Publication of New Book on the Development of Crustaceans

Two specimens of the coconut crab Birgus latro on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean - @Steffen_Harzsch
Two specimens of the coconut crab Birgus latro on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean - @Steffen_Harzsch

Crustaceans are common to the ecosystems of the high seas and in the coastal habitats of our oceans. They inhabit very different habitats, e.g. the deep seas, mangrove forests or the salt flats of coastal desert areas. The book series ‘The Natural History of Crustacea’ from Oxford University Press is dedicated to this diverse group of animals. The book which was published on 30 June 2020 explains how the egg of a crustacean develops into a fully grown animal and how environmental factors influence the growth. Researchers from the University of Greifswald’s Zoological Institute and Museum and from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research edited the current volume.

Crustaceans play an immensely important role in marine ecosystems, which cover 70 percent of our blue planet. They make up approximately 40 percent of the entire animal biomass. Krill - the shrimps of the south polar seas - on their own bind 50 megatonnes of carbon. A book series ‘The Natural History of Crustacea’ edited by Professor Martin Thiel (Universidad Catolica del Norte) looks at this group of animals. This volume is dedicated to the individual development of crustacean embryos and larvae, i.e. growth from the egg to a fully grown adult.

‘Crustaceans are extraordinary animals that there is lots to say about and that have a great deal to tell us researchers. For example, Daphnia, which are small water fleas also belonging to the crustaceans, serve as models in ecotoxicology.  They enable us to conduct detailed research into the environmental stress factors. Research into crustaceans currently focuses on how changing environmental factors caused by climate change affect the embryonal and larval development. This means that the book also makes a contribution to the University’s key field of research Environmental Change: Responses and Adaptations (ECRA),’ says Greifswald zoologist Prof. Dr. Steffen Harzsch.

The answer to the question as to how well crustaceans can adapt to changing environmental conditions has a knock-on effect on other ecosystems. This is because crustaceans are regularly found in such large numbers that population fluctuations can result in profound changes to these ecosystems. There are several crustacean species with strongly invasive potential, which have been able to spread far beyond their natural habitat as stowaways in the global maritime industry. An example of this is the dwarf crab (Rhithropanoperus harrisii), which is originally native to the east coast of America, and has inhabited the Bay of Greifswald for approximately two decades, greatly affecting the local ecosystem.


Further Information
Zoological Institute and Museum at the University of Greifswald
Department of Cytology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Greifswald
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Anger K., Harzsch S., Thiel M., Ed. (2020): The Natural History of Crustacea: Developmental Biology and Larval Ecology, Volume 7. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Contact at the University of Greifswald
Prof. Dr. Steffen Harzsch
Zoological Institute and Museum
AG Cytologie und Evolutionsbiologie
Soldmannstraße 23, 17498 Greifswald
steffen.harzschuni-greifswaldde   

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