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University researchers scoured the Gulf of Mexico to better understand the crustaceans that lived there.

The bounty of their four-decade effort: a collection of 100,000 specimens acquired recently by the Smithsonian Institution.

Do ghost shrimp and razor clams help oil spill recovery? That’s what University biologists want to know.

Their research aims to identify if these coastal creatures act as frontline custodians that clean up following environmental disasters.

Biology doctoral student Paige Byerly listens for the call of the wild.

Sound recordings and field work enable Byerly to track the effects of oil spills, land loss and storms on birds that call the Gulf coast home.