Life Sciences Commons^™

Cascading Disturbances In Florida Bay, Usa: Cyanobacteria Blooms, Sponge Mortality, And Implications For Juvenile Spiny Lobsters Panulirus Argus, Mark J. Butler Iv, John H. Hunt, William F. Herrnkind, Michael J. Childress, Rodney Bertelsen, William Sharp, Thomas Matthews, Jennifer M. Field, Harold G. Marshall

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Florida Bay, the shallow lagoon separating mainland Florida and the Florida Keys, USA, is experiencing an unprecedented series of ecological disturbances. In 1991, following reports of other ecosystem perturbations, we observed widespread and persistent blooms of cyanobacteria that coincided with the decimation of sponge communities over hundreds of square kilometers. Juvenile Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus, among other animals, rely on sponges for shelter; the impact of sponge loss on the abundance of lobsters and their use of shelter, in particular, has been dramatic. The loss of sponges on 27 experimental sites in hard bottom habitat in central Florida Bay …

Nutritional Condition Of Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) Larvae As Determined By Constituent Lipid Analysis, William Frank Patterson Iii

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Larval striped bass were reared in the laboratory from 6 days post-hatch (dph) to 21 dph under four different feeding regimes to assess the effect of food concentration on triacylglycerol to sterol ratios (TG:ST) of larvae. Larvae were fed Peru strain Artemia salina nauplii in concentrations of 0, 10, 100, and 10001·1^-1, with three replicate tanks within each feeding treatment. Larvae were sampled on 14 and 21 dph and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Lipids were extracted from larvae in a 90:10:1 solution of dichlormethane:hexane:formic acid and analyzed with thin-layer chromatography/flameionization detection. Analysis of larval constituent lipids, and calculation …

The Distribution Of Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) And Meadow Voles (Microtus Pennsylvanicus) In Tidal Marsh Communities On The Eastern Shore Of Virginia, Allison L. Sowell

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Two tidal marsh sites were selected for live trapping of small mammals on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Trap grids were established at site and animals were trapped and tagged each month for one year. Habitat variables were measured at the peak of the growing season and again in late winter when vegetation was at its least luxuriant. ANOVA and multiple regressions were used to analyze the relationships between rice rats and meadow voles and associated variables related to habitat structure.

ANOVA revealed where rice rats and meadow voles differed in habitat preferences. Meadow voles were consistently captured in association …

Population Dynamics Of Oryzomys Palustris And Microtus Pennsylvanicus On The Eastern Shore Of Virginia, John A. March Jr.

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The population dynamics of Oryzomys palustris, the marsh rice rat, and of Microtus pennsylvanicus, the meadow vole, were determined during a year-long mark-and-recapture study on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Three nights of trapping per month were conducted on two live trap grids totaling 5456 total trap nights. The grids were located on Nature Conservancy land, one in Oyster, and the second at Steelman's Landing, which is east of Townsend in Northampton County Virginia. Trapped animals were evaluated using established criteria. Reproductive activity, age and sex composition, and density of the population, capture probability, survival rate, and recruitment were determined. …