Life Sciences Commons^™

Seasonal Habitat Use Of Diamondback Terrapins (Malaclemys Terrapin) In North Inlet, Winyah Bay, Georgetown, South Carolina, Danielle Elizabeth Capella

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Short- And Long-Term Effectiveness Of Coral Disease Treatments, Karen L. Neely, Colin P. Shea, Kevin A. Macaulay, Emily K. Hower, Michelle A. Dobler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Since 2014, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has led to large-scale mortality of over 20 coral species throughout the Florida Reef Tract. In 2019, in-water disease intervention strategies were implemented to treat affected corals. Two treatment strategies were employed: (1) topical application of an amoxicillin paste directly to disease margins, and (2) application of a chlorinated epoxy to disease margins as well as an adjacent “disease break” trench. Effectiveness of treatments on 2,379 lesions from 725 corals representing five species was evaluated using mixed effects logistic regression models which demonstrated substantially greater effectiveness of amoxicillin compared to chlorine-treated lesions …

Biochar Applications To The Remediation Of Lead And Polychlorinated Biphenyl Contaminated Water, Victory Itua Igberase

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the performance of biochar materials as adsorbents to remove Pb and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in aqueous solutions. Batch adsorption and column experiment packed with biochar and geomaterials (pumice) in 1:1 volume ratio was evaluated to address the efficacy of biochar in removing Pb while only batch adsorption was employed for PCB removal with biochar materials. Overall, PT biochars performed the best (42–53 mg g−1) followed by BE biochars (10–32 mg g−1) and AB biochars (17–27 mg g−1) while high temperature biochars were favored in terms of maximum Pb adsorption capacity. Column Pb breakthrough showed similar results, with …

Investigation Of Techniques And Their Application For The Cryopreservation Of Algal Species, Jazmine Leija

Theses and Dissertations

An alternative source for petroleum-based crude oils are algae derived biofuels. Fossil fuels are harmful for the environment, expensive and becoming scarce. There has been an increase in research on environmentally sustainable energy, using lipids derived from microalgae, which can be converted into biofuel. The use of microalgae as a source for biofuels has a lot of benefits including decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, rapid fuel production, absorption of carbon dioxide, and production of a renewable source of energy.

Algae cryopreservation aids in the maintenance of the best algae strains selected for producing lipids for biofuels. Cryopreservation will help minimize genetic …

Phragmites Australis Dieback In The Mississippi River Delta: Chemical Profiles Of Soil Types And Restoration Potential, Herie Lee

LSU Master's Theses

Since 2016, there has been widespread dieback of P. australis in the Lower Mississippi River Delta (hereafter referred to as Lower MRD, which is defined as the Birds Foot Delta) with relatively little to no signs of recovery. The cause of the current dieback is not fully understood. This thesis explores P. australis with emphasis on chemical profile characterization of different soil types and its effects on plant growth and the potential for restoration in the Lower MRD.

In chapter 2, I characterized the chemical profiles of soils collected from healthy and dieback stands of Phragmites, and from newly …

Saving The Last Unicorns: The Genetic Rescue Of Florida’S Pillar Corals, Karen L. Neely, Cynthia L. Lewis, Keri O’Neil, Cheryl M. Woodley, Jennifer Moore, Zach Ransom, Amelia Moura, Ken Nedimyer, David Vaughan

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

As stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) swept through the Florida Reef Tract, one of the most severely impacted species was the iconic pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus. As the species’ population experienced a precipitous decline, a collaborative rescue project collected colony fragments for safekeeping at onshore and offshore nursery facilities. Between 2015 and 2019, a total of 574 fragments representing 128 genotypes were collected. These are currently dispersed among five facilities where they continue to provide opportunities to (1) refine best husbandry practices for D. cylindrus, (2) develop treatment options for SCTLD that have been adapted for use …

Liner Sailing Speed Optimization Considering Wind And Waves, Zhaokun Wei, Xinlian Xie, Tiantian Bao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

This paper proposes a new sailing speed optimization problem considering sea conditions such as wind and waves for a container shipping company. Since wind and waves, as exterior factors, can reduce speed, more power is employed as compensation to maintain regular service frequency and avoid delay, resulting in additional bunker consumption and higher cost. Hence, it is necessary to optimize the sailing speed according to the wind and waves. A power model was built to determine the reduced speed caused by the wind and waves for quantifying the speed reduction. On the basis of the proposed model, we developed a …

