Life Sciences Commons^™

Recent Additions Of Warmwater Fish Species To Chesapeake Bay, Aimee D. Halvorson

VIMS Articles

During September 2004 and June 2005, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) Juvenile Fish and Blue Crab Trawl Survey collected specimens of three warmwater fish species uncommon to Chesapeake Bay. Captures of Trachinocephalus myop.s (Snakefish), Citharichthys Wfjc/'fj/^.v (Spotted WhifT'). and Mullus auratus {Red Goatfish)are the first substantiated records for these species from Chesapeake Bay. These captures also represent extensions in the documented geographic ranges of Snakefish and Spotted Whiff. Occurrences of multiple species heretofore rarely encountered in Chesapeake Bay warrant further attention in view of concerns regarding climate change and its effect on local marine faunas.

Correcting For Effective Area Fished In Fishery-Dependent Depletion Estimates Of Abundance And Capture Efficiency, Jf Walter, Jm Hoenig, T Gedamke

VIMS Articles

Depletion methods are widely used to estimate capture efficiency and abundance. However, they are highly dependent on the depletion area assumed. In open-ocean depletion studies, it is difficult to determine the true area of depletion. Satellite vessel monitoring systems (VMS) offer the potential to determine the area effectively fished. Observer-collected catch-and-effort data from the 1999 Atlantic sea scallop fishery in Georges Bank Closed Area II were used to obtain spatially-explicit DeLury depletion estimates of dredge efficiency and abundance, with corrections for fished area made using VMS data. Non-area-corrected efficiency estimates often had theoretically impossible values, indicating that the naively assumed …

A 28-Ka History Of Sea Surface Temperature, Primary Productivity And Planktonic Community Variability In The Western Arabian Sea, A Pourmand, F Marcantonio, Ts Bianchi, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Ej Waterson

VIMS Articles

Uranium series radionuclides and organic biomarkers, which represent major groups of planktonic organisms, were measured in western Arabian Sea sediments that span the past 28 ka. Variability in the past strength of the southwest and northeast monsoons and its influence on primary productivity, sea surface temperature (SST), and planktonic community structure were investigated. The average alkenone-derived SST for the last glacial period was similar to 3 degrees C lower than that measured for the Holocene. Prior to the deglacial, the lowest SSTs coincide with the highest measured fluxes of organic biomarkers, which represent primarily a planktonic suite of diatoms, coccolithophorids, …

Eutrophication-Induced Phosphorus Limitation In The Mississippi River Plume: Evidence From Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometry, Jb Sylvan, A Quigg, S Tozzi, Jw Ammerman

VIMS Articles

We assessed nutrient limitation in the Mississippi River plurne and Louisiana continental shelf during the summer of 2002 (04-08 July). We measured nutrient concentrations, alkaline phosphatase (AP) activities, chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations, and four fast repetition rate fluorescence (FRRF) parameters: the maximum quantum yield of photochemistry in photosystem II (PSII), F-v:F-m; the functional absorption cross section for PSII, sigma(psII); the time for photosynthetic electron transport on the acceptor side of PSII, tau(Qa); and the connectivity factor, p, in 24-h-long nutrient addition bioassays near the Mississippi River delta. Low phosphorus (P) concentrations, elevated inorganic nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios, high AP activities, and …

Pathogens In Crassostrea Ariakensis And Other Asian Oyster Species: Implications For Non-Native Oyster Introduction To Chesapeake Bay, Ja Moss, Em Burreson, Jf Cordes, Cf Dungan, Gd Brown, A Wang, X Wu, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

With the drastic decline of eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica populations in the Chesapeake Bay due to over-fishing, diseases and habitat destruction, there is interest in Maryland and Virginia in utilizing the non-native oyster species Crassostrea ariakensis for aquaculture, fishery resource enhancement, and ecological restoration. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommends that non-native species be examined for ecological, genetic and disease relationships in the native range prior to a deliberate introduction to a new region. Therefore, a pathogen survey of C. ariakensis and other sympatric oyster species was conducted on samples collected in the PR China, …

Phytoplankton Carbon Fixation Gene (Rubisco) Transcripts And Air-Sea Co2 Flux In The Mississippi River Plume, De John, Zha Wang, Xw Liu, Rh Byrne, Je Corredor, Da Bronk, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

