Digital Commons Network^™

Recurring Bleaching Events Disrupt The Spatial Properties Of Coral Reef Benthic Communities Across Scales, Helen V. Ford, Jamison M. Gove, John R. Healey, Andrew J. Davies, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Gareth J. Williams

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine heatwaves are causing recurring coral bleaching events on tropical reefs that are driving ecosystem change. Yet, little is known about how bleaching and subsequent coral mortality impacts the spatial properties of tropical seascapes, such as patterns of organism spatial clustering and heterogeneity across scales. Changes in these spatial properties can offer insight into ecosystem recovery potential following disturbance. Here we repeatedly quantified coral reef benthic spatial properties around the circumference of an uninhabited tropical island in the central Pacific over a 9-year period that included a minor and subsequent severe marine heatwave. Benthic communities showed increased biotic homogenisation following …

Site-Based Assessment Of Oyster Shellfisheries And Associated Bio-Physical Conditions In Ghana And The Gambia, E. O. Chuku, I. Okyere, J. Adotey, S. Abrokwah, E. Effah, R. Adade, D. W. Aheto

Coastal Resources Center Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Advances In 3d Habitat Mapping Of Marine Ecosystem Ecology And Conservation, Renata Ferrari, Javier X. Leon, Andrew J. Davies, John H.R. Burns, Stuart A. Sandin, Will F. Figueira, Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Barcoding And Its Application For Visualizing Ecological Dynamics, Vitul Agarwal, Colleen B. Mouw

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Time is perceived to be unidirectional and continuous in the philosophy of science. This continuity can play a crucial role in time series analysis as events are generally seen as an outcome of the past, or subject to events that occurred previously in time. In this study, we describe an ordinal approach to perceiving ecological time series – one that relies on pattern formation with both antecedent and future events. Our approach defines a limited set of structural shapes that can occur for past, present, and future time points. Such a library of all possible shapes can then be …

Conceptual And Methodological Advances In Habitat-Selection Modeling: Guidelines For Ecology And Evolution, Joseph M. Northrup, Eric Vander Wal, Maegwin Bonar, John Fieberg, Michel P. Laforge, Martin Leclerc, Christina M. Prokopenko, Brian Gerber

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Habitat selection is a fundamental animal behavior that shapes a wide range of ecological processes, including animal movement, nutrient transfer, trophic dynamics and population distribution. Although habitat selection has been a focus of ecological studies for decades, technological, conceptual and methodological advances over the last 20 yr have led to a surge in studies addressing this process. Despite the substantial literature focused on quantifying the habitat-selection patterns of animals, there is a marked lack of guidance on best analytical practices. The conceptual foundations of the most commonly applied modeling frameworks can be confusing even to those well versed in their …

Book Review Ecomedia Literacy: Integrating Ecology Into Media Education, Pamela Pereyra

Journal of Media Literacy Education Pre-Prints

No abstract provided.

Coral Bleaching Response Is Unaltered Following Acclimatization To Reefs With Distinct Environmental Conditions, Katie L. Barott, Ariana S. Huffmyer, Jennifer M. Davidson, Elizabeth A. Lenzb, Shayle B. Matsuda, Joshua R. Hancock, Teegan Innis, Crawford Drury, Hollie M. Putnam, Ruth D. Gates

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Urgent action is needed to prevent the demise of coral reefs as the climate crisis leads to an increasingly warmer and more acidic ocean. Propagating climate change-resistant corals to restore degraded reefs is one promising strategy; however, empirical evidence is needed to determine whether stress resistance is affected by transplantation beyond a coral's native reef. Here, we assessed the performance of bleaching-resistant individuals of two coral species following reciprocal transplantation between reefs with distinct pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, sedimentation, and flow dynamics to determine whether heat stress response is altered following coral exposure to novel physicochemical conditions in situ. Critically, …

Meta-Analysis Of Primary Producer Amino Acid Δ15N Values And Their Influence On Trophic Position Estimation, Matthew D. Ramirez, Alexi C. Besser, Seth D. Newsome, Kelton Mcmahon