A Bilevel Mathematical Approach For The Empty Container Repositioning Proble With A Sharing And Exchanging Strategy In Liner Shipping, Dung-Ying Lin, Chieh-Ju Juan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

In the maritime industry, the management of empty containers is a significant issue whose costs account for a large proportion of the total world fleet running costs. To reduce repositioning activities and increase cost effectiveness, this paper proposes a solution framework considering empty container sharing and exchanging strategies to coordinate the shipping lines in a maritime transportation network. The proposed solution framework considers an empty container matching platform company and a group of shipping lines in a given shipping network. Because of the interactive relationship between the two parties, the proposed problem is formulated as a bilevel programming problem, and …

Investigating Model Solution Correctness For Parameter Uncertainty In Both Objective Function And Constraints, Shangyao Yan, Sin-Siang Wang, Chun-Yi Wang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

To resolve engineering management problems encountered in the real world, optimization models are usually formulated with some parameter assumptions. Parameter uncertainty, which may arise due to changes in the environment or human error, may thus be incorporated into the objective function and the constraints. However, to simplify the modeling, the values of these parameters are usually set or projected as deterministic values. It is no wonder that the modelling results based on these inaccurate parameters are neither correct nor reliable. Thus, it is important to examine the correctness of the model results in relation to parameter uncertainty. This study aims …

Modular Design And Implementation Of An Automatic Power Factor Regulator For Energy Savings On Fishing Vessels, Chien-Hsing Lee, Shih-Hsien Hsu, Joe-Air Jiang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

This study describes the experiences of modular design and implementation of an automatic power factor regulator for improving energy efficiency on Taiwanese longline fishing vessels. The load capacities of such vessels are typically divided into three categories, depending on the gross tonnage or fish carrying capacity: less than 100 kW, from 100 kW to less than 250 kW, and larger than 250 kW. For attaining proper power factor improvement, a compensation unit with a total of 30 kVar, 60 kVar and 90 kVar was sized and assembled with capacitors of 10, 15 and 20 kVar to enable control within 12 …

Key Risk Factors Influencing Harbor Tugboat Operations For Kaohsiung Port, Wen-Jui Tseng, Ji-Feng Ding, Chia-Ming Liu, Liou-Yuan Li

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

The harbor tugboat operation is a very important business and process of Kaohsiung port. To ensure the safety of harbor tugboat operations and to reduce the occurrence of accidents, it is an important issue to conduct a risk assessment of tugboat operations for Kaohsiung port. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is employ the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to evaluate key risk factors influencing the harbor tugboat operations for Kaohsiung port. At first, a total of three evalu-ation dimensions with 14 preliminary risk factors are gener-ated from literature and interviews of tugboat captains. We then applied the steps …

Free Vibration Analysis Of A Free-Free Single-Tapered Beam Carrying Arbitrary Concentrated Elements Using Modified Mode-Superposition Method (Mmsm), Chia-Chin Wu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

The literature contains scant information on the free vibration analyses of the loaded single-tapered beams (STBs) (i.e., STBs carrying concentrated elements (CEs)) Furthermore, even when such studies have been performed, they generally only consider the case of constrained (e.g., free-clamped (F-C)) beams. In other words, the problem of unconstrained (e.g., free-free (F-F)) loaded STBs has not yet to be addressed. Thus, the present study employs the modified mode-superposition method (MMSM) to investigate the free vibration characteristics of the F-F loaded STB carrying arbitrary various CEs. The investigation focuses particularly on the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the rigid-body motions …

Optimum Design Of The Underwater Discharge System Based On Surrogate Modeling, Jisang Ha, Myung-Il Roh, Seung-Ho Ham, Sung-Jun Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Underwater vehicles are equipped with a device for discharging projectiles, called the underwater discharge system. Because these vehicles have limited space, many studies have attempted to reduce the volume of the underwater discharge system while improving its performance. However, owing to the characteristics of the system, the occupied volume and performance conflict with each other. Therefore, minimizing the occupied volume while satisfying the required performance criteria is the most significant requirement in the design stage. To address this, an optimization problem for the underwater discharge system was mathematically formulated and solved using multi-objective genetic algorithms. Additionally, we proposed a method …

