Marine Biology Commons^™

The Effects Of Sediment Acidification And Temperature On The Immune Capacity Of The Atlantic Jackknife (Razor) Clam (Ensis Leei M. Huber, 2015), Brian Preziosi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sediment acidification has been shown to negatively impact clams of economic importance such as the soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria Linnaeus, 1758, and hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758). Effects of sediment acidification on razor clams, including the Atlantic jackknife clam Ensis leei M. Huber, 2015, are unknown. E. leei has been identified as a species with potential for aquaculture operations on the New England coast. E. leei may be resilient to acidification and thus persist in acidified sediments where other clams cannot. To this end, the impact of acidified surface sediment on the internal immune capacity of adult (mean shell …

The Vezo Communities And Fisheries Of The Coral Reef Ecosystem In The Bay Of Ranobe, Madagascar, Shane Abeare

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Madagascar, a country whose extraordinary levels of endemism and biodiversity are celebrated globally by scientists and laymen alike, yet historically has received surprisingly little research attention, is the setting of the present dissertation. Here, I contribute to the need for applied research by: 1) focusing on the most intensely fished section of the Toliara Barrier Reef, the Bay of Ranobe; 2) characterizing the marine environment, the human population, and the fisheries; and 3) collecting the longest known time-series of data on fisheries of Madagascar, thereby providing a useful baseline for future analyses. In Chapter 1, the bathymetry of the Bay …

The Effects Of Seasonal Variations, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, And Climate Change On The Tuna-Dolphin Association, Caitlynn Birch, Michael D. Scott, Zhi-Yong Yin, Lisa T. Ballance

Theses

Tuna and dolphins swim together in the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific, and this association has long benefitted tuna fishermen and intrigued scientists. Although the tuna-dolphin association is often referred to as a “mystery,” much is known about the association. Yellowfin tuna are primarily caught with spotted dolphins and, to a lesser extent, spinner dolphins; historically the spotted dolphin has borne the brunt of the bycatch mortality. The tuna-dolphin association is thought to be a product of the distinct oceanography of the ETP: a shallow mixed layer, a thick oxygen minimum zone, and warm surface waters. As the mixed …

Habitat Associations And Reproduction Of Fishes On The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico Shelf Edge, Elizabeth Marie Keller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Several of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) shelf-edge banks provide critical hard bottom habitat for coral and fish communities, supporting a wide diversity of ecologically and economically important species. These sites may be fish aggregation and spawning sites and provide important habitat for fish growth and reproduction. Already designated as habitat areas of particular concern, many of these banks are also under consideration for inclusion in the expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. This project aimed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the communities and fish species on shelf-edge banks by way of gonad histology, …

Temporal And Spatial Management Tools For Marine Ecosystems: Case Studies From Northern Brazil And Northeastern United States, Beatriz Dos Santos Dias

Doctoral Dissertations

Anthropogenic interventions and actions upon the marine habitat pose threats to a range of species of economic and conservation concern. The dynamic nature of marine ecosystems offers a difficult challenge to incorporate spatial and temporal distributions of different species, and the interactions among species and human activities into a formal management framework. Each country has its own priorities when it comes to management of the marine resources (e.g. conservation, food security, sustainable fisheries, and optimization of revenue). Therefore, a key hurdle is to create tools adequate for use within an Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) and Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) framework, …

Incidence And Prevalence Of Francisella Noatunensis Subsp. Orientalis (Fno) Pathogenic Infections In Feral Hawaiian Tilapia, Daquille Peppers

Biology Theses

Aquaculture has become a major food source for many countries and continues to grow each year. However, many of the fishes that are farmed are susceptible to pathogenic infections such as Francisellosis, a bacterial infection that contributes to disease and high mortality rate in many populations of farmed and wild fish around the world. In 1994, feral and farmed populations of tilapia (e.g. Oreochromis mossambicus) on Oahu, Hawaii were found to be infected with a novel Francisellosis strain, Francisella noatunensis subsp. orientalis (Fno). To prevent the spread of this pathogen, the Hawaii Department of Aquaculture (HDOA) initiated …

Spatial And Temporal Variation In The Diet Composition Of Zooplankton In Mission Bay, Bryanna Paulson

