Life Sciences Commons^™

Potential Drivers Of Virulence Evolution In Aquaculture, David A. Kennedy, Gael Kurath, Ilana L. Brito, Maureen K. Purcell, Andrew F. Read, James R. Winton, Ar Wargo

VIMS Articles

Infectious diseases are economically detrimental to aquaculture, and with continued expansion and intensification of aquaculture, the importance of managing infectious diseases will likely increase in the future. Here, we use evolution of virulence theory, along with examples, to identify aquaculture practices that might lead to the evolution of increased pathogen virulence. We identify eight practices common in aquaculture that theory predicts may favor evolution toward higher pathogen virulence. Four are related to intensive aquaculture operations, and four others are related specifically to infectious disease control. Our intention is to make aquaculture managers aware of these risks, such that with increased …

Physiological Stress And Post-Release Mortality Of White Marlin (Kajikia Albida) Caught In The United States Recreational Fishery, Lela S. Schlenker, Robert J. Latour, Richard Brill, John Graves

VIMS Articles

White marlin, a highly migratory pelagic marine fish, support important commercial and recreational fisheries throughout their range in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean. More than 10 000 individuals can be caught annually in the United States recreational fishery, of which the vast majority are captured on circle hooks and released alive. The probability of post-release mortality of white marlin released from circle hooks has been documented to be

Source-To-Sink Research: Economy Of The Earth's Surface And Its Strata, Jp Walsh, Pl Wiberg, R Aalto, Ca Nittrouer, S. Kuehl

VIMS Articles

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Structural Complexity And Location On The Habitat Value Of Restored Oyster Reefs, Melissa Ann Karp

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In the Chesapeake Bay, < 1% of the historic oyster population remains, and efforts have been increasing to restore oysters and the services they provide. Building reefs that successfully provide ecosystem services–especially habitat and foraging grounds–may require different restoration techniques than those previously used, and success may depend on reef morphology (complexity), location, and environmental conditions. Salinity and habitat complexity are two important factors that may interact to effect benthic communities and predator-prey interactions on restored reefs. The goals of this project were: (1) Characterize the benthic communities on restored oyster reefs in lower Chesapeake Bay, and (2) examine the effects of structural complexity and salinity on benthic communities and predator-prey interactions. A two-year field survey of restored reefs was carried out in four rivers in lower Chesapeake Bay to characterize faunal communities on restored reefs and to quantify the effect of reef complexity on faunal communities. A laboratory mesocosm experiment was conducted to examine the effect of reef complexity on predator foraging. In total, 61 macrofaunal species were identified among all samples, and restored reefs supported on average, 6,169 org/m2 and 67.88 g-AFDW/m2. There were significant differences in the community composition and diversity among the rivers, and salinity was the environmental factor that best explained the observed differences in species composition across the rivers. Salinity and rugosity (i.e., structural complexity) both positively affected diversity, while salinity negatively affected macrofaunal abundance and biomass. Oyster density and rugosity positively affected macrofaunal biomass, and oyster density positively affected mud crab, polychaete, and mussel densities. In the mesocosm experiment, predator foraging, measured by proportion and number of prey consumed, was significantly reduced in the presence of oyster shell structure. However, predators were able to consume more prey when prey density was increased, even in the presence of oyster shell structure. These results combine to enhance our understanding of the benefits of increased habitat complexity for both prey and predators on restored oyster reefs. Increasing complexity worked to increase the abundance, biomass, and diversity of organisms inhabiting restored reefs, and even though predator consumption was reduced in the presence of structure compared to non-structured habitat, predators were able to consume more prey individuals when prey density was increased. Therefore, increasing the structure of oyster reef habitat may benefit prey species by providing refuge habitat, and benefit predators by providing an increased abundance of available prey items.

