by Katrina Lohan

As you may recall from a previous blog, part of the research for my fellowship project involves using genetic tools to look for parasites outside of their host organism in order to increase our understanding of the general ecology of these parasites.

I have been collecting water samples at all of the oyster sampling locations, but I decided that I wanted a larger diversity of habitat types. Thus, after discussing this idea with my advisors, I have decided to also sample subtidal marine sediments at the oyster sampling locations and collect biofilm samples. I will use the same genetic techniques on all the sample types to examine the diversity and distribution of marine parasites associated with the different habitats.

To collect the biofilm samples, we are using microscope slides, which were secured into a slide holder and suspended off of a local dock. The plan is to them scrape the biofilm off the microscope slides at scheduled intervals during our trip. I can’t wait to see what’s growing on them in a few days!

Read more on parasites surviving in disease reservoirs >>