Theses

Analyses of quantitative data on zooplankton diets are vital for understanding the drivers of zooplankton abundance within an ecosystem. Such analyses also provide insight into trophic pathways within the lower planktonic food web, which support populations of higher trophic level species. This study used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of size-fractionated plankton in Mission Bay, San Diego, CA to examine the spatial and temporal variation in zooplankton trophic ecology and determine potential environmental drivers of zooplankton community structure. Carbon stable isotopes reflect primary production sources in an organism’s diet, and nitrogen stable isotope ratios can be used to estimate …

Effects Of Elevated Temperature On Gonadal Functions, Cellular Apoptosis, And Oxidative Stress In Atlantic Sea Urchin (Arbacia Punctulata), Jackson B. Johnstone

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing surface sea water temperatures effect on growth, reproduction and development in marine organisms. Sea urchins are excellent indicator species and ideal model organisms to focus on. In this study, I tested the effect of higher temperatures on reproductive functions, heat shock protein (HSP, a chaperone protein produced by cells in response to heat stress) and nitrotyrosine protein (NTP, an indicator of reactive nitrogen species, RNS) expressions, cellular apoptosis, and ceolomic fluid (CF, a body fluid which regulates important physiological processes) conditions in Atlantic sea urchin at three different temperatures. Ten sea urchins were placed in each of six aquariums …

A Snapshot Of The Age, Growth, And Reproductive Status Of Gray Triggerfish (Balistes Capriscus, Gmelin 1789) On Three Artificial Reefs In The Northwest Gulf Of Mexico, Adam M. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Age, growth, and reproductive status of gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) were identified from 2015-2016 on artificial reefs in the northwest Gulf of Mexico. Individuals ranged from 232-432 mm fork length with and a mean fork length of 319 mm. Individuals from age 0.2 to 5.2 yrs were observed with a weight to length relationship of Wg = 1.1 x -104 x FL2.7 (r2 = 0.94, n = 112), where FL = fork length (mm) and Wg = weight (g). A von Bertalanffy growth equation of Lt = 326(1 - e - 0.9 (t + 1.71)) was calculated irrespective …

The Effects Of Salinity On Zootechnical Performance Of Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion Nebulosus) In Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, Eric Gigli

Master's Theses

The spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) is a euryhaline finfish candidate for marine aquaculture in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Aquaculture of this species currently uses salinities of 25 psu or greater making production challenging in areas where high salinity water is not available. This study aimed to document the effects of salinity on zootechnical performance of spotted seatrout embryos, early larvae, and juveniles in recirculating aquaculture systems to assist with the development of protocols for low salinity culture.

Embryos obtained from a volitional spawn at 29 psu were incubated at three salinities (12.5, 18.75, or 25 psu) until …

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Vocal Responses To Sonar And Spectrally Pink Background Noise, Maria Zapetis

Dissertations

As human populations rise, the level of man-made noise increases globally. Naval sonar and boat traffic are underwater sound sources of particular concern to marine mammal welfare. To better understand the impact of these noise increases on cetaceans, studies can explore animals’ behavioral changes in response to noise. Studies have investigated the ‘dose-response’ relationship between the received sound pressure level of sonar signals and the behavior of cetaceans in the wild, but exposure studies in controlled environments are limited. The studies in this dissertation examined bottlenose dolphin vocal modifications during various experimental noise treatments. Acoustic recordings previously obtained for bottlenose …

An Analysis Of Citizen Science And Its Effect On Marine Plastic Pollution, Kathryn Munster

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Honors thesis is an analysis of pollution data to gain more insight about the growing problem of marine plastic pollution. I retrieved online datasets collected by the Clean Swell trash collection mobile application and then analyzed this data using the Python programming language. After my Python analysis, I used Tableau to create data visualizations. This paper analyzes the effect that citizen science has on plastic pollution. Syracuse University’s recycling and trash figures, provided by Syracuse Haulers, are also analyzed. The purpose of including Syracuse University’s data is to bring a local point of view to this project and possibly …

Density Of Hemigrapsus Sanguineus And Carcinus Maenas In Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Valerie Huston, Teresa Martel, Zimzim Mohamed

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Our focus for this project is to determine how the population densities of Hemigrapsus sanguineus, Asian shore crab and Carcinus maenas, European green crabs have shifted over a brief period of time. We are comparing data collected on September 17, 2018, to data collected on October 22, 2018. The location where the two sets of data were collected from is Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The GPS coordinance was 43°.33.55N70°.13.40N. We discuss what affects the influences of environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, high intertidal versus low intertidal, and percent ascophyllum cover affect have on the population densities of these …

