Digital Commons Network^™

Variation In Seagrass-Associated Macroinvertebrate Communities Along The Gulf Coast Of Peninsular Florida: An Exploration Of Patterns And Ecological Consequences, Savanna C. Barry, A. Challen Hyman, Charles A. Jacoby, Laura K. Reynolds, Mark Kowalewski, Thomas K. Frazer

VIMS Articles

Seagrasses form vast meadows of structurally complex habitat that support faunal communities with greater numbers of species and individuals than nearby unstructured habitats. The Gulf coast of peninsular Florida represents a natural laboratory ideally suited to the study of processes that shape seagrass-associated invertebrate and fish communities within meadows of a single species of seagrass, Thalassia testudinum. This suitability arises from a pronounced structural and chemical gradient that exists over ecologically relevant spatial and temporal scales, as revealed by extensive monitoring of water quality and seagrass. We hypothesized that seagrass-associated invertebrate communities would vary across five estuarine systems spread …

Asynchrony Among Local Communities Stabilises Ecosystem Function Of Metacommunities, Kr Wilcox, At Tredennick, Se Koerner, E Grman, Lm Hallett, David S. Johnson, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy decisions. We used species-level abundance data from 62 plant communities across five continents to assess mechanisms of temporal stability across spatial scales. We assessed how asynchrony (i.e. different units responding dissimilarly through time) of species and local communities stabilised metacommunity ecosystem function. Asynchrony of species increased stability of local communities, and asynchrony among local communities enhanced metacommunity stability by a wide range of magnitudes (1-315%); this range was positively correlated with …

Abundance And Local-Scale Processes Contribute To Multi-Phyla Gradients In Global Marine Diversity, Gj Edgar, Tj Alexander, Js Lefcheck, Ae Bates, Sj Kininmonth, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

Among themost enduring ecological challenges is an integrated theory explaining the latitudinal biodiversity gradient, including discrepancies observed at different spatial scales. Analysis of Reef Life Survey data for 4127 marine species at 2406 coral and rocky sites worldwide confirms that the total ecoregion richness peaks in low latitudes, near +15 degrees N and -15 degrees S. However, although richness at survey sites is maximal near the equator for vertebrates, it peaks at high latitudes for large mobile invertebrates. Site richness for different groups is dependent on abundance, which is in turn correlated with temperature for fishes and nutrients for macroinvertebrates. …

Beyond The Benchtop And The Benthos: Dataset Management Planning And Design For Time Series Of Ocean Carbonate Chemistry Associated With Durafet (R)-Based Ph Sensors, Emily B. Rivest, M O'Brien, L Kapsenberg, Cc Gotschalk, Ca Blanchette, U Hoshijima, Ge Hofmann

VIMS Articles

To better understand the impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems, an important ongoing research priority for marine scientists is to characterize present-day pH variability. Following recent technological advances, autonomous pH sensor deployments in shallow coastal marine environments have revealed that pH dynamics in coastal oceans are more variable in space and time than the discrete, open-ocean measurements that are used for ocean acidification projections. Data from these types of deployments will benefit the research community by facilitating the improved design of ocean acidification studies as well as the identification or evaluation of natural and human-influenced pH variability. Importantly, the …

Mapping Diversity Indices: Not A Trivial Issue, V Granger, N Bez, Jm Fromentin, C Meynard, A Jadaud

VIMS Articles

Mapping diversity indices, that is estimating values in all locations of a given area from some sampled locations, is central to numerous research and applied fields in ecology. Two approaches are used to map diversity indices without including abiotic or biotic variables: (i) the indirect approach, which consists in estimating each individual species distribution over the area, then stacking the distributions of all species to estimate and map a posteriori the diversity index, (ii) the direct approach, which relies on computing a diversity index in each sampled locations and then to interpolate these values to all locations of the studied …

Zooplankton Carcasses And Non-Predatory Mortality In Freshwater And Inland Sea Environments, Kw Tang, Mi Gladyshev, Op Dubovskaya, G Kirillin, Hp Grossart

