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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology
Are Rising Seas Pushing Ghost Crabs Out Of Their Comfort Zone?, Finn Gillette
Are Rising Seas Pushing Ghost Crabs Out Of Their Comfort Zone?, Finn Gillette
Honors Theses
Ghost crabs (Ocypode quadrata) can be found on sandy beaches bordering the western Atlantic Ocean. These semiterrestrial crustaceans are often found between the swash zone and the dunes on beaches. Dunes are critical refuges for ghost crabs during storms and extreme tide events. This makes them a useful indicator species for monitoring the effects of global warming-induced sea level rise on beach biota, as their distribution patterns among beach zones may correlate with shifts found in other species. Beach surveys conducted from 2015 onward assessed the population density of ghost crabs on beaches of Horry and Georgetown counties …
Investigating Local Adaptation To Hypoxia Stress In The Eastern Oyster Through Comparative Transcriptomics, Heather Nichole Smith
Investigating Local Adaptation To Hypoxia Stress In The Eastern Oyster Through Comparative Transcriptomics, Heather Nichole Smith
LSU Master's Theses
Climate change represents one of the most important challenges to biodiversity, therefore it is important to understand the mechanisms that allow species to respond to rapid environmental change. Here, we compared two populations of eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica, from the Gulf of Mexico to study the mechanisms underlying hypoxia tolerance. Using a common garden experiment and comparative transcriptomics, we identified sets of genes involved in the hypoxia response and found differences in both the timing and baseline expression of hypoxia-responsive genes between tolerant and sensitive populations, consistent with a scenario of local adaptation. These genes include the signaling transcription factor …
Effects Of Tropical Cyclones On Incubation And Hatch Frequency Of Marine Turtles In Broward County, Fl: An Exploratory Look For Potential Cues Of Environmentally Cued Hatching (Ech), Alexis Peterson
All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations
Due to climate change and warming sea surface temperatures (SST), the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic are continuing to increase. Tropical cyclones have many direct and indirect effects on coastal and marine species, such as sea turtles. Sea turtles are extremely vulnerable to climate change, due to having life history, physiology, and behavioral traits that are heavily influenced by environmental factors (Fuentes and Porter 2013). This study examined whether tropical cyclones serve as a triggering event for environmentally cued hatching (ECH) in loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtle nests …
Benthic Microalgae Response To A Warming Climate And Shift In Foundational Vegetation Species In A Saltmarsh-Mangrove Ecotone, Gabriela Canas
Benthic Microalgae Response To A Warming Climate And Shift In Foundational Vegetation Species In A Saltmarsh-Mangrove Ecotone, Gabriela Canas
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The ecotone in Northeast Florida is experiencing rapid change as mangroves begin to encroach northward into saltmarsh dominated coastal wetlands. This is especially prevalent within the boundaries of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve where studies are attempting to understand the consequences of more mangroves. Although we are beginning to understand some of the implications of this shift in dominant vegetation, the true effects and the accompanying sustained climatic warming effects on the resilience of wetland habitats and their associated communities remains unknown. Primary producers such as benthic microalgae (BMA) are important food sources in both mangrove and …
Steady Heartbeat: Field And Laboratory Studies Indicate Unexpected Resilience To High Temperatures For The Ribbed Mussel Geukensia Demissa, Ashlyn N. Smith Ms.
Steady Heartbeat: Field And Laboratory Studies Indicate Unexpected Resilience To High Temperatures For The Ribbed Mussel Geukensia Demissa, Ashlyn N. Smith Ms.
Honors College Theses
Salt marshes are important ecosystems found along the coast of Georgia. Salt marshes are hosts to diverse organisms that interact with each other to promote many ecosystem services, such as storm buffering and flooding, and absorption of excess nutrients. Among these diverse organisms is the ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa. Mussels are a foundation species in this intertidal landscape, and without them the whole salt marsh would be negatively affected. The purpose of this investigation was to explore the thermal stress response of G. demissa to rising temperatures. Mussels were collected from three locations that were landlocked, close to a …
Spatial Distribution And Stock-Recruitment Analysis Of The Atlantic Surfclam, Spisula Solidissima, In The Mid-Atlantic Bight And On Georges Bank, Jeremy Timbs
Master's Theses
Atlantic surfclams, Spisula solidissima, are long-lived bivalve molluscs with dispersive larval stages. Surfclam patchiness throughout the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has declined from the 1980’s to the present in all assessed regions (Delmarva, New Jersey, Long Island, Southern New England, and Georges Banks). Warming of Mid-Atlantic bottom waters is driving the surfclam stock into new habitat and extirpating the surfclams from nearshore areas. Based on a species distribution function model, the small surfclams appear to inhabit a greater area than the large market-size surfclams across the entire stock. The wider distribution of recent recruits relative to the fishable …
Growth Of Orbicella Faveolata In La Parguera, Puerto Rico, Darren B. Marshall
Growth Of Orbicella Faveolata In La Parguera, Puerto Rico, Darren B. Marshall
HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations
Reef-building corals are subject to high amounts of stress, including pollution and rising sea surface temperatures due to climate change. These factors can affect the ability of corals to produce their calcium carbonate skeletons. Evaluation of the effects of climate change may be facilitated by evaluation of records of coral skeletal growth over a long period of time. The aim of this study was to evaluate skeletal growth of the coral Orbicella faveolata in La Parguera, Puerto Rico over a 32-year period. For this, 14 Orbicella faveolata core samples were collected from corals at two reefs (1.2 km apart) in …
Multi-Stress Proteomics: The Global Protein Response To Multiple Environmental Stressors In The Porcelain Crab Petrolisthes Cinctipes, Michael A. Garland
Multi-Stress Proteomics: The Global Protein Response To Multiple Environmental Stressors In The Porcelain Crab Petrolisthes Cinctipes, Michael A. Garland
Master's Theses
Global climate change is increasing the number of hot days along the California coast as well as increasing the incidence of off-shore upwelling events that lower the pH of intertidal seawater; thus, intertidal organisms are experiencing an increase in more than one stress simultaneously. This study seeks to characterize the global protein response of the eurythermal porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes to changes in thermal, pH, and tidal regime treatments, either combined or individually. The first experiment examined temperature stress alone and sought to determine the effect of chronic temperature acclimation on the acute heat shock response. We compared the proteomic …
Differential Response Of Amp Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) And Hsp70 To Temperature Stress In The Gastropod, Nucella Lapillus, Emily Zimmermann
Differential Response Of Amp Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) And Hsp70 To Temperature Stress In The Gastropod, Nucella Lapillus, Emily Zimmermann
All Theses And Dissertations
Populations of the gastropod Nucella lapillus are polymorphic for shell color, with light-colored shells predominating on warmer, wave-protected shores and dark-colored shells limited primarily to cooler, wave-exposed shores. During thermal stress, darker shells attain higher body temperatures than lighter shells. These results suggest that heat stress may determine field distribution patterns. However, there is currently little evidence of physiological consequences of thermal stress in these organisms. Following the guiding hypothesis that heat stress leads to cellular energy depletion, we explored whether the central energy regulator AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) is activated by heat stress. We compared this response in both …