Record Details
Diet manipulations and color changes in Pisaster ochraceus
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Diet manipulations and color changes in Pisaster ochraceus |
| Names |
Taylor, Katlyn R.
(creator) Hacker, Sally D. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 2014-05-27 (iso8601) |
| Note | Bachelor of Science (BS) |
| Abstract | It has been observed and documented that Pisaster ochraceus has very striking colors, but the reasons behind the coloration are still unknown. Three coloration categories were determined and used for a feeding trial study to investigate the effects of diet on coloration in Pisaster ochraceus. This study involved 30 hand collected individuals from the Pisaster ochraceus population at Strawberry Hill that were studied over a six week period. Individuals were selected based on coloration, 10 orange, 10 maroon, and 10 purple and were roughly the same size. The individuals were brought back to the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) and held in six outdoor tanks pumped constantly with sea water from the HMSC sea water system sourced in Yaquina Bay. Each tank received hand collected and cleaned prey often enough to simulate “unlimited prey”. Each coloration group was divided in half and fed different prey: five orange sea stars received Mytilus californianus and five orange sea stars were fed Pollicipes polymerus, and the same methods were applied to each of the two maroon tanks and two purple tanks. The results of this study provide more clues and direction for further investigation into the details of coloration of Pisaster ochraceus. |
| Genre | Research Paper |
| Topic | pisaster |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/48513 |