VIMS Articles

Zooplankton carcasses are ubiquitous in marine and freshwater systems, implicating the importance of non-predatory mortality, but both are often overlooked in ecological studies compared with predatory mortality. The development of several microscopic methods allows the distinction between live and dead zooplankton in field samples, and the reported percentages of dead zooplankton average 11.6 (minimum) to 59.8 (maximum) in marine environments, and 7.4 (minimum) to 47.6 (maximum) in fresh and inland waters. Common causes of non-predatory mortality among zooplankton include senescence, temperature change, physical and chemical stresses, parasitism and food-related factors. Carcasses resulting from non-predatory mortality may undergo decomposition leading to …

Linkage Between Crustacean Zooplankton And Aquatic Bacteria, Kw Tang, V Turk, Hp Grossart

VIMS Articles

Bacteria and metazoan zooplankton (mainly crustaceans) are often viewed as 2 separate functional groups in the pelagic food webs indirectly linked via nutrient cycling and trophic cascades. Yet a zooplankter's body carries a high abundance of diverse bacteria, often at an equivalent concentration orders of magnitude higher than the ambient bacterial concentration. Zooplankton bodies are organic-rich micro-environments that support fast bacterial growth. Their physical-chemical conditions differ from those in the surrounding water and therefore select for different bacterial communities, including anaerobic bacteria that otherwise may not thrive in a well-oxygenated water column. The zooplankton body provides protection to the associated …

Selective Feeding Behavior Of Larval Naked Gobies Gobiosoma Bosc And Blennies Chasmodes Bosquianus And Hypsoblennius Hentzi: Preferences For Bivalve Veligers, Jm Harding

VIMS Articles

Naked gobies Gobiosoma bose, striped blennies Chasmodes bosquianus, and feather blennies Hypsoblennius hentzi provide important intermediate links within the trophic structure of estuarine oyster reef communities. Predator-prey interactions between planktonic larvae of these fishes and larval eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica may influence recruitment success within oyster reef communities. These 3 species of oyster reef fish larvae were cultured from wild nests and used in multifactorial laboratory feeding experiments with larval oysters or hard clams Mercenaria mercenaria as well as wild plankton as prey items to determine the effects of predator age, predator concentration, and prey type on feeding selectivity of …

Effects Of Sunlight On Bacteriophage Viability And Structure, Ke Wommack, Rt Hill, Ta Muller, Rr Colwell

VIMS Articles

Current estimates of viral abundance in natural waters rely on direct counts of virus-like particles (VLPs), using either transmission or epifluorescence microscopy. Direct counts of VLPs, while useful in studies of viral ecology, do not indicate whether the observed VLPs are capable of infection and/or replication. Rapid decay in bacteriophage viability under environmental conditions has been observed. However, it has not been firmly established whether there is a corresponding degradation of the virus particles, To address this question, viable and direct counts were carried out employing two Chesapeake Bay bacteriophages in experimental microcosms incubated for 56 h at two depths …

Small-Scale Organism Distributions And Patterns Of Species Diversity: Evidence For Positive Interactions In An Estuarine Benthic Community, Linda C. Schaffner

VIMS Articles

No abstract provided.

Daily, Monthly And Annual Settlement-Patterns By Callinectes-Sapidus And Neopanope-Sayi Megalopae On Artificial Collectors Deployed In The York River, Virginia - 1985-1988, J Van Montfrans, Ca Peery, R J. Orth

VIMS Articles

Daily, monthly and annual settlement of dominant brachyuran megalopae on six replicate artificial settlement substrates (collectors) was examined at one site in the York River, Virginia, from mid-July or early August to early December during 1985-1988. Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, an exported estuarine species, and Neopanope sayi (Smith), a retained estuarine species, were the numerically dominant colonizers of collectors. C. sapidus settlement was highly episodic (l-3-day duration) and significantly associated with the full moon period (lunar day 15-22). The temporal mean of settlement for C. sapidus each year fell within a 12-day period (24 September-6 October) over the 4 years. C. …

