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Zooplankton Community Composition In Natural And Artificial Estuarine Passes Of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Arnaud Kerisit
Zooplankton Community Composition In Natural And Artificial Estuarine Passes Of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Arnaud Kerisit
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
I assessed the composition of zooplankton communities at the three tidal inlets connecting Lake Pontchartrain to Lake Borgne and subsequently to the Gulf of Mexico. The objectives of my research were to better understand the factors contributing to both spatial and temporal differences in zooplankton communities at the three locations. Monthly samplings of the neuston were conducted from September 2009 until April 2011 and then again from September 2012 until May 2013. Sampling consisted of triplicate tows using SeaGear “Bongo” nets. Water quality data along with water turbidity were recorded at each site and during each sampling effort. All specimens …
Assessing The Responses Of Adult, Juvenile, And Larval Fish Assemblages To The Closure Of The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, An Artificial Tidal Pass In Southeastern Louisiana, Rebecca Weatherall Cope
Assessing The Responses Of Adult, Juvenile, And Larval Fish Assemblages To The Closure Of The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, An Artificial Tidal Pass In Southeastern Louisiana, Rebecca Weatherall Cope
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
The creation of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in 1963 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) represents one of the most catastrophic, anthropogenic stressors ever to impact the Lake Pontchartrain estuary in southeastern Louisiana, USA. The artificial tidal pass provided a direct route from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. It allowed for high saline waters to enter Lake Pontchartrain, resulting in detrimental changes to the biotic community of the Lake and surrounding wetland areas. In July 2009, the USACE closed the MRGO in hopes of restoring natural ecosystems. This study assesses changes in the adult, …
Bycatch Of The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Inshore Shrimp Fishery And Its Effect On Two Sea Catfish Species: The Gafftopsail Catfish (Bagre Marinus) And The Hardhead Catfish (Ariopsis Felis), Scott P. Eustis
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
In Lake Pontchartrain Basin, commercial fishing in estuarine habitats impacts many non-target species collected as bycatch. I investigated the bycatch assemblages collected by commercial vessels and compared these to assemblages collected by typical fishery-independent methods. I compared assemblages using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and determined important species by weight and abundance using similarity percentages analyses (SIMPER). I also examined differences in size-class distributions by gear type using density kernel plots and Mann-Whitney U tests. The two gear types collected significantly different assemblages (ANOSIM R = 0.522, p = 0.001) and gear type explained more composition differences than other factors such …