Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Automated Detection Of Deep-Sea Animals, Dallas J. Hollis, Duane Edgington, Danelle Cline

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute routinely deploys remotely operated underwater vehicles equipped with high definition cameras for use in scientific studies. Utilizing a video collection of over 22,000 hours and the Video Annotation and Reference System, we have set out to automate the detection and classification of deep-sea animals. This paper serves to explore the pitfalls of automation and suggest possible solutions to automated detection in diverse ecosystems with varying field conditions. Detection was tested using a saliency-based neuromorphic selective attention algorithm. The animals that were not detected were then used to tune saliency parameters. Once objects are detected, …

Growth Rate Of Copepods In The San Francisco Bay, Brooke Bemowski, Wim Kimmerer, Toni Ignoffo

STAR Program Research Presentations

The San Francisco Estuary is a complex ecosystem. A key part of the foodweb are zooplankton crustaceans, specifically copepods. Many fish, especially the endangered delta smelt, rely on copepods as a food source. Measuring the growth of copepods assists in predictions if enough food is available for delta smelt. Traditionally growth rate is measured through lengthy and involved processes. The objective of this research project is to develop an imaging process to analyze biomass of copepods more efficiently. For this research, field samples of copepods were collected and grown over three days. Subsamples were taken and preserved at three predetermined …

Father Convict Cichlids Bite Intruders More Often In Hot Temperatures, Jesse L. Heckendorf

STAR Program Research Presentations

Convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus) have evolved to be extremely good parents by protecting their brood. Parental care leads to aggressive biting, chasing, and gill flaring to intimidate predators. In this experiment, we show that environmental factors, such as the changing of temperature in this case, affect a male convict cichlid’s aggression toward caring for his offspring when an intruder is introduced. Male convict cichlids attack more in warmer water.

Assessment Of Salmon Habitat On The Feather River, Nathan Sweem

STAR Program Research Presentations

Human activity in central valley streams has had a significantly negative impact on salmon habitat (Williams 2006). The presence of dams impedes sediment transport which is critical to salmon spawning (Williams 2006; Kondolf 1997). As part of an effort to enhance salmon spawning, the California Department of Water Resources added 7000 ft³ of gravel to Cottonwood Hatchery, Upper Auditorium, and Auditorium riffles on the Lower Feather River below the Thermalito Dam Complex in July of 2014. Stream conditions at Cottonwood Hatchery riffle were assessed by conducting analysis of sediment grain size, water depth and velocity, gravel permeability, and dissolved …

Aquaponics And Basil Plant Density, Danika L. Macmaster, Brook Murphy, Dudley Burton

STAR Program Research Presentations

Aquaponics is the use of water from a fish tank to provide nutrients to plants in a soil-less environment. The rocks cultivate the bacteria that turns the ammonia into nitrates that the plants need, and the plant bed functions as a filter for the fish tank. In this study, with the guidance of Doctor Dudley Burton, Doctor Brook Murphy, we researched the optimal plant density for basil in an Aquaponics system. We attempted to control or measure all the other variables to consider, as to isolate the variable of distance between plants. The water flow was spread through the plant …

Temporal Variation In Larval Release In Botrylloides Violaceous, Damion J. Delton, Sarah Cohen

STAR Program Research Presentations

Despite Botrylloides violaceous being a globally invasive species in temperate marine habitats, little is known about it’s natural dispersal behavior. Previous work (Delton et al, 2011) suggests behavioral inferences based on a related and much more commonly studied species may not be appropriate, potentially due to a large size difference between the non-feeding larvae of these two species. Here, we consider factors that may affect dispersal potential. To study how light affects larval release, we measured timing of larval release in the field and compared larval size and time of release. Colonies were collected from floating docks in Richmond, CA …

Leatherback Hatchling Fitness, Violet Campbell, Shane Morales, Kelly Stewart

STAR Program Research Presentations

Leatherback hatchling fitness on land is essential for their success in entering the ocean without being predated. Two ways fitness on land may be measured are by how fast hatchlings crawl as well as how fast their righting responses are when they are flipped onto their carapaces. Hatchlings from certain nests have slower righting response times along with slower crawl times, both of which would increase the odds of predation and hinder the success of hatchlings reaching the ocean.

