Life Sciences Commons^™

Patterns In Southeast Florida Coral Reef Community Composition, M. P. Sathe, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Dodge, L. E. Fisher

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The Southeast (SE) Florida coral reef system is the northern extension of the Florida reef tract. This high latitude system lies offshore a heavily populated and urbanized coast and therefore is affected by numerous environmental and anthropogenic stressors. Using annual monitoring data collected in 2004, the southeast lorida reef community was analyzed to investigate patterns in community composition in various habitat types. Data was collected by SCUBA divers who conducted a 30m2 belt transect survey at 24 sample sites offshore Broward County (SE), Florida. Sites ranged in depth range from six to 18 meters. The 24 sites occurred on five …

Long-Term Monitoring Of A High-Latitude Coral Reef System Off Southeast Florida, Usa: A Partnership Between Academia And Resource Management, David S. Gilliam, Kenneth Banks, Michael Callahan, Chantal Collier, Richard E. Dodge, Louis E. Fisher, Jennifer Wheaton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Significant coral reef community development exists along the eastern shelf of the United States from the Dry Tortugas through the Florida Keys (Monroe County) and Southeast (SE) Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin Counties). State and county resource managers have partnered with academia to monitor the health of the SE Florida reef system. Since 2000, more than 20 sites have been monitored annually offshore Broward County. Quantitative data includes stony coral species cover, colony size, density, and condition (bleaching, disease, etc.) and gorgonian and sponge density. The SE Florida Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (SECREMP) was established in …

Fish And Coral Reef Communities Of The Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano (Veracruz Coral Reef System National Park) Veracruz, Mexico: Preliminary Results, Marcos Alberto Rangel Avalos, Lance K. B. Jordan, Brian K. Walker, David S. Gilliam, Elvira Carvajal Hinojosa, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Effective resource management requires robust baseline datasets and efficient monitoring programs to identify and quantify temporal change. The Parque Nacional Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano (Veracruz Coral Reef System National Park) encompasses a total of 52000ha including 23 coral reefs in two island groups separated by the mouth of the Jamapa River; one near the port of Veracruz, Mexico and one approximately 20km south near Punta Antón Lizardo. Both groups receive substantial fisheries pressure and other anthropogenic impacts. Using non-destructive, visual methods we surveyed fish and benthic assemblages at 18 sites, which included 10 individual coral reefs within the Park. For fishes, …

Evaluation Of Methods To Enhance Reef Restoration, David S. Gilliam, Alison L. Moulding, Vladimir N. Kosmynin, Vanessa I. P. Brinkhuis, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The coral reefs of southeast Florida are offshore a highly urbanized area with a population exceeding 5 million people and three major shipping ports with over 6000 ships calling on an annual basis. Reef injury events are common and have been caused by ship groundings and marine construction activities such as channel dredging and cable placement. Restoration activities generally only include the reattachment of dislodged stony corals, removal of rubble, and boulder stabilization. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has recognized these limited activities and is collaborating with Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center to study ways to accelerate coral reef …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing Southeast Florida Coral Reef Community Composition, M. A. Phillips, David S. Gilliam, L. K. B. Jordan, Richard E. Dodge, Louis E. Fisher

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The southeast Florida reef system lies offshore a heavily populated and urbanized coast. These high latitude reefs are not only affected by their geography but also by anthropogenic factors that accompany an urban area such as dredging activities, ship groundings, waste water outfalls, runoff and beach erosion. Sedimentation has been shown to influence stony coral community composition including dominance, abundance, cover, diversity, and colony size. Using annual monitoring data collected since 2000, the southeastern Florida reef community is being analyzed to examine if and how sedimentation and other factors such as depth, distance from shore and distance from port channels …