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

1. Compound-specific stable isotope analysis of individual amino acids (CSIA-AA) has emerged as a transformative approach to estimate consumer trophic positions (TP_CSIA) that are internally indexed to primary producer nitrogen isotope baselines. Central to accurate TP_CSIA estimation is an understanding of beta (β) values—the differences between trophic and source AA δ¹⁵N values in the primary producers at the base of a consumers’ food web. Growing evidence suggests higher taxonomic and tissue-specific β value variability than typically appreciated.
2. This meta-analysis fulfills a pressing need to comprehensively evaluate relevant sources of β value variability and its contribution to …

A Counter-History Of Rhetorical Ecologies, Madison Jones

Writing and Rhetoric Faculty Publications

In this essay, I argue that the ecological turn in rhetorical studies has produced spatiotemporal problems and that these problems are directly tied to the material disciplinary history of ecosystems ecology and its connections to the Anthropocene violence of nuclear colonialism. These spatiotemporal concerns result from rhetoric’s “ecological moment”—a kairotic framework that emphasizes flux but elides material histories. Building from rhetorical scholarship in decolonial historiography and place-based methods, I offer a counterhistory of ecology to demonstrate how our field can better engage with the dynamic narrative pasts that shape contemporary rhetorical ecological inquiry. Through this counterhistory, I provide a method …

The Role Of Climate Change In The Decline Of Narragansett Bay Winter Flounder, Joseph A. Langan

Open Access Dissertations

Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) has historically supported productive commercial and recreational fisheries throughout its range in the northwest Atlantic. As a small flatfish that inhabits estuaries, bays, and the coastal zone, this species is vulnerable to shifting environmental conditions in many of the habitats critical to its life cycle. At the southern edge of the species range, the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Bight winter flounder stock entered a steep decline during the 1980s following a period of overfishing. Despite repeated reductions in harvest during the proceeding decades, the population has yet to recover. A decreasing trend in recruitment has …

Phenotypic Plasticity In Acropora Pulchra Under Varied Environmental Conditions, Dennis A. Conetta

Open Access Master's Theses

The extent to which coral reefs have declined globally has triggered major scientific investment in coral restoration research. However, much of the predictions for reef futures do not include the capacity for coral acclimatization, or phenotypic plasticity, and how this plasticity varies across seasons. In light of this, we outlplanted clonal replicates of distinct genotypes of the reef building coral Acropora pulchra from an existing coral nursery common garden site to three sites on the North Shore of Mo’orea, French Polynesia. After transplantation (October 2019), the outplanted colonies were sampled at all three sites in January and November of 2020, …

Allopatric And Sympatric Drivers Of Speciation In Alviniconcha Hydrothermal Vent Snails, Corinna Breusing, Shannon B. Johnson, Verena Tunnicliffe, David A. Clague, Robert C. Vrijenhoek, Roxanne A. Beinart

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Despite significant advances in our understanding of speciation in the marine environment, the mechanisms underlying evolutionary diversification in deep-sea habitats remain poorly investigated. Here, we used multigene molecular clocks and population genetic inferences to examine processes that led to the emergence of the six extant lineages of Alviniconcha snails, a key taxon inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. We show that both allopatric divergence through historical vicariance and ecological isolation due to niche segregation contributed to speciation in this genus. The split between the two major Alviniconcha clades (separating A. boucheti and A. marisindica from A. kojimai, …

Energy Stores, Oxidative Balance, And Sleep In Migratory Garden Warblers ( Sylvia Borin) And Whitethroats ( Sylvia Communis) At A Spring Stopover Site, Andrea Ferretti, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Niels C. Rattenborg, Ivan Maggini, Massimiliano Cardinale, Leonida Fusani

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Little is known about how songbirds modulate sleep during migratory periods. Due to the alternation of nocturnal endurance flights and diurnal refueling stopovers, sleep is likely to be a major constraint for many migratory passerine species. Sleep may help to increase the endogenous antioxidant capacity that counteracts free radicals produced during endurance flight and reduces energy expenditure. Here, we investigated the relationship between sleep behavior, food intake, and two markers of physiological condition—the amount of energy reserves and oxidative status—in two migratory songbird species, the garden warbler (Sylvia borin) and the whitethroat (Sylvia communis). In garden warblers, birds with high …

