It’s a cycle that has existed each spring for millions of years: as dusk falls along the Delaware Bay, thousands of horseshoe crabs come ashore to lay their eggs, which then become food for migrating birds.
Scientists are still working to fully understand the threads of this complex web, but on one May night scientists received assistance from College of Southern Maryland students and faculty members who traveled to Cape May, N.J. to help tag the living fossils for scientific research.
The trip was part of CSM’s travel study program, which gives students the opportunity to go beyond the classroom and put their education into action.
According to CSM Dean of Learning Resources Stephanie McCaslin, the trip was a great opportunity for students to play a role in the “ecological domino effect” of environmental protection efforts while learning about the horseshoe crabs' migratory patterns in ways that help conservationists understand the prehistoric species.
“They were really making those connections and applications to everything they were learning at CSM, from environmental diversity to statistics,” McCaslin said in a news release.
The data from the tagging effort will help scientists at the American Littoral Society and their partners to plan their actions, including sand placement and reef creation to protect horseshoe crab spawning habitats and shorebird foraging grounds.
“Tagging the crabs felt fulfilling,” biology student Eyron Tapia-Sibri said in the release. “I’m thankful I got a chance to help these ancient yet helpful creatures. Seeing the horseshoe crab eggs was especially interesting. It always amazes me when living creatures come from something so small. As valuable as it is to learn in a classroom, being able to interact and see it in action will always be helpful.”
“I find horseshoe crabs to be a fascinating species of arthropods,” Engineering student Kaleb Bennett said in the release. “The fact that their lineage is so ancient, and their biology differs so dramatically from humans makes them seem almost alien.”
The students also learned about the local ecosystem through hikes and boat tours.
In addition to being a CSM student, Jenks volunteers at Calvert Marine Museum as an aquarist assistant and said that the trip was a natural fit for his goals to eventually work with marine life as a biologist.
“Our faculty members know how much students get out of these hands-on adventures and think about ways they can invigorate the students and get them out of the area for these experiential learning programs,” McCaslin said.
Thanks to funding provided through the National Science Foundation, S-STEM scholars like Tapia-Sibri, Bennett and Jenks were able to attend the Cape May trip at no cost to them.
The trip was proposed by CSM Biology Professor Tracey Stuller, who joined the American Littoral Society on a similar tagging trip last year and immediately saw its potential as a learning activity for students.
The trip was one of the first new travel study opportunities CSM has provided since the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly cancelled all trips in 2020. Janet Thompson, who helps to coordinate travel study for CSM’s Division of Learning, said that since then, students, parents, and faculty comfort levels with travel have changed, and the department is adjusting its offerings in response.
According to Thompson, the Cape May trip is an example of the local travel opportunities that CSM hopes to increasingly provide to students.
To view photographs of the CSM Travel Study S-STEM horseshoe crab tagging trip, go to https://csmphoto.zenfolio.com/p300680674.
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