Influence Of Perkinsus Marinus Infection And Oyster Health On Levels Of Human-Pathogenic Vibrios In Oysters, Lydia M. Bienlien

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica is an ecologically and commercially important species whose natural populations have been devastated by overharvesting, habitat destruction, and disease, but the rapid growth of oyster aquaculture has shown potential to restore the economic significance of this species. A key threat to the growth and sustainability of oyster aquaculture is the association of human-pathogenic Vibrio bacteria with product marketed for raw consumption. Two Vibrio species, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, are the causes of the highest rates of seafood consumption-related mortality and gastrointestinal illness, respectively. Identification of the factors influencing V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus prevalence …

Assemblage Dynamics Of Larval Fishes In The York River Of Virginia And The Chesapeake Bay, Cindy Marlene Marin Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis developed from the VIMS Larval Fish Monitoring Program, which began in 2007 as part of a study comparing the larval fish assemblages of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Ribeiro et al. (2015) analyzed data from the first three years of this time series to describe the temporal variation in the larval fish assemblages. After this initial study was completed (three years in duration), the sampling continued at the fixed station near the mouth of the York River, which was used to represent the Chesapeake Bay. For this thesis, therefore, eight years of data (2007-2015) were available to investigate temporal …

The Effects Of Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices On Bycatch In The Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fisheries In The Atlantic And Indian Oceans, Julia Snouck-Hurgronje

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Thousands of floating objects, known as drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), are released every year by commercial tropical tuna purse seine vessels in the three equatorial oceans to aggregate tuna and increase catch. The escalation in the number of dFADs deployed over the last three decades has caused changes in fishing effort that are poorly reflected in traditional indices of purse seine effort and catch per unit of effort (CPUE). In addition, concerns have been raised regarding the impacts of such high numbers of dFADs being deployed on both catch and bycatch species. I studied two aspects of dFAD deployments …

Vertical Movements Of Shortfin Mako Sharks Isurus Oxyrinchus In The Western North Atlantic Ocean Are Strongly Influenced By Temperature, Jeremy J. Vaudo, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Anthony D. Wood, Kevin C. Weng, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Although shortfin mako sharks Isurus oxyrinchus are regularly encountered in pelagic fisheries, limited information is available on their vertical distribution and is primarily restricted to cooler areas of their geographic range. We investigated the vertical movements of mako sharks across differing temperature regimes within the western North Atlantic by tagging 8 individuals with pop-up satellite archival tags off the northeastern United States and the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Depth and temperature records across 587 d showed vertical movements strongly associated with ocean temperature. Temperatures150 m compared to only 1% in the coldest water columns. The sharks showed diel diving behavior, with …

Variability In Fish Tissue Proximate Composition Is Consistent With Indirect Effects Of Hypoxia In Chesapeake Bay Tributaries, Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

VIMS Articles

The spatial and temporal extent of summer hypoxia (dissolved oxygen [DO] concentration

Assessing Tidal Marsh Resilience To Sea-Level Rise At Broad Geographic Scales With Multi-Metric Indices, Kb Raposa, K Wasson, E Smith, Ja Crooks, P Delgado, Scott Lerberg, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

Tidal marshes and the ecosystem services they provide may be at risk from sea-level rise (SLR). Tidal marsh resilience to SLR can vary due to differences in local rates of SLR, geomorphology, sediment availability and other factors. Understanding differences in resilience is critical to inform coastal management and policy, but comparing resilience across marshes is hindered by a lack of simple, effective analysis tools. Quantitative, multi-metric indices are widely employed to inform management of benthic aquatic ecosystems, but not coastal wetlands. Here, we develop and apply tidal marsh resilience to sea-level rise (MARS) indices incorporating ten metrics that contribute to …

Patterns Of Genome Size Variation In Snapping Shrimp, Nw Jeffery, K Hultgren, Stc Chak, Tr Gregory, Dr Rubenstein

VIMS Articles

Although crustaceans vary extensively in genome size, little is known about how genome size may affect the ecology and evolution of species in this diverse group, in part due to the lack of large genome size datasets. Here we investigate interspecific, intraspecific, and intracolony variation in genome size in 39 species of Synalpheus shrimps, representing one of the largest genome size datasets for a single genus within crustaceans. We find that genome size ranges approximately 4-fold across Synalpheus with little phylogenetic signal, and is not related to body size. In a subset of these species, genome size is related to …

Salp Contributions To Vertical Carbon Flux In The Sargasso Sea, Jp Stone, Deborah K. Steinberg

VIMS Articles

We developed a one-dimensional model to estimate salp contributions to vertical carbon flux at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre for a 17-yr period (April 1994 to December 2011). We based the model parameters on published rates of salp physiology and experimentally determined sinking and decomposition rates of salp carcasses. Salp grazing was low during non-bloom conditions, but routinely exceeded 100% of chlorophyll standing stock and primary production during blooms. Fecal pellet production was the largest source of salp carbon flux (78% of total), followed by respiration below 200 m (19%), sinking of …

The Status Of Virginia's Public Oyster Resource 2015, Melissa Southworth, Roger L. Mann

Reports

This report summarizes data collected during 2015 in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The report is composed of two parts, part one, oyster recruitment (shell string) in Virginia and part two, dredge survey of selected oyster bars in Virginia.

