Our faculty at William & Mary are making great contributions to academia with their research. In our blog series, we interview faculty with recent publications for insight into their scholarship.
Candice Benjes-Small, head of research at W&M Libraries, spoke to Rochelle Seitz, research professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), about her recently published book chapter entitled Ecology of the soft-shell clam Mya arenaria in the book The soft-shell clam Mya arenaria: Biology, fisheries, and mariculture (available soon in the library catalog).
In 2-3 sentences, describe your scholarship to someone unfamiliar with the field.
The ecology of the soft-shell clam Mya arenaria is complex and varied. In this book chapter, we focused on overarching concepts (e.g., life history, habitat preferences and distribution, temporal patterns, conservation and restoration), and outlined ecological interactions. Our chapter is intended as a go-to for interested readers to get up to speed on the ecology of M. arenaria by synthesizing available information.
What was the most exciting/interesting part of this project for you?
Writing this chapter was a great opportunity to examine all of the available literature on this interesting species (the soft-shell clam). This was exciting because I learned that many ecological features are similar for European populations of soft-shell clams as for those in North America.
Who might be interested in reading this book?
This book chapter is intended for academics as well as younger college students interested in marine science and interested in learning more about the ecology of soft-shell clams.
How did W&M Libraries help support your scholarship?
I used the W&M Libraries' access to journal articles extensively. I worked on this chapter during the W&M Faculty Writers' Retreat.
