Life Sciences Commons^™

Biophysical Factors Impacting Sea Lice Settlement And Survival, Eleanor R. Glahn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture production in Maine is a valuable contributor to the economy, the expansion of which has been challenged by the parasitic salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis. As planktonic organisms, the life of the salmon louse is primarily dictated by the physical conditions of the environment: the temperature for development time, salinity for survival, and current velocity for transport. Salmon lice are obligate parasites for whom the successful infection of a suitable host is critical to completion of their life cycle. However, little is understood about the effects of current velocity on infection success. Hydrodynamic …

Distribution And Relative Abundance Of Reintroduced Atlantic Salmon, Salmo Salar, In Lake Ontario Tributaries Using Environmental Dna, Nabeelah Lulat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plans to reintroduce Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario tributaries consists of stocking hatchery-reared fish yearly which will help to achieve a self-sustaining population. The issue with reintroduction remains in understanding the distribution of fishes after stocking. Environmental DNA (eDNA) provides a sensitive approach for monitoring that can offer inferences into fish distribution. I determined the distribution of stocked Atlantic salmon downstream from stocking sites using qRT-PCR and metabarcoding. I found that Atlantic salmon eDNA detection was more sensitive using qRT-PCR (51%) versus metabarcoding HTS (18.3%). However, metabarcoding provided data on fish community assemblages, which can help to monitor ecological interactions. …

The Long-Term Impact Of Dam Removals On Penobscot River Migratory Fishes, Erin Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dams interrupt river connectivity and disrupt fish migrations. We used telemetry to study the migratory movement patterns of adult American shad, sea lamprey, and Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot River, Maine after dam removals and other passage improvements had occurred. We also studied scale formation of marine-stage Atlantic salmon raised in marine net pens, the findings from which could be relevant to captive rearing efforts.

American shad now have access to the majority of their historic spawning habitat, contingent on passage the first main-stem dam (Milford Dam). We found that habitat upstream of dams was infrequently accessed, and first …

Getting Over The Dam: Overcoming Institutional Barriers To The Recovery Of Atlantic Salmon By Navigating The Social-Science/Policy Interface, Melissa E. Flye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term governance has undergone somewhat of an evolution since its inception, originally describing the act of governing, it has come to represent a more collaborative form of governing which is distinct from hierarchical control models (Marin and Mayntz, 1991). Collaborative governance refers to the systems associated with public policy decision making and resource management which span the jurisdictional boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or public and private spheres in order to pursue a public policy goal or outcome (Emerson et al., 2012). Environmental management is often considered an inherently collaborative effort, as ecological systems and species rarely …

Endocrine Disruption In Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) Exposed To Pesticides, Benjamin W. Spaulding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 19801s, the numbers of adult Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) returning to Maine's rivers have been in a general decline. In addition, estimates of parr, freshwater smolt and emigrating smolt populations indicate low overwinter survival rates. Overall, these low numbers, along with several other factors, resulted in the Atlantic salmon in eight rivers in Maine being classified as a distinct population segment under the Endangered Species Act. Because many of the listed rivers are found near lowbush blueberry barrens, I investigated the endocrine disrupting potential and effects of selected blueberry pesticides on Atlantic salmon. An E-SCREEN assay was …