Marine Biology Commons^™

Discovery & Born-Digital Archiving: Open Source Systems For Preservation And Access, L. Bryan Cooper, Margarita Perez-Martinez

Works of the FIU Libraries

The Everglades Explorer (EE) portal at http://ee.fiu.edu continues to evolve with the addition of the Internet Archive's Archive-It, and future planned alignment with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The reasons for the development of the portal continue to exist, as originally perceived four years ago. Adaptations to ongoing change and system testing continues, and the use of Archive-It has broad institutional potential beyond EE. Cross-walking skills continue to grown, and will benefit future syndication and discovery system integration. The metadata normalization and harmonization will help save time for the end-user. Preservation and access to learning and research …

Investigating Trophic Interactions Of Deep-Sea Animals (Sharks, Teleosts, And Mobile Scavengers) In The Gulf Of Mexico Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Diana A. Churchill

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The deep-sea is the largest habitat on earth, containing over 90 percent of the world’s oceans and home to over 20,000 species. Deep-sea ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human activities including fishing and oil extraction. To understand potential impacts on deep-sea food webs, it is crucial to gather baseline data in these systems. I quantified the trophic interactions of three groups of deep-water animals across a range of trophic levels living in the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico using stable isotope analysis. First, I propose methods for correcting δ¹⁵N values for the presence of nitrogenous metabolic waste …

Investigating The Driving Mechanisms Behind Differences In Bleaching And Disease Susceptibility Between Two Scleractinian Corals, Pseudodiploria Strigosa And Diploria Labyrinthiformis, Zoe A. Pratte

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disease and bleaching are two conditions which commonly lead to coral death. Among coral species, susceptibility to disease and bleaching is variable, and Pseudodiploria strigosa tends to be diseased more than Diploria labyrinthiformis, while D. labyrinthiformis bleaches more readily. The focus of this dissertation was to investigate and compare multiple components of these two coral species, and identify how they may relate to disease and bleaching resistance. Compenetnts examined included the surface mucopolysacharide layer (SML) thickness, gene expression, microbial associates, and a white plague aquarium study. The SML thickness decresased with increasing temperature regardless of coral species, indicating that SML …

Linking Old Librarianship To New: Aligning 5-Steps Of The Innovator's Dna In Creating Thematic Discovery Systems For The Everglades, L. Bryan Cooper, Margarita Perez Martinez

Works of the FIU Libraries

This poster presentation from the May 2015 Florida Library Association Conference, along with the Everglades Explorer discovery portal at http://ee.fiu.edu, demonstrates how traditional bibliographic and curatorial principles can be applied to: 1) selection, cross-walking and aggregation of metadata linking end-users to wide-spread digital resources from multiple silos; 2) harvesting of select PDFs, HTML and media for web archiving and access; 3) selection of CMS domains, sub-domains and folders for targeted searching using an API.

Choosing content for this discovery portal is comparable to past scholarly practice of creating and publishing subject bibliographies, except metadata and data are housed in …

A Comparative Study Of Concurrent Acoustic And Diver Survey Data, And Fish Community Descriptions Of A High Latitude Coral Reef, Florida, Usa, Adam M. Zenone

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fisheries independent data on relatively unstudied nekton communities were used to explore the efficacy of new tools to be applied in the investigation of shallow coastal coral reef habitats. These data obtained through concurrent diver visual and acoustic surveys provided descriptions of spatial community distribution patterns across seasonal temporal scales in a previously undocumented region. Fish density estimates by both diver and acoustic methodologies showed a general agreement in ability to detect distributional patterns across reef tracts, though magnitude of density estimates were different. Fish communities in southeastern Florida showed significant trends in spatial distribution and seasonal abundance, with higher …

Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Of South Florida Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Sarah Elise Strand

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Southeast Florida’s continual urban expansion will potentially increase anthropogenic pollution in adjacent coastal marine systems. Furthermore, increased nutrient loads could have detrimental effects on the already threatened Florida Reef Tract. The present study uses a stable isotopic approach to determine the sources and the impact of nutrients on the Florida Reef Tract. δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analysis of macroalgae, sponges, and sediment were analyzed in order to determine nutrient inputs in this region. While δ¹³C data did not display any significant trends spatially, δ¹⁵N values of the majority of biota exhibited a strong …