Report On Red Crab Fishery: Harvesting Enhancements And By-Catch Utilization, Robert A. Fisher

Reports

No abstract provided.

Reducing Theft Of Oysters Through The Use Of Rfid Technology, Tommy Kelllum, Albert Pollard Sr.

Reports

Poaching (theft) of oyster from the oyster beds is a huge problem. Purpose of this study is to assess a means of reducing poaching. The means to be studied is the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags to mark oysters that would be placed on the beds so that when oysters from those beds are brought to the seafood processor, their origin can be identified. A detailed discussion of RFID appears in a later section of this study.

RFID tags are to be put in dummy oysters, which should be hard to detect from real oysters. The shells must …

Conclusion: Protecting Juvenile Flounder From Becoming A Crab Pot By Catch - Final Report, Mike Joslin

Reports

This study was conducted to determine whether the escape panel was effective in reducing the by-catch of juvenile flounder when using the conventional crab pots.

An escape panel for the juvenile flounder was constructed and inserted into 10 pots marked as "treated". In addition, 10 conventional crab pots, were constructed without panels marked "untreated". Both sets were placed in the same line alternating "treated", "untreated", etc...

On three rotations the pots were fished and data was collected to determine if the panels were effective as an escape for the juvenile flounder.Each rotation was in a different location.

This study was …

Vims Shark Longline Annual Report - 2016, Multispecies Research Group, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Report indicates the number of species caught, retained, released and tagged in the longline surveys.

Estimation Of Juvenile Striped Bass Relative Abundance In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay : Annual Progress Report : 2015-2016, Christopher D. Davis, Mary C. Fabrizio, Troy D. Tuckey

Reports

The 2015 Striped Bass juvenile abundance index was 12.00 and was not significantly greater than the historic average of 8.63. Compared with their respective historic averages abundance indices from individual rivers in 2015 varied, such that significantly higher recruitment was observed in the Rappahannock River and average recruitment was observed in the James and York rivers. Relatively higher catches of young‐of‐the‐year Striped Bass at upriver and downriver auxiliary sites suggest expansion of Striped Bass nursery grounds in 2015. Unlike Striped Bass in Virginia waters, juvenile White Perch abundance indices in 2015 were significantly greater than the historic average for this …

Practical Oyster Larvae And Remote Deployment Pool, Albert Pollard

Reports

This grant will evaluate the costs of constructing and operating a 100 bushel “floating pool” in which aged, washed, and containerized shell is placed with purchased larvae for setting on the cultch. The 100 bushel sized pool is being proposed because it is a sample size large enough to test future scalability but small enough to manage as a controlled experiment. In addition, the proposal will compare the setting efficiency of the pool vs the standard upland tanks. Also, we intend to test practicality - after lifting the skirt that forms the pool – of towing the POLARDS Pool (now …

Evaluating Recruitment Of American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, In The Potomac River (Spring 2016), Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a valuable commercial species along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to Florida. Landings from Chesapeake Bay typically represent 60% of the annual United States commercial harvest (ASMFC 2012). American Eel is also important to the recreational fishery as it is often used live as bait for Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) and Cobia (Rachycentron canadum). In 2012, Chesapeake Bay commercial landings of American Eel (771,536 lbs) were 72% of the U.S. landings (personal communication from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division). Since the 1980s, harvest along the U.S. Atlantic Coast …

Alexandrium Monilatum In The Lower Chesapeake Bay: Sediment Cyst Distribution And Potential Health Impacts On Crassostrea Virginica, Sarah Pease

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The toxin-producing harmful algal bloom (HAB) species Alexandrium monilatum has long been associated with finfish and shellfish mortalities in the Gulf of Mexico. In the summer of 2007, A. monilatum re-emerged as a bloom-forming species in the Chesapeake Bay. Over the last decade, late summer blooms of A. monilatum have been expanding in range in the lower Chesapeake Bay and have reached record-high densities, particularly in the lower York River. This dinoflagellate species overwinters in the sediments as a resting cyst, and upon excystment under suitable environmental conditions produces blooms the following summer. The research presented here includes the first …