People in the Lab

Graduate Students

Ben Toscano (benjamin.toscano@gmail.com)

Personal website

I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the Griffen lab. I study how individual-level variation in body size and behavior in predatory crabs (Family: Xanthidae) affects their community interactions in North Inlet estuary, SC. This work is conducted at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory in Georgetown, SC. Past projects on this topic include investigating 1) the importance of crab size class diversity for energy flow from bivalve prey to crabs in intertidal oyster reefs (Toscano & Griffen 2012), and 2) how the shape of the crab functional response (consumption as a function of prey density) varies with individual crab body size.
I’m currently studying how anthropogenic disturbances alter body size distributions in natural crab populations and how these body size changes could alter top-down control in reefs. I’m also studying the effects of within- and between-species behavioral variation in crab assemblages on their prey consumption.
My dissertation research is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Graduate Research Fellowship), the International Women’s Fishing Association, the University of South Carolina, the Belle W. Baruch Institute, the Slocum-Lunz Foundation and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation.

Megan Riley (rileyme3@email.sc.edu)

I am a first-year Ph.D. student in the Griffen lab. For my dissertation work, I am interested in investigating the interactive effects of multiple environmental stressors on the diet choices and reproduction of the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii. I am also interested in how the impacts of environmental stressors are propagated throughout communities via trophic interactions, and will investigate the implications of A. pisonii herbivory for the meiofaunal community, microphytobenthos, and microbial biomass of the associated sediment.

Jessica Earsley (earsley@email.sc.edu)

I am a first year Master’s student in the Griffen lab. I am studying how changes in diet associated with fishery-caused claw loss impact physiological condition and the reproductive abilities of female stone crabs (Menippe sp.). This research is conducted at the University of South Carolina (Columbia), and at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory in Georgetown, SC.

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John Gatto

John is a senior in the marine science program. He is working on the role of individual personality in community dynamics within oyster reefs.

Maggie Vogel

Maggie is a junior in the marine science program. She is examining the influence of diet on reproduction in the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus. She is also exploring the ability to detect early warning signs of extinction in populations within variable deteriorating environments.

Lacey Goulding

Lacey is a junior in the marine science program. She is examining the influence of diet on reproduction in the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus.

Burns Newsome

Burns is a marine science student that works with my grad studnet Ben Toscano on intraspecific diversity in mud crab populations within oyster reefs.

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Rachel Decker

Rachel completed here master's degree in Spring 2011. Her work focused on behavior of the fiddler crab Uca pugilator. She examined individual personalities in female crabs to determine whether individual personalities were persistent across contexts and whether personality was correlated with physiological condition. She also examined whether physiological condition in male fiddler crabs influenced the decision of individual males to forage or exhibit sexual displays (waving their enlarged claw to attract females) throughout the foraging and reproductive season. Rachel is now a lab technician at Florida International University in the lab of Dr. Jim Fourqurean where she is assisting with studies in seagrass habitats. Two publications from her masters work in my lab are on the way!

Hallie Mosblack

Hallie graduated with her bachelor's degree in Marine Science in Spring 2011. She was very succesfull in her time at USC, receiving the Rising Senior Award and the Outstanding Marine Science student award. Hallie worked on several projects in my lab for 3 years, included exploring the link between diet and reproduction in the invasive European green crab Carcinus maenas, developing tools to predict crab diet using gut ecomorphology, and exploring ontogenetic diet shifts of several crab species. These projects have thus far resulted in two publications with Hallie as a coauthor (Griffen and Mosblack 2011 and Griffen et al. 2011), with a third on the way. Hallie plans to pursue a career in environmental management.

Michele Repetto

Michele graduated with her bachelor's degree in Marine Science in Spring 2011. During her time in my lab Michele examined the physiological influence of an invasive parasite (Orthione griffenis) on its burrowing mud shrimp host (Upogebia pugettensis) in an effort to understand the mechanism underlying declines in host populations with the parasite invasion (Repetto and Griffen 2011). After leaving my lab and USC, Michele took a job as an invasive European green crab team leader at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in San Fancisco.

Bree Bess

Bree is currently a senior in the marine science program. Her work in my lab examined seasonal and ontogenetic diet changes in the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus using gut content analyses.

Joan Hurley

Joan is currently a senior in the marine science program. Her work in my lab examined seasonal and ontogenetic diet changes in the invasive Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus using stable isotopes.