Non-Consumptive Effects Of Predators In Coral Reef Communities And The Indirect Consequences Of Marine Protected Areas, Laura Catano

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Predators exert strong direct and indirect effects on ecological communities by intimidating their prey. Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators are important features of many ecosystems and have changed the way we understand predator-prey interactions, but are not well understood in some systems. For my dissertation research I combined a variety of approaches to examine the effect of predation risk on herbivore foraging and reproductive behaviors in a coral reef ecosystem. In the first part of my dissertation, I investigated how diet and territoriality of herbivorous fish varied across multiple reefs with different levels of predator biomass in the Florida Keys …

Seagrasses In The Age Of Sea Turtle Conservation And Shark Overfishing, Michael R. Heithaus, Teresa Allcoverro, Rohan Arthur, Derek Burkholder, Kathryn A. Coates, Marjolijn J.A. Christianen, Nachiket Kelkar, Sarah A. Manuel, Aaron J. Wirsing, W. Judson Kenworthy, James W. Fourqurean

Department of Biological Sciences

Efforts to conserve globally declining herbivorous green sea turtles have resulted in promising growth of some populations. These trends could significantly impact critical ecosystem services provided by seagrass meadows on which turtles feed. Expanding turtle populations could improve seagrass ecosystem health by removing seagrass biomass and preventing of the formation of sediment anoxia. However, overfishing of large sharks, the primary green turtle predators, could facilitate turtle populations growing beyond historical sizes and trigger detrimental ecosystem impacts mirroring those on land when top predators were extirpated. Experimental data from multiple ocean basins suggest that increasing turtle populations can negatively impact seagrasses, …

Environmental Influences On Bacterio-Phytoplanktonic Coupling And Bacterial Growth Efficiency In A Sub-Tropical Estuary, Rachel Kotkowski

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacterio-phytoplanktonic coupling and bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) measurements were used to analyze microbial trophic dynamics and the influence of environmental factors in Florida Bay, Florida. Phytoplankton gross primary productivity (GPP) was measured using 24-hour in situ oxygen incubations; bacterial productivity (BP) was measured using ³H- thymidine incorporation. Weak bacterio-phytoplanktonic coupling was observed over the sampling period. BP was more influenced by local total nitrogen concentrations while GPP was more evenly distributed. BGE rates were low but consistent with marine and estuarine ecosystems worldwide. Results suggest that bacterioplankton growth in Florida Bay is relatively uncoupled from phytoplankton production, which may …

Anthropogenic Disturbances In Estuarine Ecosystems: The Effects Of Altered Freshwater Inflow, Introduction Of Invasive Species, And Habitat Alteration In The Loxahatchee River, Fl, Zachary R. Jud

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the majority of Earth’s population living in coastal areas, estuarine ecosystems have been particularly affected by anthropogenic disturbances. My dissertation research focused on three interrelated types of human disturbance that affect estuaries: Anthropogenic alteration of freshwater inflow, the introduction of invasive species, and habitat alteration. Using the LoxahatcheeRiver(Jupiter, FL) as a model system, my goal was to understand how these disturbances affect estuarine organisms, particularly fishes. One of the most ecologically harmful disturbances affecting estuaries is anthropogenic alteration of freshwater inflow (and resulting changes in salinity patterns). To identify effects of freshwater inflow on the behavior of an ecologically …

The Roles Of Microcystin And Sulfide In Physiology And Tactic Responses Of Pathogenic And Non-Pathogenic Mat-Forming Cyanobacteria, Abigael C. Brownell

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Planktothricoides raciborskii and Roseofilum reptotaenium are physiologically similar, yet ecologically distinct organisms found in a hot spring outflow and coral black band disease (BBD), respectively. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between R. reptotaenium and sulfide in BBD, to compare microcystin (MC) production in response to environmental factors, and to determine chemotactic responses to MC and sulfide by the two organisms. Results showed that the pathogenicity of R. reptotaenium in BBD is dependent on sulfate-reducing bacteria as secondary pathogens. Roseofilum reptotaenium produced significantly more MC than P. raciborskii, as measured using ELISA. Roseofilum reptotaenium …

Environmental And Individual Factors Shaping The Habitat Use And Trophic Interactions Of Juvenile Bull Sharks (Carcharhinus Leucas) In A Subtropical Estuary, Philip Matich