Three-Dimensional Digital Mapping Of Ecosystems: A New Era In Spatial Ecology, Tim D'Urban Jackson, Gareth J. Williams, Guy Walker-Springett, Andrew J. Davies

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ecological processes occur over multiple spatial, temporal and thematic scales in three-dimensional (3D) ecosystems. Characterizing and monitoring change in 3D structure at multiple scales is challenging within the practical constraints of conventional ecological tools. Remote sensing from satellites and crewed aircraft has revolutionized broad-scale spatial ecology, but fine-scale patterns and processes operating at sub-metre resolution have remained understudied over continuous extents. We introduce two high-resolution remote sensing tools for rapid and accurate 3D mapping in ecology—terrestrial laser scanning and structure-from-motion photogrammetry. These technologies are likely to become standard sampling tools for mapping and monitoring 3D ecosystem structure across currently under-sampled …

Sub-Lethal Predatory Shell Damage Does Not Affect Physiology Under High Co2 In The Intertidal Gastropod Tritia Reticulata, Leonardo Querobim Yokoyama, Alexander Turra, Coleen Suckling, Gabriela Torres, Andrew Davies, Ian Mccarthy

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean acidification (OA) poses a major threat to marine animals, especially marine shelled invertebrates such as molluscs. Although many organisms are capable of compensating for the effects of OA, this can impose physiological costs and impact performance (e.g. through increased metabolism and decreased growth). Sublethal injuries on shells may provoke changes in energy allocation. Under acidified conditions, organisms would spend less energy on reproduction and somatic growth to repair the damage. Therefore, we analysed the physiological responses of the intertidal gastropod Tritia reticulata during shell regeneration under OA conditions. We simulated a sub-lethal predation event (a notch in the outer …

Seasonal Changes In Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis) Foliar Chemistry, Ian G. Kinahan, Chad M. Rigsby, Suzanne K. Savage, Nick L. Houseman, Andrew S. Marsella, Anita Oppong, Brenton L. Deboef, Colin M. Orians, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriére; hemlock) is an eastern North American conifer threatened by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand). Changes in foliar terpenes and phenolics were evaluated in new (current year growth) and mature (1-year old growth) hemlock needles during the growing season and into plant dormancy. From April through September, foliar concentrations of non-volatile soluble phenolics, condensed tannins, lignin, mono- and sesquiterpenes α-pinene, camphene, isobornyl acetate, and diterpene resin were quantified. After September, additional analyses of metabolites that continued to differ significantly in new versus mature foliage were carried out. Total soluble phenolic …

The Frequent Flyer’S Guide To Migration: How Songbird Metabolism And Oxidative Status Respond To Endurance Flight And Diet Quality, Kristen J. Demoranville

Open Access Dissertations

Migratory songbirds are among the best high-performance endurance athletes on the planet and during their annual peregrinations they are particularly vulnerable to oxidative damage because they maintain relatively high metabolic rates at rest, they are able to fly for long durations while operating at 9 times their resting metabolic rate, and they rely on fats to fuel this exercise which increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. The concept of evolutionary economic design of physiological systems considers such phenotypic flexibility in metabolic and antioxidant responses adaptive in that it allows birds to match the capacity of key physiological systems to prevailing …

Mitochondrial Dna Analysis Of Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolins (Manis Pentadactyla) From Nepal, Sandeep Shrestha, Ashish Bashyal, Ashna Dhaka, Thomas J. Mcgreevy Jr., Bill Buffum, Jyoti Joshi, Hemanta Kumari Chaudhary, Sanjay Nath Khanal

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Chinese Pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) are Critically Endangered and one of the most illegally traded mammals globally. We generated first COI sequences from five individuals of this species from Nepal. BLASTn search of our 600bp sequences at GenBank showed pair-wise identity between 99.17% and 100% to M. pentadactyla. There were three haplotypes and a total of five variable sites among five M. pentadactyla sequences. Neighbor-joining tree revealed that all M. pentadactyla from Nepal clustered into same group further splitting into two sub-groups albeit with low bootstrap value, suggesting potential multiple geographic origins. The K2P distance was 0.3% within …

Modeling Coral Reef Acoustic Propagation Loss, Kayla M. Thilges

Open Access Master's Theses

Quantification of an acoustic metric relating sound propagation on a coral reef to ecological parameters could enhance long-term ecological studies on coral reefs. The acoustic metric constructed in this study is coral reef propagation loss, or the sound intensity reduction with range, in a coral reef environment. Establishment of this benchmark parameterizes the geometric spreading and attenuation factors of the coral reef environment.