Meso- And Bathypelagic Fish Interactions With Seamounts And Mid-Ocean Ridges, Tracey Sutton, Filipe M. Porteiro, John K. Horne, Cairistiona I. H. Anderson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The World Ocean's midwaters contain the vast majority of Earth's vertebrates in the form of mesoand bathypelagic ('deep-pelagic,' in the combined sense) fishes. Understanding the ecology and variability of deep-pelagic ecosystems has increased substantially in the past few decades due to advances in sampling/observation technology. Researchers have discovered that the deep sea hosts a complex assemblage of organisms adapted to a “harsh” environment by terrestrial standards (i.e., dark, cold, high pressure). We have learned that despite the lack of physical barriers, the deep-sea realm is not a homogeneous ecosystem, but is spatially and temporally variable on multiple scales. While there …

Morphological And Phylogenetic Description Of An Unusual Amphidinium (Dinophyceae) Species, Tyler Cyronak, Isaac R. Santos

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Amphidinium carterae, an important harmful algal species that produces powerful antifungal and hemolytic compounds (amphidinols) and cytotoxic macrolides (amphidinolides) is ubiquitous in coastal waters. Samples from coral rubble contained an unusual and previously unreported Amphidinium (D2) with a circular outline. Genetic analysis of clone D2 of this species, involving the sequencing of large subunit (LSU) rDNA, revealed a relationship between Amphidinium sp. D2 and both A. carterae and A. massartii. However, morphological and genetic differences suggest that Amphidinium sp. D2 is not conspecific with A. carterae or A. massartii. Further studies to describe this species are presently …

Bathypelagic Fish Association With The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Tracey Sutton, F. Uiblein, I. Byrkjedal, A. Dolgov, M. Heino, J. Horne, N. King, Tone Falkenhaug, O. R. Godo, Odd Aksel Bergstad

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The bathypelagic zone, Earth’s largest living space, is essentially boundless in three dimensions for most of its extent, structured only by fluid features (e.g., salinity, temperature) of the seawater itself. However, near certain topographic features this zone intersects the seafloor. The mid-ocean ridge system is by far the largest of these features. Unlike the ecosystems of the continental margins, the mid-ocean ridge systems do not receive terrigenous nutrient inputs. Thus, the deep-water fauna associated with mid-ocean ridges ultimately depend on the generally limited local surface production. Despite this limited surface production, there is evidence that near-ridge demersal fish biomass is …

The Influence Of High Temperature And Two Hurricanes On The Success Of Late Season Loggerhead Nests In Broward County, Florida, In 2005, Stefanie Ouellette, Curtis M. Burney

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The success of loggerhead nests, defined as the percentage of the eggs per nest resulting in live released hatchlings, declined to unusually low levels during the latter part of the 2005 season. The mean successes were 81.1, 61.1, 32.8 and 13.4 percent for nests deposited in May, June, July and August, respectively. Many eggs from the August nests appeared to be unusually dried. There was a significant inverse relationship (P < .0001) between the daily air temperature anomaly on the day of nest deposition and the average daily success rate of loggerhead nests in 2005. The daily temperature anomaly is the deviation of the average air temperature each day from the daily climatological average values. There was also a highly significant inverse relationship between maximum daily air temperature and nest success rate in 2005. These relationships were not found in the previous two years. The actual average temperature during August in 2005 was 29.7°C, compared to 28.9 and 29.2°C in 2004 and 2003, respectively. The 2005 average was statistically different from the other two years (one way ANOVA, P < .001) and also from the climatological average temperature of 28.6°C. Mean daily success rates were less than 50 percent for nests deposited during the 50 days preceding the impact of Hurricane Katrina on August 25. Nests deposited in the first two weeks of August were also impacted by Hurricane Rita. Mean daily success rates were less than 10 percent on 7 days during this period.