An Analysis Of Key Influencing Factors On Island Tourism Revisit Intentions – Evidence From The Matsu Islands, Chun-Chieh Wang, Hsiao-Chuan Liu, Hsuan-Shih Lee, Cheng-Chi Chung

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Sightseeing and tourism not only brings economic benefits to the local community but also drive the development of related industries. In 1992, when the Matsu’s battlefield mission was dissolved, tourism became one of the key development strategies to boom the region. Although the number of visitors to Matsu Islands has risen significantly in recent years, how to increase the island’s willingness to revisit the island has been an important issue. Since local tourism has its own characteristics, island tourism marketing strategies should be different. Many previous studies have quantified the relationship between tourism area satisfaction and willingness to revisit, but …

3d Numerical Simulation Of Kuroshio-Induced Wake Near Green Island, Taiwan, Tien-Hung Hou, Jen-Yi Chang, Chia-Cheng Tsai, Tai-Wen Hsu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

In this research, Kuroshio-induced vortex shedding in the lee of Green Island was numerically studied using the three-dimensional Princeton Ocean Model. The temporal and spatial characteristics of the vortex street were analyzed at different tidal levels, wind fields and water depths. The nu-merical results were validated by comparing with in-situ measurements from the Green Island tidal station, shipboard acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP), conductivi-ty-temperature-depth (CTD) profiler, and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite image datasets. Also, the three-dimensional results of velocity, temperature, and salinity fields were compared well with observational data. Furthermore, the influence depths of the wind effect and …

Intelligent Fuzzy Control With State-Derivative Feedback For Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Stochastic Singular Systems, Wen-Jer Chang, Kuang-Yow Lian, Cheung-Chieh Ku, Che-Lun Su

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

This document deals with the problem of passive fuzzy controller design with the state-derivative feedback approach for the nonlinear stochastic singular systems. Recently, the singular systems have a greater focus on literature because they can keep more physical system characteristics than conventional systems. At first, the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy stochastic singular models are used to represent the nonlinear stochastic singular systems. Then, the state-derivative feedback approach and parallel distributed compensation method are employed to design the passive fuzzy controllers. In the design process, the Lyapunov stability conditions are developed subject to multiple performance constraints, including the passivity constraint and decay rate …

Sea Ice Warning Visualization And Path Planning For Ice Navigation Based On Radar Image Recognition, Tsung-Hsuan Hsieh, Shengzheng Wang, Huijia Gong, Wei Liu, Ning Xu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Ice navigation is currently one of the important issues in path planning studies. Most studies are using sea ice models or ice charts for large-scale path planning, but the weather and ice conditions in the polar waters usually change quickly and are not easy to predict. Under these conditions, small-scale path planning that can be adjusted in time for sea ice collision avoidance is needed. This study uses marine radar imaging to reconstruct the ice navigation scene, and establishes a visual-ization function of sea ice warning on the radar image. We combine the bidirectional rapidly-exploring random tree (B-RRT) algorithm and …

Enhancing Marine Administrative Management Based On Human Factor Through Safety Criteria, Wen-Cheng Lin, Hsin-Hung Cheng

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

This study aims to improve maritime safety by enhancing administrative management based on human factors. This study used Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to analyze the risks and threats regarding safety maritime criteria. Establishing administrative reform is given the highest priority. First, the current model for crew training system is explored. Second, the marine surveyor is examined to determine if it is professional enough for inspection work. Third, the investigation system used by maritime safety investigators should be inspected. The suggestions mentioned expect to establish a maritime administrative reform that could pave the way for the application of maritime safety around …

Experimental Study On Treatment Of Ballast Water By Inert Flue Gas Deoxidation, Guozhi Bao, Peng Yang, Rui Da, Junxia Li, Guanghui Zhao, Ning Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

In this paper, the antimicrobial effect of inert flue gas on indicator microorganisms in ballast water was investigated based on a 265h test. The inert flue gas consists of nitrogen (N2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) the microorganisms include Chlorella and Escherichia coli. Within the scope of the test, the killing effect of the microbes treated by combining N2 and CO2 was higher than that of using only either N2 or CO2. When the dissolved oxygen concentration in the ballast water was 0.5 mg/L and the pH value was 6, the killing effect was the highest. At this time, the mortality …