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Top predators serve important roles within their respective ecosystem through top-down and bottom-up effects, yet understanding how these roles vary among individuals within predator populations is still in its early stages. Such individuality can have important implications for the functional roles predators play within their respective ecosystems. Therefore, elucidating the factors that drive persistent individual differences within populations is crucial for understanding how individuals, and in turn populations, will respond to environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors, and the implications of these responses for particular ecological functions. In this dissertation I investigated the movements, residency patterns, and trophic interactions of a …

Aspects Of The Innate Immune System In The Caribbean Octocoral Swiftia Exserta, Lorenzo P. Menzel

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The immune systems of cnidaria are important to study for two reasons: to gain a better understanding of the evolution of immune responses, and to provide a basis to partially redress the precipitous world-wide die-offs of reef corals, some of which have been attributed to diseases and stress. Many immune responses share ancient evolutionary origins and are common across many taxa.

Using Swiftia exserta, an azooxanthellate ahermatypic local octocoral, as a proxy model organism to study aspects of innate immunity in corals and cnidaria allows us to address both of the reasons listed above while not using endangered species. …

Acclimatization Of The Tropical Reef Coral Acropora Millepora To Hyperthermal Stress, Anthony John Bellantuono

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The demise of reef-building corals potentially lies on the horizon, given ongoing climate change amid other anthropogenic environmental stressors. If corals cannot acclimatize or adapt to changing conditions, dramatic declines in the extent and health of the living reefs are expected within the next half century. The primary and proximal global threat to corals is climate change. Reef-building corals are dependent upon a nutritional symbiosis with photosynthetic dinoflagellates belonging to the group Symbiodinium. The symbiosis between the cnidarian host and algal partner is a stress-sensitive relationship; temperatures just 1°C above normal thermal maxima can result in the breakdown of …

Intraspecific Relationships In Paracalanus Quasimodo [Calinoideae] And Temora Turbinata [Calinoideae] Along The Southeastern Coast Of The United States, Richard Y. Chang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paracalanus quasimodo and Temora turbinata are two calanoid copepods prominent in the planktonic communities of the southeastern United States. Despite their prominence, the species and population level structure of these copepods is yet unexplored. The phylogeographic, temporal and phylogenetic structure of P. quasimodo and T. turbinata are examined in my study. Samples were collected from ten sites along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida peninsular coasts. Three sites were sampled quarterly for two years. Individuals were screened for unique ITS-1 sequences with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Unique variants were sequenced at the nuclear ITS-1 and mitochondrial COI loci. Sampling sites …

A Comprehensive And Integrative Reconstruction Of Evolutionary History For Anomura (Crustacea: Decapoda), Heather D. Bracken-Grissom, Maren E. Cannon, Patricia Cabezas, Rodney M. Feldmann, Carrie E. Schweitzer, Shane T. Ahyong, Darryl L. Felder, Rafael Lemaitre

Department of Biological Sciences

Background

The infraorder Anomura has long captivated the attention of evolutionary biologists due to its impressive morphological diversity and ecological adaptations. To date, 2500 extant species have been described but phylogenetic relationships at high taxonomic levels remain unresolved. Here, we reconstruct the evolutionary history—phylogeny, divergence times, character evolution and diversification—of this speciose clade. For this purpose, we sequenced two mitochondrial (16S and 12S) and three nuclear (H3, 18S and 28S) markers for 19 of the 20 extant families, using traditional Sanger and next-generation 454 sequencing methods. Molecular data were combined with 156 morphological characters in order to estimate the largest …

Effects Of Multiple Ecological Drivers On Recruitment And Succession Of Coral Reef Macroalgal Communities, Alain Duran

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study evaluated the effects of herbivory pressure, nutrient availability and potential propagule supply on recruitment and succession of coral reef macroalgal communities. Recruitment and succession tiles were placed in a nutrient-herbivory factorial experiment and macroalgal abundances were evaluated through time. Proportional abundances of macroalgal form-functional groups on recruitment and succession tiles were similar to field established communities within treatments, evidencing possible effects of adult macroalgae as propagule supply. Macroalgal abundance of recruitment tiles increased with nutrient loading and herbivory reduction combined whereas on succession tiles nutrient loading increased abundance of articulated-calcareous only when herbivores were excluded. Macroalgal field established …