River plumes deliver large quantities of nutrients to oligotrophic oceans, often resulting in significant CO2 drawdown. To determine the relationship between expression of the major gene in carbon fixation (large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, RuBisCO) and CO2 dynamics, we evaluated rbcL mRNA abundance using novel quantitative PCR assays, phytoplankton cell analyses, photophysiological parameters, and pCO2 in and around the Mississippi River plume (MRP) in the Gulf of Mexico. Lower salinity (30-32) stations were dominated by rbcL mRNA concentrations from heterokonts, such as diatoms and pelagophytes, which were at least an order of magnitude greater than haptophytes, a-Synechococcus or high-light Prochlorococcus. …

Effects Of Starvation On Aggregate Colonization And Motility Of Marine Bacteria, Em Yam, Kw Tang

VIMS Articles

Fluxes of particulate matter to depth and dynamics of dissolved organic matter in the water column are influenced by microbial processes associated with organic aggregates like marine snow. These microscale processes include the encounter between bacteria and aggregates, which has been previously modeled and tested with well-fed and actively growing bacteria. In the present study, we investigated the effects of starvation on initial bacterial colonization of aggregates by measuring colonization and detachment of 6 isolates in different physiological states (fed vs. starved) using model aggregates. Because aggregate encounter depends on motility, the motility behaviors of fed and starved bacteria of …

Susceptibility Of Salt Marshes To Nutrient Enrichment And Predator Removal, La Deegan, Jl Bowen, D Drake, Jw Fleeger, Carl T. Friedrichs, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

Salt marsh ecosystems have been considered not susceptible to nitrogen overloading because early studies suggested that salt marshes adsorbed excess nutrients in plant growth. However, the possible effect of nutrient loading on species composition, and the combined effects of nutrients and altered species composition on structure and function, was largely ignored. Failure to understand interactions between nutrient loading and species composition may lead to severe underestimates of the impacts of stresses. We altered whole salt marsh ecosystems (similar to 60 000 m(2)/treatment) by addition of nutrients in flooding waters and by reduction of a key predatory fish, the mummichog. We …

Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Case Study Of A Highly Eutrophic Coastal Bay System, Mj Kennish, Sb Bricker, Wc Dennison, Pm Glibert, Rj Livingston, Ken Moore, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

The Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary is classified here as a highly eutrophic estuary based on application of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment model. Because it is shallow, poorly flushed, and bordered by highly developed watershed areas, the estuary is particularly susceptible to the effects of nutrient loading. Most of this load (similar to 50%) is from surface water inflow, but substantial fractions also originate from atmospheric deposition (similar to 39%), and direct groundwater discharges (similar to 11%). No point source inputs of nutrients exist in the Barnegat Bay watershed. Since 1980, all treated wastewater …

Evolution Of Mycobacterium Ulcerans And Other Mycolactone-Producing Mycobacteria From A Common Mycobacterium Marinum Progenitor, Mj Yip, Jl Porter, Jam Fyfe, Cj Lavender, F Portaels, Mw Rhodes, Hi Kator, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

It had been assumed that production of the cytotoxic polyketide mycolactone was strictly associated with Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcer. However, a recent study has uncovered a broader distribution of mycolactone-producing mycobacteria (MPM) that includes mycobacteria cultured from diseased fish and frogs in the United States and from diseased fish in the Red and Mediterranean Seas. All of these mycobacteria contain versions of the M. ulcerans pMUM plasmid, produce mycolactones, and show a high degree of genetic relatedness to both M. ulcerans and Mycobacterium marinum. Here, we show by multiple genetic methods, including multilocus sequence analysis and …

Activity In The Pallial Nerve Of Knobbed (Busycon Carica) And Channeled (Busycotypus Canaliculatum) Whelks Recorded During Exposure Of The Osphradiurn To Odorant Solutions, Christopher Magel, Kristin Wakefield, Nancy Targett, Richard Brill

VIMS Articles

Adult horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are the preferred bait in the U.S. east coast whelk pot fishery, but their harvest is being restricted because of severe population declines in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. To identify other baits, the activity in the pallial nerve of whelks was determined during exposure of the osphradium to odorant solutions prepared from horseshoe crab eggs, horseshoe crab hemolymph, and hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) tissue. All three elicited significant responses; bait based on them may provide an alternative to the use of adult horseshoe crabs, although extensive behavioral testing remains to be done. Channeled whelk …

The Importance Of Tidal And Lateral Asymmetries In Stratification To Residual Circulation In Partially Mixed Estuaries, Me Scully, Carl T. Friedrichs

