Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad; no matter what you call them, If you live in the southeastern United States, their biodiversity hotspot is in your backyard! Astacologist (crayfish biologist) Dr. Zack Graham joins us on this episode to tell us just how wild these freshwater crustaceans are. He shares just a bit of his knowledge on their biodiversity, interesting behaviors, their impact on American culture, and some of the unique threats they continue to face.
At the end of the day, why do crayfish matter? Zack says, “I think at a basic level, humans are just generally curious about what's going on out in nature. And that's what really fuels a lot of my work, just trying to understand what has happened in the past, what's going to happen in the future to these animals that have been living on earth for over 300 million years. They've been here for a very long time. So I think, you know, they kind of have a right to be here and to be protected and to be studied and understood.”
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Zack Graham - Transcript
Episode image credit: Zack Graham
Learn more about Zack’s lab: https://crayfish.westliberty.edu/
You can also follow them on facebook: www.facebook.com/wlucrayfish
And on Instagram: @wlucrayfishlab
You can order Zack’s book here: https://uncpress.org/9781469685731/crayfish-crawfish-crawdad/
Learn more about the International Association of Astacology: https://www.astacology.org/default.asp?uid=Guest
Peruse the American Crayfish Atlas: https://americancrayfishatlas.web.illinois.edu/
And check out some beautiful crayfish photos from Zack’s adventures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/196391561@N03/
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Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
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