Clare mcGowan

In the Fall of 2024, I co-led an experiment with my research partner that looked into the impacts of heat waves on competition between a local native snail, Physa skinneri, and an invasive snail- Radix auricularia. Due to climate change, both the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events are increasing and it's important to understand how these stressors are affecting invasion so that we may better conserve the populations of native species. In a temperature controlled cold room, we set up 48 tanks with 1 jar inside of each tank. Each jar contained either 2 Physa, 2 Radix, or 1 Physa and 1 Radix. Each of the tanks outside of control treatments were exposed to either a longer low intensity heatwave or a shorter high intensity heatwave. We monitored behavior, mortality, and dissolved oxygen throughout the duration of this experiment.