Research | By Kori E. Chamberlin
August 27, 2025

With muck boots on and clipboard in hand, Alaina Frias ’27 (Biology major, Chemistry and Studio Art minor) spent her summer up to her knees in mud, all in the name of research. Working alongside Professor Lori LaPlante, Ph.D. at Bunker Creek in Durham, NH and Sandy Point in Greenland, NH, the Biology major studied changing migration and reproductive patterns of Fiddler crabs. While Cape Cod typically marks the northernmost limit of their range, Fiddler crabs are stretching their habitats even farther north towards one of the fastest warming bodies of water on Earth: The Gulf of Maine.

Saint Anselm’s Summer Research Superstars


This climate migrant only recently appeared in New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, making Frias’s work even more impactful. Due to the crustacean’s tendency to burrow, the holes Fiddler crabs create impact marsh erosion and vegetation. Frias observed this phenomenon closely as their migration could manipulate preexisting ecosystems. By conducting monthly population surveys, Frias monitored the crabs’ occupancy of northern environments. Further, she collected ovigerous females to study how many eggs Fiddlers produce at once. Since northern temperatures are colder than what the crabs are typically used to, they must allocate more energy for their journey, leading to a potential change in their reproductive patterns. Frias’s findings should help predict population growth for the future.

“The most rewarding part of studying Fiddler crabs is the opportunity to answer questions about something brand new happening in the ecological world,” said Frias. “This research is giving me a taste of what a future in biological research might look like.”

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