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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Granivory Of Invasive, Naturalized, And Native Plants In Communities Differentially Susceptible To Invasion, B. M. Connolly, Dean Pearson, R. N. Mack Jul 2014

Granivory Of Invasive, Naturalized, And Native Plants In Communities Differentially Susceptible To Invasion, B. M. Connolly, Dean Pearson, R. N. Mack

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seed predation is an important biotic filter that can influence abundance and spatial distributions of native species through differential effects on recruitment. This filter may also influence the relative abundance of nonnative plants within habitats and the communities’ susceptibility to invasion via differences in granivore identity, abundance, and food preference. We evaluated the effect of postdispersal seed predators on the establishment of invasive, naturalized, and native species within and between adjacent forest and steppe communities of eastern Washington, USA that differ in severity of plant invasion. Seed removal from trays placed within guild-specific exclosures revealed that small mammals were the …


Patterns Of Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Postlarval Recruitment In The Carribbean: A Crtr Project, Mark J. Butler Iv, Angela M. Mojica, Eloy Sosa-Cordero, Marines Millet, Paul Sanchez-Navarro, Miguel A. Maldonado, Juan Posada, Bladimir Rodriguez, Carlos M. Rivas, Adrian Oviedo, Marcio Arrone, Martha Prada, Nick Bach, Nilda Jimenez, Maria Del Carmen Garcia-Rivas, Kirah Forman, Donald C. Behringer Jr., Thomas Matthews, Claire Paris, Robert Cowen Jan 2009

Patterns Of Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Postlarval Recruitment In The Carribbean: A Crtr Project, Mark J. Butler Iv, Angela M. Mojica, Eloy Sosa-Cordero, Marines Millet, Paul Sanchez-Navarro, Miguel A. Maldonado, Juan Posada, Bladimir Rodriguez, Carlos M. Rivas, Adrian Oviedo, Marcio Arrone, Martha Prada, Nick Bach, Nilda Jimenez, Maria Del Carmen Garcia-Rivas, Kirah Forman, Donald C. Behringer Jr., Thomas Matthews, Claire Paris, Robert Cowen

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

As part of the Coral Reef Targeted Research (CRTR) Program, a partnership between the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank, our research team examined the recruitment patterns of Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) postlarvae among regions in the Caribbean, with a particular focus on Mesoamerica. Our goal was to collect comparable information on postlarval supply among regions and to provide data to test predictions of connectivity generated from a coupled biophysical oceanographic model of lobster larval dispersal. Here we present the results of the postlarval recruitment monitoring program. We monitored the catch of postlarvae on Witham-style collectors …


Is Seagrass An Important Nursery Habitat For The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, In Florida?, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, William Herrnkind, John H. Hunt, Charles A. Acosta, William C. Sharp Jan 2009

Is Seagrass An Important Nursery Habitat For The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, In Florida?, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, William Herrnkind, John H. Hunt, Charles A. Acosta, William C. Sharp

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) settle preferentially in macroalgal-covered hard-bottom habitat, but seagrass is more prevalent in Florida (United States) and the Caribbean, so even low settlement of lobsters within seagrass could contribute substantially to recruitment if post-settlement survival and growth were high. We tested the role of seagrass and hard-bottom habitats for P. argus recruitment in three ways. We first explored possible density-dependent regulation of early benthic juvenile lobster survival within cages deployed in seagrass and hard-bottom habitats. Second, we compared settlement and survival of P. argus in both habitats, by comparing the recovery of microwire-tagged early …


The Cause And Consequence Of Ontogenetic Changes In Social Aggregation In New Zealand Spiny Lobsters, Mark J. Butler Iv, Alistair B. Macdiarmid, John D. Booth Jan 1999

The Cause And Consequence Of Ontogenetic Changes In Social Aggregation In New Zealand Spiny Lobsters, Mark J. Butler Iv, Alistair B. Macdiarmid, John D. Booth

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ontogenetic changes in the behavior, spatial distribution, or habitat use of a species are presumably adaptations to ecological forces that differ in their effect on various life stages. The New Zealand rock lobster Jasus edwardsii is one of several species of spiny lobster that exhibits dramatic ontogenetic shifts in sociality and spatial distribution, and we tested whether such changes are adaptive. We first surveyed several natural populations of J. edwardsii to document size-specific differences in aggregation. To determine if chemical cues discharged by conspecifics promote aggregation of certain ontogenetic stages, we tested the responsiveness of lobsters of 3 ontogenetic stages …


Are Artificial "Witham" Surface Collectors Adequate Indicators Of Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Recruitment?, Mark J. Butler Iv, William F. Herrnkind Jan 1989

Are Artificial "Witham" Surface Collectors Adequate Indicators Of Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Recruitment?, Mark J. Butler Iv, William F. Herrnkind

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the local dynamics of Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) postlarval influx, settlement, and recruitment may be essential for the responsible management of this important and heavily exploited resource. Most lobster recruitment research programs in the Caribbean employ derivations of the "Witham"-type surface collector to monitor postlarval (puerulus) lobster influx. However, the relevance of data obtained from surface collectors with respect to the estimation of actual puerulus influx, settlement, or recruitment to subsequent benthic juvenile stages remains untested. We investigated that relevance on regional (i.e., tens of kilometers) and local (i.e., tens of meters) scales by examining the …