Keeping with the erosion thread...The World has a feature about Tim Davidson, a graduate student researching an invasive crustacean, Sphaeroma quoianum. It turns out that the tiny creatures are responsible for an increate of the rate of erosion of the shoreline in Coos Bay, Oregon. The isopods, native to Australia and New Zealand, burrow into the mud and chew their way through, breaking up the substrate and causing chunks of the estuary substrate to fall apart. Tim has been studying the distribution and habitat preferences of the crustaceans and has found evidence that they are continuing their spread along the coast of the U.S. For more on his research, check out this poster (.pdf).
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