Variation In Planktonic Availability And Settlement Of Blue-Crab Megalopae In The York River, Virginia, Ej Olmi, J Van Montfrans, Rn Lipcius, R J. Orth, Pw Sadler

VIMS Articles

Blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, megalopae and juveniles were sampled in the plankton and on natural (grassbeds) and artificial settlement substrates (collectors) at two sites in each of two areas of a lower Chesapeake Bay tributary (York River, Virginia) to examine spatial variability in blue crab recruitment. Spatial patterns of abundance were not consistent across habitats (plankton, artificial collectors and grassbeds) or time. Densities of planktonic megalopae were homogeneous at 1-2 m (within site) but varied at spatial scales of hundreds of meters (between sites) and kilometers (between areas). Settled megalopae were distributed unevenly within and between sites, but their abundance …

Comparative Ecology Of Nekton Residing In A Tidal Creek And Adjacent Seagrass Meadow: Community Composition And Structure, Mp Weinstein, Ha Brooks

VIMS Articles

No abstract provided.

Spatial And Temporal Resource Use By Dominant Benthic Amphipoda (Ampeliscidae And Corophiidae) On The Middle Atlantic Bight Outer Continental Shelf, Lc Schaffner, Df Boesch

VIMS Articles

No abstract provided.

Larval Development Of Pagurus Longicarpus Say Reared In The Laboratory. V. Effect Of Diet On Survival And Molting, Morris H. Roberts

VIMS Articles

During the last several decades, papers too numerous to list here have been published describing larval stages of decapod crustaceans reared in the laboratory. Through this work techniques for rearing these larvae have become standardized, making a variety of physiological amid ecological experiments possible (for example, Costlow, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1967 ; Costlow and Bookhout, 1968 ; Roberts, 1971a, 1971b). Yet relatively little is known about the nutritional requirements of decapod larvae. Lebour ( 1922) performed a limited number of stomach content analyses on planktonic zoeae and reported that decapod larvae are principally phytophagous. Subsequent laboratory study led her to …

Larval Development Of Pagurus Longicarpus Say Reared In The Laboratory. Ii. Effects Of Reduced Salinity On Larval Development, Morris H. Roberts Jr.

VIMS Articles

Temperature and salinity define a set of conditions within which planktonic organisms can survive and develop. Thorson ( 1946) described the restriction of some meroplankters to Kattegat water in the Oresund which was presumed to be based on either a temperature, or a salinity discontinuity or both. Bary ( 1963a, b, c) , in an extensive study of North Atlantic plankton, clearly demonstrated a relationship between zooplankton distribution and temperature-salinity distribution. Banse ( 1956) observed the distribution of polychaete and echinoderm larvae with respect to various water masses in Kiel Bay. He concluded that these larvae were restricted to their …

Frequencies Of Infaunal Invertebrates Related To Water Content Of Chesapeake Bay Sediments, W. Harrison, Marvin L. Wass

VIMS Articles

The following relationship was investigated for a total of 44 stations, using sequential (linear) multiregression analysis: A = f (D, S a , S i., C, M z, S o , W) 1 z o where A = the frequency of an infaual invertebrate species, D : water depth at the station, Sa = per cent sand, Si =percent silt, C = per cent clay, Mz = mean grain size, S o = sediment Sorting Coefficient, and W = water content. Three animals were chosen for the dependent variable: Ensis directus, Nephtys incisa, and Retusa canaliculata. Results of the least-squares …

Frequencies Of Infaunal Invertebrates Related To Water Content Of Chesapeake Bay Sediments, W. Harrison, Marvin L. Wass

VIMS Articles

The following relationship was investigated for a total of 44 stations, using sequential (linear) multiregression analysis:

A = f (D, S a , S., C, M , S , W)

where A = the frequency of an infauna! invertebrate species, D : water depth at the station, Sa = per cent sand, Si =percent silt, C = per cent clay, Mz = mean grain size, S o = sediment Sorting Coefficient, and W = water content. Three animals were chosen for the dependent variable: Ensis directus, Nephtys incisa, and Retusa canaliculata.

Results of the least-squares search procedure indicate that if …