Limulidae

Methods Study Area East Harbor is a 291-ha back-barrier salt marsh and coastal lagoon located within the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS), N.Truro, Massachusetts (Thiet et al. 2014a). East Harbor was artificially isolated from Cape Cod Bay in 1868 when the original 300-m wide inlet was diked due to the construction of a causeway for use by trains and automobiles (Portnoy et al. 2005). In 1894, a drainage system was installed that allowed freshwater to escape the system (Portnoy et al. 2006), but sea water could not enter the system due to a one way flapper valve (Portnoy, 2005; Smith & Medeiros, 2013). The exclusion of the tides caused the salinity to decline from 25-30 parts per thousand (ppt) into brackish water with a salinity of around 5 ppt (Portnoy, 2005; Smith & Medeiros, 2013). This led to a variety of ecological problems in East Harbor (Portnoy, 2005; Smith & Medeiros, 2013), and many native estuarine fauna and flora were extirpated (Portnoy, 2007). In 2002, after nearly 150 years of tidal flow restriction, the flapper valve was permanently opened which allowed for enough seawater exchange to enter the system and increase the salinity (Smith & Medeiros, 2013). The East Harbor system is now divided into three distinct areas based on salinity and distance from the culvert that connects East Harbor to Cape Cod Bay. From highest to lowest salinity, these areas are Moon Pond, the Main Lagoon, and the Northwest Cove (Figure 1). Since the reopening of the valve in 2002,…

apparent physical abilities of these animals. The hypothesis and purpose will be tested by studying the structure of red blood cells, their volume in comparison to the total volume of blood (hematocrit percentage), and the oxygen-carrying-protein, hemoglobin located within red blood cells. The mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin concentration, and the mean cell hemoglobin will be calculated using class data to better study the relationships between blood physiology and aerobic capacity.…