Temperature Stress And Disease Drives The Extirpation Of The Threatened Pillar Coral, Dendrogyra Cylindrus, In Southeast Florida, Nicholas P. Jones, Lystina Kabay, Kathleen Semon Lunz, David S. Gilliam

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Rare species population dynamics can elucidate the resilience of an ecosystem. On coral reefs, climate change and local anthropogenic stressors are threatening stony coral persistence, increasing the need to assess vulnerable species locally. Here, we monitored the threatened pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus, population in southeast Florida, USA, in relation to consecutive heat stress events in 2014 and 2015. In the fall of each year, D. cylindrus colonies bleached following intense thermal stress and by June 2020 all monitored colonies died from a white-syndrome type disease. This resulted in the ecological extinction of D. cylindrus in the Southeast Florida Coral …

Estuarine Microbiomes And Biogeochemistry: Impacts Of Spatiotemporal Variation, Algal Blooms, And Microplastics, Samantha Grace Fortin

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Estuaries are biogeochemical hotspots connecting terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. Anthropogenic disturbances, including increased nitrogen loading and plastic pollution, may have significant impacts on estuarine carbon and nitrogen cycling by altering microbiome structure and functions. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to examine how microbiomes and their associated biogeochemical processes are influenced by natural variation and anthropogenic disturbances in the York River Estuary (YRE). In chapter 2, spatial and temporal variation in benthic microbiomes and the rates of denitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) were examined to determine biotic and abiotic drivers of nitrogen …

The Conservation Status Of The World’S Freshwater Molluscs, M. Böhm, N. I. Dewhurst-Richman, M. Seddon, C. Albrecht, D. Allen, A. E. Bogan, K. Cummings, G. Darrigran, W. Darwall, Kathryn E. Perez

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one-third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Australasia and among gastropods. …

Examining Melt Pond Dynamics And Light Availability In The Arctic Ocean Via High Resolution Satellite Imagery, Austin Wesley Abbott

OES Theses and Dissertations

As the Arctic experiences consequences of climate change, a shift from thicker, multi-year ice to thinner, first-year ice has been observed. First-year ice is prone to extensive pools of meltwater (“melt ponds”) forming on its surface, which enhance light transmission to the ocean. Changes in the timing and distribution of melt pond formation and associated increases in under-ice light availability are the primary drivers for seasonal progression of water column primary production and warming. Observations of melt pond development and distribution require meter scale resolution and have traditionally been limited to airborne images. However, recent advances in high spatial resolution …

Physiological And Molecular Responses Of Eurythermal And Stenothermal Populations Of Zostera Marina L (Eelgrass) To Climate Change, Carmen C. Zayas-Santiago

OES Theses and Dissertations

As CO₂ levels in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans steadily rise, varying organismal responses may produce ecological losers and winners. Increased ocean CO₂ can enhance seagrass productivity and thermal tolerance, providing some compensation for climate warming. However, the consistency of this CO₂ effect across populations of cosmopolitan species such as Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) remains largely unknown. This study analyzed whole-plant performance metabolic profiles and gene expression patterns of distinct eelgrass populations in response to CO₂ enrichment. Populations were transplanted from Nisqually Landing and Dumas Bay, two cold water environments in Puget Sound, WA (USA) that rarely …

Fear Effects And Group Size Interact To Shape Herbivory On Coral Reefs, Andrew G. Bauman, Andrew S. Hoey, Glenn Dunshea, Jenny Fong, Ian Z. W. Chan, Peter A. Todd

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

1. Fear of predators (‘fear effects’) is an important determinant of foraging decisions by consumers across a range of ecosystems. Group size is one of the main behavioural mechanisms for mitigating fear effects while also providing foraging benefits to group members. Within coral reef ecosystems, fear effects have been shown to influence the feeding rates of herbivorous fishes, a key functional group that prevents macroalgal overgrowth. Yet, how fear effects and group size interact to shape macroalgal removal on coral reefs remains unclear.
2. Here, we conducted field-based experiments using models of a common piscivorous fish, the leopard coral grouper Plectropomus leopardus …

Latitudinal Variation In Monthly-Scale Reproductive Synchrony Among Acropora Coral Assemblages In The Indo-Pacific, Jessica Bouwmeester, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Michael L. Berumen, Andrew H. Baird

