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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology

Assessing The Dynamics Of The Southeast Florida Shark Community From 2013-2019 Via Catch Per Unit Effort And Stable Isotope Analysis, Alexandra Barth Apr 2023

Assessing The Dynamics Of The Southeast Florida Shark Community From 2013-2019 Via Catch Per Unit Effort And Stable Isotope Analysis, Alexandra Barth

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Sharks, as well as other top predators, are in drastic decline worldwide. As apex and near-apex predators, species such as nurse, lemon, and tiger sharks maintain balanced marine ecosystems by enacting top-down trophic control. However, this cascading effect is diminished with exploitation via commercial and recreational fishing. Sharks are generally long-lived, mature late, have long reproductive cycles, and produce few offspring. Much remains to be learned about the community structure, population trends and conservation statuses of shark populations worldwide. Comprehensive studies on the composition of the shark community in Southeast Florida north of Miami have been limited. This study assessed …


Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Bermuda Exhibit An Ontogenetic Diet Shift Despite Overexploitation Of Resources In Their Developmental Habitat, Claire Margaret Burgett Mar 2017

Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Bermuda Exhibit An Ontogenetic Diet Shift Despite Overexploitation Of Resources In Their Developmental Habitat, Claire Margaret Burgett

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Green sea turtles in Bermuda are overgrazing the seagrasses on which later life stages are thought to specialize. I hypothesized that larger green turtles in Bermuda would display individual diet specializations during seagrass scarcity. Stable isotope methods were used to determine the diet composition of green sea turtles from the Bermuda Platform as a function of size class and in turtles captured in successive years. Individual turtles had a wide range of diets, however, the variation in diets was driven by differences among size class rather than within the size classes of larger turtles, indicating that green turtles undergo a …