An Experimental Histopathological Rating Scale Of Sedimentation Stress In The Caribbean Coral Montastraea Cavernosa, Bernardo Vargas-Ángel, Bernhard Riegl, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Colonies of Montastraea cavernosa were exposed to daily applications of approx. 200–225 mg cm– 2 sediments, during a four-week period, in order to investigate coral responses to increased sedimentation. Effects were assessed based on the histopathological condition of specimen tissues. Mild stress responses were noted as early as week one, including tissue swelling and polyp retraction, as well as changes in size and appearance of mucous secretory cells. As stress progressed, further inflammation of the mucous secretory cells was observed. Severe effects were observed in weeks 3 and 4, including atrophy of the outer epidermis, increased granularity and debris in …

Visual_Hea: Habitat Equivalency Analysis Software To Calculate Compensatory Restoration Following Natural Resource Injury, Kevin E. Kohler, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) is a means to determine the amount of compensatory restoration required to provide services that are equivalent to the interim loss of natural resource services following an injury. HEA includes a discounting procedure to account for asset valuation in that the total asset value is equal to the discounted value of the future stream of all services from the natural resource or the compensatory resource. Discounting is used to include the relative valuation of loss and gain of ecological services of the resources over time. Visual_HEA is a computer program developed to calculate the amount of …

Growth And Survivorship Of Scleractinian Coral Transplants And The Effectiveness Of Plugging Core Holes In Transplant Donor Colonies, Elizabeth Glynn Fahy, Richard E. Dodge, Daniel P. Fahy, T. Patrick Quinn, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Replicate scleractinian coral transplants were obtained from the species Meandrina meandrites and Montastrea cavernosa on a natural reef, off Dania Beach, Florida, using a hydraulic drill fitted with a 4 in. (~10 cm) core barrel. The transplants were fixed to Reef Ball™ substrates using an adhesive marine epoxy. Drill holes in the donor corals (core holes) were filled with concrete plugs. Control corals, of comparable size to both donor colonies and transplant corals, were monitored for comparison. Transplant corals, donor corals, and controls on the natural reef were monitored for growth and survivorship. Core holes were monitored for tissue regrowth …

Spatial Patterns In Arabian Gulf Coral Assemblages (Jebel Ali, Dubai, U.A.E.) In Response To Temperature-Forcing, Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis, Kevin E. Kohler, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

We evaluated spatial and temporal patterns using maps from Ikonos satellite imagery in combination with 8 years of line transects and photosquares and the HadISST1 sea-surface temperature data set to explain why coral assemblages in the southern Arabian Gulf (Dubai) are impoverished and mostly do not build framework reefs. Analysis of archive sea surface temperature (SST) data confirms that the area is subjected to recurrent temperature anomalies. Frequencies of anomalies might suggest at least a partial link to the El Niño Southern Oscillation possibly via the Indian Ocean Zonal Mode. The dominant driver of local temperature was oscillations in the …

Fractal Patterns Of Coral Communities: Evidence From Remote Sensing (Arabian Gulf, Dubai, U.A.E.), Samuel J. Purkis, Bernhard Riegl, Richard E. Dodge (Editor)

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

In this study, the spatial character of benthic communities is investigated in an Arabian Gulf shallow subtidal carbonate ramp setting, using IKONOS satellite imagery. The patchy distribution of three assemblages of live and dead corals on extensive (but also fragmented) hardground pavements was investigated using a variety of spatial statistics. It was found that the spatial expression of the benthic groups display characteristics that approximate to power-law distributions over several orders of magnitude to an extent that suggests fractal behaviour. Pronounced anisotropy was observed between the spatial patterns in the near-shore and off-shore region which is attributed to different mechanisms …

Implications Of Natural Variation Of Fish Assemblages To Coral Reef Management, Lance K. B. Jordan, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