Two analyses are conducted in which both passive and active acoustics are used to measure the sound propagation environment across different fringing coral reef sites. In the first analysis, two passive acoustic studies in the literature captured …

A Comparison Of The Population Genetic Structure And Diversity Between A Common (Chrysemys P. Picta) And An Endangered (Clemmys Guttata) Freshwater Turtle, Scott W. Buchanan, Jason J. Kolbe, Johanna E. Wegener, Jessica R. Atutubo, Nancy E. Karraker

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The northeastern United States has experienced dramatic alteration to its landscape since the time of European settlement. This alteration has had major impacts on the distribution and abundance of wildlife populations, but the legacy of this landscape change remains largely unexplored for most species of freshwater turtles. We used microsatellite markers to characterize and compare the population genetic structure and diversity between an abundant generalist, the eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys p. picta), and the rare, more specialized, spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) in Rhode Island, USA. We predicted that because spotted turtles have disproportionately experienced the detrimental effects of habitat loss …

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Spring 2019, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Spring 2019 issue of Momentum: Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

The Brown Macroalga Colpomenia Peregrina (Sauvageau, 1927) Reaches Rhode Island, Usa, Lindsay A. Green-Gavrielidis, Niels-Viggo Hobbs, Carol S. Thornber

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Introduced, or nonnative, marine species are a threat to local biodiversity, disrupt marine industries, and can have negative effects on coastal communities. Colpomenia peregrina (Sauvageau, 1927) is one of the most successful brown algal invaders in the world. Originating from the Northwest Pacific, Colpomenia peregrina was first collected in the Northwest Atlantic in Nova Scotia, Canada in the 1960s. Since then populations of C. peregrina have been discovered at 57 sites ranging from Grand Barachois Lagoon, Saint Pierre and Miquelon to South Wellfleet, MA, USA. The spread of Colpomenia peregrina can be attributed to its broad tolerance to environmental conditions, …

The Importance Of Isotopic Turnover For Understanding Key Aspects Of Animal Ecology And Nutrition, Wales A. Carter, Ulf Bauchinger, Scott R. Mcwilliams

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Stable isotope-based methods have proved to be immensely valuable for ecological studies ranging in focus from animal movements to species interactions and community structure. Nevertheless, the use of these methods is dependent on assumptions about the incorporation and turnover of isotopes within animal tissues, which are oftentimes not explicitly acknowledged and vetted. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the estimation of stable isotope turnover rates in animals, and to highlight the importance of these estimates for ecological studies in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems that may use a wide range of stable isotopes. Specifically, …

Assessment Of Dietary Patterns, Physical Activity And Obesity From A National Survey: Rural-Urban Health Disparities In Older Adults, Steven A. Cohen, Mary L. Greaney, Natalie J. Sabik

Health Studies Faculty Publications

Background

Obesity is a critical public health issue, affecting over one-third of all Americans, and is an underlying cause of numerous health issues across the lifespan. For older adults, obesity is linked to premature declines in physical and mental health and cognitive functioning. The occurrence of obesity and related health behaviors and chronic diseases are higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Furthermore, rural areas of the United States have a higher proportion of older adults than urban areas. Few studies, to date, have explored rural-urban differences in the relationships between dietary patterns and obesity among older adults. Therefore, …

Perceptions Of Commercial And Recreational Fishers On The Potential Ecological Impacts Of The Block Island Wind Farm (Us), Talya S. Ten Brink, Tracey Dalton

Marine Affairs Faculty Publications

Offshore wind is gaining momentum in the United States as a viable source for meeting domestic energy needs. Although offshore wind farms have been developed in Europe and Asia, the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF) is the first offshore wind farm built in North America. To improve marine resource management, it is critical to understand the impacts of the wind farm on marine resource users in context. Little is known about the impacts of offshore wind farms on marine resource users in the United States. This study investigates recreational and commercial fishers' perceptions of the impacts of the BIWF on …