VIMS Articles

Measurements collected in the York River estuary, Virginia, demonstrate the important impact that tidal and lateral asymmetries in turbulent mixing have on the tidally averaged residual circulation. A reduction in turbulent mixing during the ebb phase of the tide caused by tidal straining of the axial density gradient results in increased vertical velocity shear throughout the water column during the ebb tide. In the absence of significant lateral differences in turbulent mixing, the enhanced ebb-directed transport caused by tidal straining is balanced by a reduction in the net seaward-directed barotropic pressure gradient, resulting in laterally uniform two-layer residual flow. However, …

Temporal And Vertical Dynamics In Picoplankton Photoheterotrophic Production In The Subtropical North Pacific Ocean, Matthew Church, Hugh Ducklow, Rm Letelier, David Karl

VIMS Articles

The marine ecosystem of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) extends from the Bellingshausen Sea to the northern tip of the peninsula and from the mostly glaciated coast across the continental shelf to the shelf break in the west. The glacially sculpted coastline along the peninsula is highly convoluted and characterized by deep embayments that are often interconnected by channels that facilitate transport of heat and nutrients into the shelf domain. The ecosystem is divided into three subregions, the continental slope, shelf and coastal regions, each with unique ocean dynamics, water mass and biological distributions. The WAP shelf lies within the …

A Practical Approach To Phylogenomics: The Phylogeny Of Ray-Finned Fish (Actinopterygii) As A Case Study, Chenhong Li, Guillermo Orti, Gong Zhang, Guoqing Lu

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Molecular systematics occupies one of the central stages in biology in the genomic era, ushered in by unprecedented progress in DNA technology. The inference of organismal phylogeny is now based on many independent genetic loci, a widely accepted approach to assemble the tree of life. Surprisingly, this approach is hindered by lack of appropriate nuclear gene markers for many taxonomic groups especially at high taxonomic level, partially due to the lack of tools for efficiently developing new phylogenetic makers. We report here a genome-comparison strategy to identifying nuclear gene markers for phylogenetic inference and apply it to the …

Lead Shot Availability To Birds Using The North Platte River Near A Trap And Skeet Range, Kimberly Dickerson, Aida Farag, Andrea Gray, Dave Harper, William Brumbaugh

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

A trap and skeet shooting range gun club is located on the North Platte River, below the Guernsey Reservoir in Wyoming. In 1999, we obtained sediment samples to determine if lead shot from shooting activities was present and potentially available to waterfowl and bald eagles. We collected 25 sediment samples, each consisting of the upper 10 cm of sediment, every 1.5 meters along transects that paralleled the river bank and skeet range. Sediment was sorted using a series of sieves. Nineteen of the 25 samples contained at least one lead shot (range = 1-14 lead shot/sample). Samples nearest the bank …

Assessment Of Impacts To Aquatic Organisms From Pesticide Use On The Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Elizabeth J. Materna, Jeremy Buck

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

The primary habitat management objective for the three refuges of the Willamette Valley NWR Complex is to provide high quality forage for wintering Canada geese. To accomplish this, much of the land within the refuge is managed for grass production involving applications of herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers. Other agrochemicals such as insecticides are applied to agricultural land outside the refuge. Some agrochemicals used in the area have the potential to enter aquatic habitats of the refuge and could impact species such as amphibians, turtles, or the federally-listed Oregon chub. The objective of this investigation was to sample both biotic and …

Evaluation Of Wetlands Created With Effluent From A Swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Using Mallard Sentinels: Implications For Mcmurtrey National Wildlife Refuge, Matthew S. Schwarz, Christina D. Lydick

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Previous work by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified nutrients, elemental contaminants, algal toxins, bacterial pathogens, and hormones as contaminants of concern (COCs) associated with wetlands created from the secondary effluent of a large swine concentrated animal feeding operation. In this follow-up study, COC exposure and effects to waterfowl were evaluated using game farm mallards. Mallards were kept in enclosures built on two created wetlands (treatment sites) and two reference wetlands that are federally managed for waterfowl habitat. Water quality in the created wetland enclosures had higher specific conductivity, BOD, turbidity, pH, and nutrients than reference wetlands. Algal blooms …

Dietary Overlap Of An Alien And Native Carnivore On San Clemente Island, California, R. Brand Phillips, Clark S. Winchell, Robert H. Schmidt

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Predation by feral cats (Felis catus) is recognized as a major threat to native fauna worldwide, but the competitive effects of cats on native species have not been extensively studied. Cats occur on San Clemente Island, California, in sympatry with endemic island foxes (Urocyon littoralis clementae). We examined diets of cats and island foxes between years, seasons, and habitats to assess the potential for resource competition between the 2 species. Analysis of 602 cat and 958 fox feces revealed a high level of dietary overlap (O = 0.93) and relatively narrow niche breadths for both …