Habitat Usage Patterns Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In Terrebonne And Timbalier Bays, Louisiana, Mary Allison Manning

LSU Master's Theses

I coupled fine-scale environmental data with observed behavior and group composition data to examine overall distribution within the bay system and to characterize the habitat associated with foraging and the presence of calves. Semi-isolated populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) along Louisiana’s coast are undergoing increased risks from boat traffic, oil spills, land subsidence, and planned water diversions (CPRA 2017). Characterizing the habitat use of bottlenose dolphins in Terrebonne and Timbalier bays, Louisiana, is important given the likely high site fidelity, small home ranges, and low exchange of individuals with nearby coastal populations (Lane et al. 2015, McDonald …

Shrimp Production Environment And The Gut Microbiome: Effects Of Aquaculture Practices And Selective Breeding On The Gut Microbiome Of Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp, Litopenaeus Vannamei, Angela Landsman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of the functional role of the gut microbiome in animal health and nutrition may provide solutions to shrimp aquaculture challenges, such as improving disease resistance and optimizing growth particularly with low cost feeds. Successful manipulation of bacteria found in the gut requires a deeper understanding of shrimp microbial communities and how their compositional structure is influenced by environmental conditions, and inherent host factors such as genetics. The initial research investigated the intestinal bacterial communities of the Pacific whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) reared in pond systems compared to indoor aquaculture facilities as an exploration of the effects of aquaculture practices …

Assessing Freshwater Mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) Assemblages And Effects Of Eutrophication On Pyganodon Grandis In Lakes Of Eastern South Dakota, Katherine M. Wollman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Globally, the family Unionidae is the most threatened group of freshwater fauna. South Dakota is well known for its agricultural production, leading to cultural eutrophication from enhanced fertilizers and sediments. This impact can alter species presence, age, growth and mortality. Objectives of this study were to 1) implement the first comprehensive lake survey of freshwater mussels in eastern South Dakota lakes and document distribution, occurrence and relative abundance, 2) evaluate relationships between age, growth and mortality of Pyganodon grandis and lake trophic state. Freshwater mussels were sampled in 2017 from 116 proportionally and randomly selected natural lakes and reservoir basins …

Effects Of Aquatic Acidification On Calcium Uptake In White River Shrimp Litopenaeus Setiferus Gills, Maria-Flora Jacobs

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research regarding aquatic acidification has examined the protonation of the carbonate and does not consider calcium to be a limiting factor. This is the first study to suggest that pH may affect the uptake of calcium in crustacean gills. This project describes ion transport mechanisms present in the cell membranes of white river shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus gill epithelium, and the effects of pH on the uptake of calcium by these means. Partially purified membrane vesicles (PPMV) of shrimp gills were prepared through a homogenization process that has been used previously to define ion transport in crab and lobster gill …

Blubber Transcriptome And Proteome Responses To Repeated Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Administration In A Marine Mammal, Jared Deyarmin

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Chronic physiological stress impacts animal fitness by catabolizing metabolic stores and suppressing reproduction and immunity. This can be especially deleterious for capital breeding carnivores, such as marine mammals, which rely on lipid stores accrued during intensive foraging to sustain prolonged periods of fasting associated with reproduction. Therefore, chronic stress may cause a decrease in fitness in these animals, leading to population declines and potentially detrimental shifts in food web dynamics as a result. However, the impacts and indicators of chronic stress in animals are currently poorly understood. To identify downstream mediators of repeated stress responses in marine mammals, adrenocorticotropic hormone …

Satellites, Seagrass, And Blue Crabs: Understanding Inter-Annual Fluctuations And Linkages In The York River, Kristen Bachand

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

To protect and manage ecosystems over large spatial scales, repeated mapping with remote sensing, such as aerial photography, is valuable, but several potential problems need to be overcome to generate accurate maps. For instance, to monitor submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), such as seagrass, satellite imagery must often capture seasonal and interannual variation as well as disturbances. We used a model system, SAV and the blue crab Callinectes sapidus in the lower Chesapeake Bay, to examine (i) if Planet Lab (PL) satellite imagery can be used to accurately estimate SAV coverage by comparing PL images coincident with those of the VIMS …