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Habitat Suitability And Bioenergetics Of An Invasive Marine Fish (Pterois Volitans) In Biscayne Bay, Florida, Nicholas Andres Bernal

Open Access Theses

As many successful invasive species display varying degrees of plasticity across spatial and temporal habitats, it is often difficult to assess the impacts of a nascent biological invasion on native flora and fauna. Using empirically supported environmental variables (e.g., temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, rugosity, and benthic substrate), we created a comprehensive habitat suitability model for invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) in Biscayne Bay, Florida. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a platform for the modeling process allowed us to quantify correlations between temporal (seasonal) fluctuations in the above variables and the spatial distribution of discrete habitat classes, whose ranges …