Microhabitat Selection By Marine Mesoconsumers In A Thermally Heterogeneous Habitat: Behavioral Thermoregulation Or Avoiding Predation Risk?, Jeremy J. Vaudo, Michael R. Heithaus

Department of Biological Sciences

Habitat selection decisions by consumers has the potential to shape ecosystems. Understanding the factors that influence habitat selection is therefore critical to understanding ecosystem function. This is especially true of mesoconsumers because they provide the link between upper and lower tropic levels. We examined the factors influencing microhabitat selection of marine mesoconsumers – juvenile giant shovelnose rays (Glaucostegus typus), reticulate whiprays (Himantura uarnak), and pink whiprays (H. fai) – in a coastal ecosystem with intact predator and prey populations and marked spatial and temporal thermal heterogeneity. Using a combination of belt transects and data …

Could Relatedness Help Explain Why Individuals Lead In Bottlenose Dolphin Groups?, Jennifer S. Lewis, Douglas Wartzok, Michael R. Heithaus, Michael Krützen

Department of Biological Sciences

In many species, particular individuals consistently lead group travel. While benefits to followers often are relatively obvious, including access to resources, benefits to leaders are often less obvious. This is especially true for species that feed on patchy mobile resources where all group members may locate prey simultaneously and food intake likely decreases with increasing group size. Leaders in highly complex habitats, however, could provide access to foraging resources for less informed relatives, thereby gaining indirect benefits by helping kin. Recently, leadership has been documented in a population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) where direct benefits to leaders …

Disturbance Driven Colony Fragmentation As A Driver Of A Coral Disease Outbreak, Marilyn E. Brandt, Tyler B. Smith, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Rebecca Vega-Thurber

Department of Biological Sciences

In September of 2010, Brewer's Bay reef, located in St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands), was simultaneously affected by abnormally high temperatures and the passage of a hurricane that resulted in the mass bleaching and fragmentation of its coral community. An outbreak of a rapid tissue loss disease among coral colonies was associated with these two disturbances. Gross lesion signs and lesion progression rates indicated that the disease was most similar to the Caribbean coral disease white plague type 1. Experiments indicated that the disease was transmissible through direct contact between colonies, and five-meter radial transects showed a clustered spatial distribution …

Transcriptional Response Of Two Core Photosystem Genes In Symbiodinium Spp. Exposed To Thermal Stress, Michael P. Mcginley, Matthew D. Aschaffenburg, Daniel D. Pettay, Robin T. Smith, Todd C. Lajeunesse, Mark E. Warner

Department of Biological Sciences

Mutualistic symbioses between scleractinian corals and endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) are the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. For many coral-algal symbioses, prolonged episodes of thermal stress damage the symbiont's photosynthetic capability, resulting in its expulsion from the host. Despite the link between photosynthetic competency and symbiont expulsion, little is known about the effect of thermal stress on the expression of photosystem genes in Symbiodinium. This study used real-time PCR to monitor the transcript abundance of two important photosynthetic reaction center genes, psbA(encoding the D1 protein of photosystem II) and psaA (encoding the P700 protein of photosystem I), …

Characterization Of Atlantic Cod Spawning Habitat And Behavior In Icelandic Coastal Waters, Timothy B. Grabowski, Kevin M. Boswell, Bruce J. Mcadam, R.J. David Wells, Guđrún Marteinsdóttir

Department of Biological Sciences

The physical habitat used during spawning may potentially be an important factor affecting reproductive output of broadcast spawning marine fishes, particularly for species with complex, substrate-oriented mating systems and behaviors, such as Atlantic cod Gadus morhua. We characterized the habitat use and behavior of spawning Atlantic cod at two locations off the coast of southwestern Iceland during a 2-d research cruise (15–16 April 2009). We simultaneously operated two different active hydroacoustic gear types, a split beam echosounder and a dual frequency imaging sonar (DIDSON), as well as a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). A total of five fish species were …

Coral Thermal Tolerance: Tuning Gene Expression To Resist Thermal Stress, Anthony J. Bellatuono, Camila Granados-Cifuentes, David J. Miller, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty

Department of Biological Sciences

The acclimatization capacity of corals is a critical consideration in the persistence of coral reefs under stresses imposed by global climate change. The stress history of corals plays a role in subsequent response to heat stress, but the transcriptomic changes associated with these plastic changes have not been previously explored. In order to identify host transcriptomic changes associated with acquired thermal tolerance in the scleractinian coralAcropora millepora, corals preconditioned to a sub-lethal temperature of 3°C below bleaching threshold temperature were compared to both non-preconditioned corals and untreated controls using a cDNA microarray platform. After eight days of hyperthermal …

