International Symposium on the
Science and Conservation of Horseshoe Crabs – 2007

Call for Poster Abstracts

Instructions for Preparation of Abstracts

Deadline for Abstract Submission is February 23, 2007

Download the full version of the Call for Abstracts

  1. Provide contact information for corresponding author.
  2. Titles are limited to 25 words.
  3. The name of the author presenting the poster should be capitalized.
  4. The body of the abstract is limited to 250 words. Use italics for Latin names.
  5. The official language of the meeting is English. We encourage the submission of abstracts from International authors, but these will be edited for clarity, if necessary.
  6. Abstracts must be sent as a MS-Word or RTF attachment to:
    Dr. Martin Schreibman, Poster Session Chairman
    (MartinS@brooklyn.cuny.edu).
  7. Abstracts must be received by February 23, 2007, and notification of abstract acceptance will be sent by March 16, 2007. Poster presenters must register for the symposium. See registration information.
  8. Please follow the style guidelines in the sample abstract below:

**EXAMPLE ABSTRACT**

Author Contact Information

Dr. Mark L. Botton
Fordham University
113 West 60th Street
New York, NY 10023
USA (212) 636-6327
botton@fordham.edu

Title (25 words or less): Impacts of an Intensive Fishery on the Reproductive Biology of Horseshoe Crabs in the Delaware Bay Area
Authors' Names and Affiliations (Presenter in CAPS): M. L. BOTTON (Fordham Univ., New York, NY, USA) and R. E. Loveland (Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ, USA)
Body of Abstract (250 words or less): Since the mid-1990's, horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) have been the basis of significant commercial fisheries for bait (eels and whelks) and biomedical use (extraction of blood for Limulus amoebocyte lysate). We compared the sex ratio, size structure, and condition index of the horseshoe crab population in Delaware Bay, New Jersey before and after the expansion of the fishery in the mid-1990's to evaluate some possible impacts of the fishery on reproductive biology. Both sexes have experienced population declines, but females have declined more rapidly than males. Consequently, the sex ratio in the spawning population in Delaware Bay has become more skewed towards males, which is consistent with the preferential harvesting of females for the eel bait fishery. We did not observe significant changes in the size structure of the population, despite the reported preference of the bait and biomedical industries for larger animals. Similarly, we saw no temporal shift in the carapace condition index, suggesting that fishing was not selective for "younger" individuals within the population. We recommend continued monitoring of the carapace condition index as a means of detecting new recruits into the adult population.