Currently, the Bermuda population is thriving, and fully-protected under the Fisheries Protected Species Order of 1989. We are interested to see if there are differences between the two populations after such a short period of isolation. Also, we plan to explore the biology and ecology of C. pica, including predation, reproduction, and commensalisms."
Her favorite thing about her research: "Anything I do will be new!" |