Influence Of Commercial Dna Extraction Kit Choice On Prokaryotic Community Metrics In Marine Sediment, Gustavo Ramirez, Dennis Graham, Steven D’Hondt

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Commercial DNA extraction kits are widely used for cultivation‐free surveys of marine sediment. However, the consequences of popular extraction‐kit choices for sequence‐based biological inferences about marine sedimentary communities have not previously been exhaustively assessed. To address this issue, we extracted DNA from multiple paired subsamples of marine sediment using two popular commercial extraction kits (MO BIO Laboratories PowerSoil® DNA isolation kit and MP Biomedicals FastDNATM Spin Kit for Soil). We report comparisons of (1) total DNA yield, (2) extract purity, (3) gene‐targeted quantification, and (4) post‐sequencing ecological inferences in near‐seafloor (< 1 meter below seafloor [mbsf]) and subsurface (> 1 mbsf) marine sediment. In near‐seafloor sediment, the MP …

Asymmetric Biotic Interactions And Abiotic Niche Differences Revealed By A Dynamic Joint Species Distribution Model, Nina K. Lany, Phoebe Zarnetske, Erin M. Schliep, Robert N. Schaeffer, Colin M. Orians, David A. Orwig, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A species’ distribution and abundance are determined by abiotic conditions and biotic interactions with other species in the community. Most species distribution models correlate the occurrence of a single species with environmental variables only, and leave out biotic interactions. To test the importance of biotic interactions on occurrence and abundance, we compared a multivariate spatiotemporal model of the joint abundance of two invasive insects that share a host plant, hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae) and elongate hemlock scale (EHS; Fiorina externa), to independent models that do not account for dependence among co‐occurring species. The joint model revealed …

Benthic Habitat Mapping And Its Applications To Coastal Resource Management, Monique Lafrance Bartley

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters focused on benthic habitat mapping of coastal waters within northeast region of the United States to support science-based regulatory and management strategies. The first chapter is entitled: Shallow water benthic habitat mapping utilizing the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to establish baseline conditions post-Hurricane Sandy at Fire Island National Seashore, New York. In response to Hurricane Sandy, a benthic habitat mapping study was conducted at Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), New York, representing one of the first comprehensive mapping efforts undertaken by the National Park Service. FIIS was of particular interest …

Fine-Scale Habitat Comparison Of Two Sympatric Cottontail Species In Eastern Connecticut, Amy E. Gottfried Mayer, Thomas J. Mcgreevy Jr., Mary E. Sullivan, Bill Buffum, Thomas P. Husband

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Changing landscapes in the Northeastern United States over the past century have had a profound effect on the abundance and distribution of native wildlife species that prefer early successional habitat, including New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis). Populations of New England cottontail have been in decline for several decades, whereas during this same time period the nonnative eastern cottontail (S. floridanus) range has expanded. We conducted intensive vegetation analyses at 17 known locations of New England cottontail and 19 known locations of eastern cottontail in Connecticut to better describe their chosen habitat and identify any difference in habitat used by the …

Individual And Non‐Additive Effects Of Exotic Sap‐Feeders On Root Functional And Mycorrhizal Traits Of A Shared Conifer Host, Robert N. Schaeffer, Claire M. Wilson, Laura Radville, Mauri Barrett, Elizabeth Whitney, Sofia Roitman, Esther R. Miller, Benjamin E. Wolfe, Carol S. Thornber, Colin M. Orians, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Forest pests drive tree mortality through disruption of functional traits linked to nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction. The impacts of attack by individual or multiple above‐ground herbivores on root functional traits critical to tree health have received little attention. This is especially true for exotic herbivores, organisms often found in disturbed forests.
2. We excavated whole‐root systems from eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) individuals experimentally infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA: Adelges tsugae) and elongate hemlock scale (EHS: Fiorina externa) individually, or in combination, for periods of 2 and 4 years. Below‐ground root biomass, functional traits and storage …