In order to evaluate the impact of a planned beach renourishment project we obtained baseline data on hardbottom coral reef fish assemblages adjacent to the beach. During the summers of 2001 and 2003 we conducted 92 and 89 visual transect-counts, respectively, each 30x2x1m. Fish were recorded by species, abundance, and size class. Fish exhibited a 62.8% decrease in abundance between the 2001 and 2003 surveys. Juvenile Haemulon spp. (<5cm total length, TL) alone decreased 72.8% in abundance and, due to their predominance, primarily drove the decrease seen for total abundance. The second most abundant species Halichoeres bivittatus, also primarily juveniles (<5cm TL), contributed 8% of the total abundance and also showed a significant decrease between the 2001 and 2003 surveys. Even after removal of the two most abundant taxa, total abundance remained significantly lower the second survey year, suggesting the possibility of a community-wide decrease in abundance. However, the decrease between years was mainly due to a decrease in juveniles. When fish less than 5cm TL were removed from the dataset, no significant difference in abundance between years was detected. Species richness also declined significantly with fewer species noted in 2003 and eight fewer total species between years. Nonetheless, multivariate examination of assemblage structure did not indicate a difference between years. These results have important implications for determining potential anthropogenic change in fish assemblages (e.g. caused by beach renourishment).

Coral Of Opportunity Survivorship And The Use Of Coral Nurseries In Coral Reef Restoration, Jamie A. Monty, David S. Gilliam, Kenneth Banks, David K. Stout, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Coral reef damage is unfortunately becoming a common occurrence off southeast Florida, U.S.A. Reattachment of the dislodged scleractinian corals usually initiates damage site restoration. Because mortality of dislodged colonies is typically high and natural recovery in southeast Florida is typically slow, transplantation of additional scleractinian corals into a damaged area has been used to accelerate reef recovery. Donor colonies available for transplantation have been grown in situ, grown in laboratories, and taken from nondamaged reef areas. An alternative source of donor colonies for transplantation into damaged sites is “corals of opportunity,” which we define as scleractinian corals that have been …

Application Of Paleoclimatology To Coral Reef Monitoring And Management, C. Mark Eakin, Peter K. Swart, Terrence M. Quinn, Kevin P. Helmle, Jennifer M. Smith, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The skeletons of reef-building corals are valuable archives of climatic and environmental information. Paleoclimatic data chiefly have been generated in areas most sensitive to global or regional climatic variability. However, these records also provide valuable information on anthropogenic influences – guidance of value to resource managers. NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch targets observations of current and past coral reef health in or near marine protected areas through satellites, in situ sensor platforms, and paleoclimatic analyses. Paleoclimatic data provide retrospective monitoring through multi-century environmental reconstructions that improve our understanding of past stress to coral reefs. Two sites in the Florida Keys National …

Monthly Variability In Florida Bay Benthic Foraminifera Community Structure, C. Featherstone, Patricia Blackwelder

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Florida Bay is a shallow subtropical estuary, which experiences highly variable environmental fluctuations due to natural forces (hurricanes, climatic variations and sea level rise) and anthropogenic influences (agricultural activity, water management and urbanization). Study of short time-scale variability in benthic community population structure and synchronous environmental change is essential to understanding forcing relationships between environment and its effects on population. Benthic foraminifera assemblage variability is an excellent indicator of environmental change in estuarine and coastal areas because populations may respond relatively quickly on spatial and temporal scales (Alve, 1995). Temporal resolution is enhanced because foraminifera may reproduce as often as …

Fish Colonization Of A Newly Deployed Vessel-Reef Off Southeast Florida: Preliminary Results, Paul T. Arena, Lance K. B. Jordan, Patrick Quinn, Arlo H. Hemphill, David R. Bryan, Brian Buskirk, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Fish colonization on the Ebenezer II, a 25.5m merchant marine vessel, was studied from May 2002 - July 2003. The ship was scuttled in May 2002 off Broward County, Florida at a depth of 21m and was censused 10 times during the study period using a modified Bohnsack and Bannerot visual census method. Adjacent natural reefs and the Mcallister, a nearby, 30m tugboat deployed in June 1998, were censused during the same period.