A Bioenergetics-Based Population Dynamics Model Of Pacific Herring (Clupea Harengus Pallasi) Coupled To A Lower Trophic Level Nutrient–Phytoplankton–Zooplankton Model: Description, Calibration, And Sensitivity Analysis, Bernard A. Megrey, Kenneth A. Rose, Robert A. Klumb, Douglas E. Hay, Francisco E. Werner, David L. Eslinger, S. Lan Smithg

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

We describe an approach to dynamically couple a fish bioenergetics-based population dynamics model to the NEMURO lower trophic level nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton model. The coupled models, denoted NEMURO.FISH and configured for Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasii) on the west coast of Vancouver Island, are capable of simulating the daily dynamics of the lower trophic levels and the daily average weight and numbers of individual herring in each of 10 age classes over multiple years. New recruits to the herring population are added each June based on either constant recruitment or dynamic recruitment generated from an environmental Ricker spawner–recruitment relationship. The …

A Guide To Nestling Development And Aging In Altricial Passerines, Dennis Jonsomjit, Stephanie L. Jones, Thomas Gardali, Geoffrey R. Geupel, Paula J. Gouse

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Nestling growth and development studies have been a topic of interest for a greater part of the last century (Sutton 1935, Walkinshaw 1948) and continue to be of interest today. This is not surprising since studies on nestling growth can provide a wealth of biological information that has larger implications for avian management and conservation. Despite this history of studying nestling development, basic information is still limited or absent for many species. Many questions remain unanswered, and contradictory conclusions are often found in the literature (Starck and Ricklefs 1998a). Therefore, much information on aging and development can still be gained …

New Nemertean Worms (Carcinonemertidae) On Bythograeid Crabs (Decapoda : Brachyura) From Pacific Hydrothermal Vent Sites, Jeffrey D. Shields, M Segonzac

VIMS Articles

Several species of crabs from hydrothermal vent sites in the Pacific Ocean Were found to be infested by small, symbiotic nemertean worms. Worms occurred on both male and female crabs, and were located in mucous sheaths adhering to the axillae between the limbs of males and females, the setae of the pleopods of females, and the sterna of infested male and female crabs. Only juvenile and regressed adult worms were observed, primarily because no ovigerous hosts were examined. Similar species of worms mature by eating eggs, then regress or die after host eclosion. Based on the size of the worms …

Heat Shock Protein (Hsp70) Expression And Thermal Tolerance In Sublethally Heat-Shocked Eastern Oysters Crassostrea Virginica Infected With The Parasite Perkinsus Marinus, Vg Encomio, Fle Chu

VIMS Articles

To investigate whether sublethal heat shock protects Perkinsus marinus (Dermo)infected oysters Crassostrea virginica from lethal heat stress, and the effects of P. marinus infection on sublethal heat shock response, oysters were first experimentally challenged with P. marinus. Then, when infections in oysters progressed to moderate levels (parasite burden = 10(4) to 10(5) cells g(-1) wet tissue weight), oysters were treated with a sublethal heat shock at 40 C for 1 h (heat shock + Dermo challenge). Other treatment groups included heat-shocked, unchallenged (non-P. marinus challenged) oysters and non-heat-shocked, P. marinus-challenged and -unchallenged oysters. Thermal tolerance was compared among these treatments …

Top-Down And Bottom-Up Controls On Sediment Organic Matter Composition In An Experimental Seagrass Ecosystem, Ac Spivak, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Je Duffy, Jp Richardson

VIMS Articles

We tested the singular and interactive effects of resource availability (light) and community composition (food chain length and herbivore species richness) on eelgrass (Zostera marina) ecosystem properties and functioning with an experimental mesocosm system. Food chain length was manipulated through the presence or absence of blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) predators, whereas grazer species richness varied across three levels (zero, two, or four crustacean species). We found important and interacting effects of bottom-up and top-down forcings on sediment organic matter (SOM) composition. Light increased eelgrass and algal biomass and sediment organic carbon and nitrogen content. Increasing grazer diversity generally decreased algal …

Taxonomic Composition And Growth Rates Of Phytoplankton Assemblages At The Subtropical Convergence East Of New Zealand, L Delizo, Walker O. Smith Jr., J Hall