Hatchling crawling speed was determined by timing 12 randomly selected hatchlings from each nest to crawl a distance of two meters. …

Nutritional Content Of Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca Monocerata) Bill Loads, Dustin Taylor, Ron Heintz

STAR Program Research Presentations

Nutritional Content of Rhinoceros Auklet Bill Loads

Dustin E Taylor

Abstract

An adult Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) can only catch and carry a limited amount of prey to their nestlings after a foraging trip. The auklets therefore must maximize their efficiency by bringing back the most proportionally nutritious prey items to their nestlings. The prey carried back to the nesting sites (known as a ‘bill load’) can contain whole fish, as well as parts, most commonly fish heads. This study is aimed to determine whether returning with just heads to the nestlings was proportionally more nutritious than bringing …

A Genetic Survey Of English Sole Populations In The Salish Sea, Elizabeth S. Gutierrez, Gary A. Winans, Jon Baker, Amanda Cope

STAR Program Research Presentations

This summer I interned at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA and participated in NOAA’s Salish Sea Project. The Salish Sea Project’s goal is to identify genetically distinctive groups of species in the Salish Sea that may have unique evolutionary and/or adaptive backgrounds. These findings will allow NOAA to promote and monitor the natural production of species in the Salish Sea, to select representative populations for experimental work regarding pollution, ocean acidification and climate change, to contribute to managing the ecosystem for intra- and inter-species diversity, and to help make informed decisions about adaptive management and marine protected …

Developing Monitoring Methods For Leptasterias Spp. As Sentinel Species In Detecting Local Environmental Changes, Zachary Sturbaum, Kathryn Nuessly, Riley J. Smith, C. Sarah Cohen

STAR Program Research Presentations

Leptasterias spp., a six-rayed sea star, is found in rocky intertidal habitats ranging from Alaska to central California. Leptasterias spp. can be monitored on a broad scale throughout their range by a variety of means using timed counts and random plot censusing in order to detect both large-scale and local-level changes in the environment due to climate change, land-based human activity, or other environmental events. Leptasterias brood their young externally until the embryos grow into fully developed juveniles. These juveniles disperse by crawling away, limiting their dispersal potential. This localized dispersal provides an opportunity to use Leptasterias spp …

Effects Of Pristane On Growth Of Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha), Brielle D. Kemis, Bonita Nelson

STAR Program Research Presentations

Pristane is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon that is generated by copepods in marine ecosystems. Organisms that eat copepods do not readily metabolize pristane, which causes it to accumulate throughout the marine food web. Understanding how pristane affects marine fish is essential because pristane is often used as a bioindicator in lab studies and may be influencing results in those studies. Also, this hydrocarbon may significantly reduce growth of marine fish in the wild. A previous study indicated that pristane is an appetite suppressant and growth retardant in fish. However, the study implemented a feeding regime with unnaturally high levels of …

Interspecies Comparison Of Αii-Spectrin Abundance Between Chinook Salmon And Steelhead, Brielle D. Kemis, Ann L. Miracle, Katie A. Wagner, Christa M. Woodley

STAR Program Research Presentations

Salmonids, such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss), are a staple economic, recreational, tribal, and environmental resource, yet many populations are unsustainable. This study was part of a broad scale effort to monitor the impact of downstream migration obstacles on juvenile salmonid health and survival, which is an essential step towards increasing Smolt-to-Adult Return ratios (SARs). The objective of this study was to determine if juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead exhibit differing quantities of alphaII-Spectrin Breakdown Products (SBDPs) over two consecutive spring migration periods, indicative of neurogenesis rate and/or biological response to head …