Macroalgae Decrease Growth And Alter Microbial Community Structure Of The Reef-Building Coral, Porites Astreoides, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Deron E. Burkepile, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Andrew R. Thurber, Andrew A. Schantz, Rory Welsh, Catharin Pritchard

Department of Biological Sciences

With the continued and unprecedented decline of coral reefs worldwide, evaluating the factors that contribute to coral demise is of critical importance. As coral cover declines, macroalgae are becoming more common on tropical reefs. Interactions between these macroalgae and corals may alter the coral microbiome, which is thought to play an important role in colony health and survival. Together, such changes in benthic macroalgae and in the coral microbiome may result in a feedback mechanism that contributes to additional coral cover loss. To determine if macroalgae alter the coral microbiome, we conducted a field-based experiment in which the coral Porites …

Development Of Gene Expression Markers Of Acute Heat-Light Stress In Reef-Building Corals Of The Genus Porites, Carly D. Kenkel, Galina Aglyamova, Ada Alamaru, Ranjeet Bhagooli, Roxana Capper, Ross Cunning, Amanda Devillers, Joshua A. Haslun, Laetitia Hédouin, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Kristin Kuehl, Huda Mahmoud, Elizabeth S. Mcginty, Phanor H. Montoya-Maya, Caroline V. Palmer, Raffaella Pantile, Juan A. Sánchez, Tom Schils, Rachel N. Silverstein, Logan B. Squiers, Pei-Ciao Tang, Tamar L. Goulet, Mikhail V. Matz

Department of Biological Sciences

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to increased incidence of climate-induced coral bleaching, which will have widespread biodiversity and economic impacts. A simple method to measure the sub-bleaching level of heat-light stress experienced by corals would greatly inform reef management practices by making it possible to assess the distribution of bleaching risks among individual reef sites. Gene expression analysis based on quantitative PCR (qPCR) can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine coral condition in situ. We evaluated the expression of 13 candidate genes during heat-light stress in a common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides, and observed strong …

Arsenic Transport By Zebrafish Aquaglyceroporins, Mohamad Hamdi, Marco A. Sanchez, Lauren C. Beene, Qianyong Liu, Scott M. Landfear, Barry P. Rosen, Zijuan Liu

HWCOM Faculty Publications

Background

Arsenic is one of the most ubiquitous toxins and endangers the health of tens of millions of humans worldwide. It is a mainly a water-borne contaminant. Inorganic trivalent arsenic (As^III) is one of the major species that exists environmentally. The transport of As^III has been studied in microbes, plants and mammals. Members of the aquaglyceroporin family have been shown to actively conduct As^III and its organic metabolite, monomethylarsenite (MAs^III). However, the transport of As^III and MAs^III in in any fish species has not been characterized.

Results

In this study, five members …

Temporal Variation In Dwarf Sperm Whale (Kogia Sima) Habitat Use And Group Size Off Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas, Meagan Mná Dunphy-Daly

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dwarf sperm whales, Kogia sima, are among the most commonly stranded yet least known pelagic cetaceans. I assessed seasonal and spatial variation in dwarf sperm whale group size and abundance off Great Abaco Island, the Bahamas. After correcting for survey effort and variation in sighting efficiency among sea states, I found that dwarf sperm whale group size and habitat use varied seasonally. In summer, dwarf sperm whale groups were small (median = 2.5, range = 1-8) and were found only in the two deep habitats within the study area (slope 400-900 m, deep 900-1600 in). In winter, group sizes …

Immunocytes Of The Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) And West Indian Manatee (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris) : Morphologic Characterizations And Correlations Between Healthy And Disease States Under Free-Ranging And Captive Conditions, Gregory D. Bossart

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in the health of marine mammals has increased due, in part, to the attention given to human impact on the marine environment. Recent mass strandings of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and rising mortalities of the endangered Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) have raised questions on the extent to which pollution, infectious disease, "stress," and captivity influence the immune system of these animals. This study has provided the first in-depth characterization of immunocytes in the peripheral blood of dolphins (n=180) and manatees (n=56). Immunocyte morphology and baseline values were determined in clinically normal animals …