VIMS Articles

Off the eastern coast of New Zealand, warm, saline, nutrient-poor Subtropical Waters (STW) are separated from. cool, fresher, relatively nutrient-rich Sub-Antarctic Waters (SAW) by the Subtropical Convergence (STC). The Chatham Rise, a submarine rise, restricts. the latitudinal movement of the STC as well as mixing of STW and SAW Due to this restriction, this sector of the STC is characterized by sharp gradients in temperature, macro-(nitrate, silicate and phosphate) and micro- (iron) nutrient concentrations. Shipboard incubations were conducted during austral spring 2000 and 2001 to test the hypothesis that these gradients affect the taxonomic composition and/or growth rates of phytoplankton …

Conservation In The First Internal Transcribed Spacer Region (Its1) In Hematodinium Species Infecting Crustacean Hosts Found In The Uk And Newfoundland, Hamish J. Small, Jeffrey D. Shields, Ja Moss, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

Parasitic dinoflagellates in the genus Hematodinium infect a number of decapod crustaceans in waters off the UK, including the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus and the edible crab Cancerpagurus. This study investigated sequence variability in the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region of the ribosomal RNA complex of Hematodinium spp. infecting N. norvegicus, C. pagurus, and Pagurus bernhardus from 4 locations in the UK and from the Hematodinium sp. infecting Chionoecetes opilio from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Phylogenetic analysis of the Hema todinium ITS 1 sequences from N. norvegicus, C. pagurus, P. bernhardus and C. opilio suggest that …

Epidemiological Determinants In Outbreaks Of Bitter Crab Disease (Hematodinium Sp.) In Snow Crabs Chionoecetes Opilio From Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, Jeffrey D. Shields, Dm Taylor, Pg O'Keefe, E Colbourne, E Hynick

VIMS Articles

Bitter crab disease (BCD) is caused by Hematodinium sp., an endoparasitic dinoflagellate. It lives within the hemocoeloms of snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio and Tanner crabs C. bairdi, making them unmarketable due to their bitter flavor. Two recent outbreaks of BCD have occurred in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, one from 1999 to 2000 and another from 2003 to 2005. In the earlier outbreak, prevalence was highest in juvenile and primiparous females and juvenile males. It was thought to be highest in these hosts because they molt more frequently than larger males and the disease is transmitted to newly molted crabs. In the …

Linking Water Quality To Living Resources In A Mid-Atlantic Lagoon System, Usa, Ce Wazniak, Mr Hall, Tjb Carruthers, B Sturgis, Wc Dennison, Rj Orth

VIMS Articles

The mid-Atlantic coastal bays are shallow coastal lagoons, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier sand islands with oceanic exchanges restricted to narrow inlets. The relatively poor flushing of these lagoon systems makes them susceptible to eutrophication resulting from anthropogenic nutrient loadings. An intensive water quality and seagrass monitoring program was initiated to track ecological changes in the Maryland and Virginia coastal bays. The purpose of this study was to analyze existing monitoring data to determine status and trends in eutrophication and to determine any associations between water quality and living resources. Analysis of monitoring program data revealed several trends: …

Experimental Cross-Infections By Perkinsus Marinus And P. Chesapeaki In Three Sympatric Species Of Chesapeake Bay Oysters And Clams, Cf Dungan, Kimberly S. Reece, Rm Hamilton, Na Stokes, Em Burreson

VIMS Articles

In controlled laboratory transmission experiments, uniform doses of axenic in vitro isolate cultures of Perkinsus marinus from a Crassostrea virginica oyster, and of independent P. chesapeaki isolates from Chesapeake Bay Mya arenaria and Macoma balthica clams, were used to reciprocally challenge Perkinsus sp.-free C. virginica, M arenaria, and M balthica experimental hosts. Following mantle cavity inoculations, all 3 experimental hosts acquired high incidences (30 to 100 %) of infections by each of the 3 Perkinsus sp. isolates, based on PCR assays of DNAs from experimental host tissues that were collected through 60 d post-inoculation. Lesions containing proliferating pathogen cells were …

Aquaculture Training Needs Assessment And Program Development, Shawn Sticker

Reports

Objective 1. Determine what type of training program best meets the needs of potential employers, entrepreneurs, and watermen in Virginia.

Objective 2. Based on results of Objective 1, develop appropriate training programs to meet needs of current aquaculture operators, train potential entrepreneurs, and re-train watermen.

The Status Of Virginia's Public Oyster Resource 2006, Melissa Southworth, Juliana Harding, Roger L. Mann

Reports

This report summarizes data collected during 2006 in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The report is comprised of two parts, part one, oyster recruitment (shell string) in Virginia and part two, dredge survey of selected oyster bars in Virginia.