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Early research into coral reproductive biology suggested that spawning synchrony was driven by variations in the amplitude of environmental variables that are correlated with latitude, with synchrony predicted to break down at lower latitudes. More recent research has revealed that synchronous spawning, both within and among species, is a feature of all speciose coral assemblages, including equatorial reefs. Nonetheless, considerable variation in reproductive synchrony exists among locations and the hypothesis that the extent of spawning synchrony is correlated with latitude has not been formally tested on a large scale. Here, we use data from 90 sites throughout the Indo-Pacific and …

Weather And Climate Summary And Forecast: June 2021 Report, Gregory V. Jones

Linfield University Wine Studies Reports

This report provides a summary of the weather and climate forecast for June 2021. It includes forecast information specific to the Pacific Northwest and the western United States, as well as forecast information for other portions of the United States and abroad.

Splitting The Scatter: Distinguishing Marine Organisms From Oceanographic Structures Using Acoustic Monitoring, Zhen Lu, Daisuke Hasegawa, Takahiro Tanaka, David M. Spencer, Yuji Okazaki, Takeshi Okunishi

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

In the northwest Pacific Ocean, off the Sanriku coast of Japan, convergence between the Tsugaru Warm Current (TWC) and the cold Oyashio Current (OC) results in the formation of highly dynamic oceanographic features that promote high biodiversity and generate hotspots for a range of commercially important fisheries. However, their effects on local biodiversity over much smaller spatiotemporal scales ( < 1 km) remains unclear. With the development of acoustic technology in recent years, echo-sounders are increasingly being used to conduct high-precision fishery resource assessments and detect small-scale variability in the oceanic thermohaline structure. In this study, we conducted a simultaneous hydrographic and dual-frequency echo-sounder survey to discriminate oceanographic features and marine organisms in the TWC-OC confluence zone. Echograms of acoustic backscatter measured at 38 kHz detected similar oceanographic features that were obtained from our hydrographic survey observations, but these features were less pronounced in the 120 kHz echograms. The dynamic oceanographic structure in the TWC-OC zone returned a large amount of backscatter, making it difficult to identify marine organisms from the scatter. The frequency differences of volume backscattering strength (SV) were, however, able to distinguish oceanographic structures from zooplankton detections. Outcomes from this study highlight the difficulty of distinguishing between hydrographic and biological detections in dynamic oceanographic environments. Further research into the acoustic frequency characteristics of heterogeneous hydrographic features will help better understand how species distributions are affected, so that the acoustic method can be used to provide more accurate estimates of species abundance.

Fine-Scale Vertical Movements And Behavior Of Immature Skipjack Tuna (Katsuwonus Pelamis) Off Eastern Taiwan, Wei-Chuan Chiang, Takayuki Matsumoto, Shian-Jhong Lin, Qi-Xuan Chang, Michael K. Musyl, Yuan-Shing Ho, Fumio Ohta

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Skipjack tuna are globally distributed in tropical and temperate seas but little is known about their fine-scale diving patterns and how fish size and (or) maturity influences patterns off eastern Taiwan. A total of 211 immature skipjack (36 e 47 FL cm) in the study were caught by trolling near subsurface fish aggregating devices (FADs) near Green Island (southeastern Taiwan) and were tagged with Lotek LAT-2910 archival tags. The low rate of recovery (2.4%) suggests a high post-release mortality but this low rate could also be consistent with large population sizes, dispersal, tag loss or uncooperative fishers. Five individuals were …

Evaluating The Fish Aggregation Effect Of Wind Turbine Facilities By Using Scientific Echo Sounder In Nanlong Wind Farm Area, Western Taiwan, Ting-Chieh Huang, Hsueh-Jung Lu, Jia-Rong Lin, Shih-Hsuan Sun, Kou-Wei Yen, Jing-Yi Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

During the stages of construction and operation of the wind power facilities, fishery and fishery resources in the wind farm areas will certainly be changed greatly. One of the major concern is the aggregation effect of wind turbines facility. We use scientific echo sounder together with scuba diving to survey fish aggregations in the wind farm areas. In order to obtain echoes very near the facility, we use tilt beam angle instead of traditional vertical one. Variation of target strength varies while using tilted beam angle were discussed both by ex-situ and in-situ experiment. In ex-situ experiment, we measured TS …