Distinct changes in the fish assemblage on the Ebenezer II were observed throughout the sample period. A pioneer assemblage was observed during the first three months, characterized …

Coral Reef Ecosystem Restoration Off Southeast Florida, David S. Gilliam, Walter Jaap, Richard E. Dodge, Elizabeth Glynn Fahy, Jamie A. Monty, Brian K. Walker, Lauren F. Shuman, B. D. Ettinger, Daniel P. Fahy, Shaun M. Gill, Richard Shaul

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Significant coral reef community development along the eastern shelf of the United States continues northward of the Florida Keys through Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin Counties, Florida (to Latitude 27° N). These Southeast Florida high-latitude coral communities have approximately 30 species of stony corals, stony coral coverage of 2-3%, and a diverse assemblage of reef gorgonians, sponges, and fishes.

This system lays within 3 km of the coast offshore a highly urbanized area comprising a population of over 5 million people (the population of Broward County alone exceeds 1.7 million). These reefs are important economic assets: a 2001 economic …

Techniques For Restoring Gorgonians To Coral Reef Injury Areas, Lauren F. Shuman, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Dodge, B. D. Ettinger, Daniel P. Fahy, Elizabeth Glynn Fahy, Shaun M. Gill, Jamie A. Monty, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Great attention and energy has been spent investigating reattachment techniques for dislodged and fragmented scleractinian corals; however there has been a lack of controlled experimentation on how to restore dislodged gorgonians following a disturbance event, such as a ship grounding. Unfortunately, reef damage events occur frequently off southeast Florida. As an example, since 1998 at least five freighters have grounded on the reefs near Ft. Lauderdale, Broward County. These freighters dislodged many scleractinian and gorgonian corals and often destroyed thousands of square feet of reef habitat. After these events, restoration efforts concentrated on stabilizing loose debris and rubble, and reattaching …

Predicting Biodiversity Patterns In Deep Water Coral Ecosystems: Lessons From Phylogenetic Studies Of Shallow Water Coral Reef Crustacea, James Darwin Thomas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Comprehensive studies of coral reef biodiversity suggest that diversity patterns may be more congruent with geotectonic events than with the reigning paradigms of dispersal, center of origin, and vicariance. Geotectonic processes slowly accumulate taxa in areas exemplified by the presence of composite or lineage-based evolutionary diversity. This process-pattern model can suggest additional areas where similar patterns are likely to occur. Information on types and levels of diversity should be a primary concern in emerging conservation efforts for deepwater coral ecosystems. Current marine conservation efforts in shallow reef systems rely primarily on identifying “hotspots” that reflect measures of species richness and …

Trophic Ecology Of The Deep-Sea Fish Malacosteus Niger (Pisces: Stomiidae): An Enigmatic Feeding Ecology To Facilitate A Unique Visual System?, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The ‘dragonfishes’ and their relatives (family Stomiidae) are among the top predators of the mesopelagic zone of the open ocean. Based on feeding morphology (e.g., large gape, long fangs, and no gill-rakers or ethmoid membrane), the meso/bathypelagic fish Malacosteus niger would also be expected to be a large-item predator, as are the other members of its family. However, analysis of specimens from different ocean basins revealed that the most common prey items are calanoid copepods, despite an apparent inability to handle such small prey. Malacosteus niger is considered advanced within the Stomiidae, so this feeding mode represents a secondary reversion …

Interactions Between Zooplankton And Karenia Brevis In The Gulf Of Mexico., Kristen M. Lester, Gabriel A. Vargo, John J. Walsh, Cynthia A. Heil, Mary B. Neely, Danylle N. Spence, Susan Murasko, Tracey Sutton, Scott E. Burghart, Andrew Remsen, T. L. Hopkins, Richard N. Bohrer

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate K. brevis are common in the Gulf of Mexico, yet no in situ studies of the interactions between zooplankton and K. brevis in the Gulf of Mexico have been conducted. Zooplankton numerical abundance, biomass and taxonomic composition of nonbloom and K. brevis bloom stations within the ECOHAB study area were compared. At nonbloom stations, the most important determinant species were Parvolcalanus crassirostris, Oithona colcarva and Paracalanus quasimodo at the 5-m isobath and P. quasimodo, O. colcarva and Oikopleura dioka at the 25-m isobath. There was considerable overlap between the 5 and 25-m isobaths, with …

