On July 19, we completed three years of sampling sites along the Pamlico and Neuse every ~8 weeks along a salinity gradient to examine the impact of salinity on parasite prevalence in native mud crab species. At this point, we have concluded our sampling of the Neuse estuary but will continue sampling the Pamlico estuary into the foreseeable future. It's been a lot of work, but we have a ton of data now over those 3 years; now onto some initial analyses!! Special thanks to all the students in my lab over the years and the citizen scientists that have contributed to this effort!

It was once again a truly amazing experience to co-teach a Marine Parasitology & Disease course at Shoals Marine Lab this past June. It's such a beautiful place, and a great location to look for parasites. We once again have a Parasite Ecology intern (Anna Van Dreser) doing really fun work on parasites -- this time in snails and fish! I think the pictures below speak for themselves...

Please go here to read the article.... very exciting that research in our lab was featured in this prominent magazine!!

https://www.ourstate.com/beneath-still-waters-rachel-carson-reserve-carrot-island-north-carolina/
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​Photo below: Baxter Miller

Apparently a lot happened in April! We were very happy to have Corey Winkler do his honors thesis in the lab, and he did an excellent job defending it at his honors thesis defense in late April 2019. Now we're looking towards getting the research published. "Where do they goby..." :)

For the first time, my lab was able to participate in the Coastal Studies Institute Open House, where we featured our research on biological invasions and parasites. We spoke with a large number of visitors -- it was a great place to showcase our work and do some outreach.

I was honored to receive a competitive scholar-teacher award at ECU this past April. It was the culmination of several years now of teaching and research (and research involving teaching), and some fantastic students and colleagues wrote me very nice letters. :) Super honored and a great experience. My picture was even put onto the jumbo tron at the football stadium. Yikes!

I am really, really behind in putting in updates over the last few months, so I am catching up all at once.
First up... several Blakeslee lab students presented at ECU's RCAW symposium -- and they did an excellent job! 

Chris just recently learned that he received $8000 from the Scholarship Committee of The Garden Club of America for the 2019 Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration. This award will help fund his project: "Parasites as Indicators of Biodiversity of Restored Oyster Reefs". Congratulations to Chris!!