Scientists predict that Global climate change with its expected increase in storm frequency and extreme changes in temperature will affect the intertidal region .There is increasing evidence that climate change will lead to an increase in the rate of extinction among intertidal invertebrates which are already living close to their maximum temperature tolerance limit. In her experiment, Magalie is using the hermit crab Pagurus samuelis as a model organism to predict how intertidal invertebrates will react to the combined effects of increase in sedimentation and changes in temperature.
Click here to open her dissertation (pdf)
Publications:
Valère-Rivet, M. G., Juma, D., Dunbar, S. G. 2017. Thermal tolerance of the hermit crab Pagurus samuelis subjected to shallow burial events. Journal of Crustacean Research, 46: 65-82. Link to PDF here
Valère-Rivet, M. G., Boskovic, D. S., Estevez, D., Dunbar,S. G. 2019. Changes in hemolymph lactate and ammonia concentrations in the hermit crab Pagurus samuelis (Stimpson, 1857) (Decapoda: Anomura: Paguridae) during shallow burial. Journal of Crustacean Biology. doi:10.1093/jcbiol/ruy114 Link to PDF here
Magalie produced a small video for the Marine Biology Class. You can see it here.
Awards and Grants Winner of a 2015 Southern California Academy of Sciences Grant. Find out more here Winner of a 2015 Crustacean Society Denton Belk Memorial Scholarship Grant. Find out more here Winner of a 2017 Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid Research Award. Find out more here Winner of a 2018 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Grants-In-Aid Research Award. Find out more here
|
|
 |
 |
| Magalie is collecting sea water at the Kerckhoff marine laboratory in Corona del Mar to use for her experiment. | Magalie is checking the water level in the tank. More than 200 gallons of water is collected once a quarter at the Kerckhoff marine laboratory for her research. |
 |
 |
| Magalie is collecting hermit crabs Pagurus samuelis at White Point Beach in LA county. | Tyler dos Santos (R), who is also a graduate student at Loma Linda University, helped Magalie (L) collect hermit crabs. This picture shows them looking for the hermit crabs among the rocks. |
 |
 |
| During this trip, around 150 hermit crabs were collected from the beach. The hermit crabs were then transported in buckets of seawater back to the Marine Research Group Lab at Loma Linda University. | Magalie getting ready to start her experiment. |
 |
 |
| The hermit crabs collected at the beach were kept at the Marine Research Group Laboratory, Loma Linda University. | The experimental set up of Magalie's experiment. Magalie is monitoring survival and time to escape of hermit crabs under different conditions. |
 |
 |
| The temperature of the water bath was controlled by a chiller (next to the water bath). We also use of a webcam to monitor the time crabs took to escape burial. | In this picture Magalie is conducting a trial and monitoring if any hermit crabs are at the surface. |
Photo: S.G. Dunbar