Biozonation On Deep-Water Carbonate Mounds And Associated Hardgrounds Along The Western Margin Of Little Bahama Bank, With Notes On The Caicos Platform Island Slope, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Carbonate mounds found in a broad band from about 325 to 700 m along the western margin of Little Bahama Bank exhibit consistent faunal zonations characterized by assemblages of attached, suspension-feeding macroinvertebrates dominated by sponges, octocorals, crinoids and stylasterid and scleractinian corals. Biozonation on hard substrates appears chiefly dependent on depth (and associated parameters, e.g., temperature) and current flow. Mounds in 325-435 m with up to 30 m vertical relief reveal dense assemblages on gentler up current slopes and flanks, and an almost complete lack of macrofauna on steep downcurrent slopes. Macrofauna include stalked crinoids on upcurrent slopes and crest, …

Spatial And Temporal Recruitment Patterns Of Juvenile Grunts (Haemulon Spp.) In South Florida, L. K. B. Jordan, David S. Gilliam, Robin L. Sherman, Paul T. Arena, Fleur M. Harttung, Robert M. Baron, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Grunts (Haemulidae) are important fisheries species and represent a major component of reef fish communities in the Greater Caribbean region. To date, little is known about their recruitment pattems. Data from more than 2,000 visual fish counts from multiple natural and artificial reef studies in Broward County, Florida, over a seven-year period, were examined to identify both spatial and temporal trends in recruitment of juvenile (i.e., < 5cm TL) grunts of the genus Haemulon. In general, data from these studies indicate that juvenile Haemulon spp. recruitment increases in the spring and peaks in the early summer months (i.e., June and July). Data from natural reef surveys revealed a predominantly nearshore preference for recruitment in water depths less than 8 m. However, on artificial reefs, recruitment commoniy occurred at 20 m depths. The biotic and abiotic factors determining the settlement of grunts are not clear and will be examined in future studies.

Presence Of Juvenile Blackfin Snapper, Lutjanus Buccanella, And Snowy Grouper, Epinephelus Niveatus, On Shallow-Water Artificial Reefs, Paul T. Arena, Patrick Quinn, Lance K. B. Jordan, Robin L. Sherman, Fleur M. Harttung, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The inshore environment of Broward County, Florida consists of three reef tracts, each separated by sand substrate, running parallel to the coastline in sequentially deeper water. A wide variety of artificial reef designs have been deployed in Broward County, many lying in sand flats between the reeftracts. From 1995 through 2002, over 1,100 visual fish censuses (predominantly point-counts) were completed on the three natural reeftracts in water depths from 3 m to 30 m and over 1,100 censuses were done on artificial reefs at depths of 7 m to 23 m. Curiously, the juvenile stages of two deeper-water species of …

Who Is Eating Most Of The Zooplankton In The Oceanic Gulf Of Mexico? The Impact Of Mesopelagic Fishes, Tracey Sutton, Scott E. Burghart

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Deep-sea pelagic fishes are the most abundant vertebrates on Earth, yet their role in the overall economy of these is poorly known. Low latitude oligotrophic regimes, typified by the eastern Gulf of Mexico, constitute most of the world ocean and consequently support the largest global ecosystems. Thus, we have little information on the trophic role of most of Earth's vertebrates. To address this, the diets of an entire midwater fish assemblage (164 species, constituting > 99% of assemblage numbers) were analyzed to assess feeding guilds and predation impact. Zooplanktivory was the dominant feeding mode (80% of prey biomass taken), followed by …

Past Stony Coral Growth (Extension) Rates On Reefs Of Broward County, Florida: Possible Relationships With Everglades Drainage, Richard E. Dodge, Kevin P. Helmle

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

Restoration Of Coral Reef Habitats Within The National Park System, Jim Tilmant, Linda Canzanelli, Rick Clark, Richard Curry, Bruce Graham, Monika Mayr, Alison L. Moulding, Robert Mulcahy, Shay Viehman, Tamara Whittington

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.