Marine Biology Commons^™

Dolphins In Ny? Researchers Turn To Boat Tours For Sightings, Aaron K. Tremper

Capstones

Before 2009, coastal bottlenose dolphins were a rare sight north of New Jersey. According to local researchers, large pods of bottlenose dolphins made their way that spring/summer along Long Island. While dolphin population data by state and federal wildlife regulators are spotty, studies by local scientists suggest more dolphins have been flocking to New York since 2009. Many researchers are turning to whale-watching ventures to learn more about what dolphins are up to in the Big Apple.

https://jkt711.github.io/capstone/

Lost At Sea, Anny Oberlink

Capstones

At the end of World War I and World War II, in a new era of peace, nations confronted an unprecedented logistical problem: millions of tons of unexploded ordnance—once a wartime boon—had become a peacetime burden. Faced with a mandate to dispose of excess munitions, militaries turned to dumping their stockpiles into the sea. But now a complex and urgent issue is emerging. Increasingly, as industry looks to build offshore—wind power turbines, internet cables, oil pipelines—they are facing a potential peril: millions of tons of unexploded bombs and ammunition that are lying on the ocean floor can explode or leak …

Paralyzed Within A Plastic World, Gena Leib

Honors Projects

Our oceans are one of the largest ecosystems found on our planet, and they are also one of the driving forces to a balanced planet. I believe that it is very important to restore our oceans to the once clean environment, and it is up to mankind to make that first step to do so soon and without hesitation. I believe that many people are uniformed on the topics of pollution, and it is important to bring attention to the issues through a perspective that society can see. Social media has had a huge influence on helping this, but for …

Predation Efficiency Of Lionfish (Pterois Volitans And P. Miles) In Differing Levels Of Habitat Complexity, Abigail Ehlers Kimbrel

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The invasion of the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois sp.) into the Atlantic and Caribbean has received attention around the globe. Venomous spines, over-sized fanlike pectoral fins, slow movement, and novel feeding strategies have allowed lionfish to become effective apex- predators. Recent research has determined that lionfish use inshore mangrove habitats as foraging grounds, which are also used as nursery habitats for juvenile fish, thus reducing recruitment of native fish populations. The purpose of this study was three-fold: (1) determine the predation efficiency of lionfish in differing mangrove habitat complexities, (2) examine the influence of temperature and behavior of prey commonly found …

Optimizing The Time To Transfer Sexually Produced Corals Of Porites Astreoides, Agaricia Agaricites, And Montastraea Cavernosa To An Offshore Nursery, Rachel Ionata

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

As reefs continue to decline globally and become unable to recover on their own, restoration becomes essential to abate reef degradation and boost reef recovery until the main sources of the degradation are addressed. Sexual propagation is an important restoration technique that still requires optimization. One of the major knowledge gaps is determining the optimal time to transfer newly-settled sexually-produced corals from an aquarium to an offshore nursery without compromising their survival and growth. This study transferred settlers from Porites astreoides, Agaricia agaricites, and Montastraea cavernosa to an offshore nursery at approximately one week, five weeks, and nine weeks post-settlement, …

Element Contamination In Port Everglades – Preparing For Ecological Impacts, Laura White

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Port dredging is of economic importance worldwide but its impacts to the marine environment through the remobilization of elemental contaminants are not well understood. A massive deepening and widening of Port Everglades, Florida, will begin in 2023. Contaminated sediment disturbed during the dredging process could be released and prove to be harmful to three coral reef tracks located beginning 1.5 miles away from the port. This study focused on identifying and quantifying 14 different trace elements: arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), tin (Sn), …

Pelagic Habitat Use By Benthic Fishes – Juvenile Scorpaenoids Of The Oceanic Gulf Of Mexico, Drew W. Mertzlufft

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The suborder Scorpaenoidei is among the most speciose fish taxa of the World Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Most adult scorpionfishes are benthic and have a pelagic juvenile phase. Although the species descriptions and distributions of adult scorpionfishes within the GoM are well documented, their juvenile forms are largely undescribed. Due to the poorly resolved taxonomic status of juvenile scorpionfishes, their assemblage dynamics have not been accurately assessed. Specimens were collected from the GoM during seven research cruises (2010-2011), as part of the NOAA-supported Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis Program (ONSAP), and during six research cruises (2015-2018), as …

Variations In Otolith-Zinc Concentrations Of Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus Nigrofuscus) Between Marine Protected Areas And Fished Reefs, Matthew Austin Nichols

Theses and Dissertations

As human populations continue to increase, the growing reliance on exploited fish stocks has furthered patterns of declining body size and biomass worldwide. To mitigate these impacts, fisheries managers have implemented a variety of conservation strategies, including marine protected areas (MPA), as these serve as a refuge for fish, resulting in increases in numerous health metrics (fish density, biomass, body-size, and species diversity). By using fish otolith samples previously concluded to have physiological and morphometric differences between MPA and fished reef (FR) fish, this thesis explores the potential of using microchemical analysis of zinc (Zn) to reveal impacts MPAs might …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Ventless Trap Survey In Capturing Sublegal American Lobster Abundance In The Inshore Gulf Of Maine, Shiyue Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stock assessment of American lobster (Homarus americanus) plays an important role in managing the fishery in the Gulf of Maine (GOM). Various fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data are required in the stock assessment to estimate key fisheries parameters that define the population dynamics of American lobster. In the 2015 benchmark stock assessment, ventless trap survey (VTS) data were included for the first time to provide information about the sublegal lobster (carapace length < 83 mm) dynamics. However, the effectiveness of VTS data in monitoring sublegal lobsters has not been evaluated and we have little information on whether the VTS sampling design can capture sublegal lobster dynamics. The primary goal of this thesis research was to evaluate and determine whether the data collected from the Maine VTS provide robust estimation of design-based sublegal lobsters abundance index in the inshore GOM. To achieve this goal, I (1) estimated and evaluated variations in catch rates derived, respectively, from the first, second, and third ventless trap per site; 2) predicted sublegal lobster population at a high spatial resolution using generalized additive models (GAMs); (3) sampled the simulated sublegal lobster population following the sampling protocol used in the VTS program to derive a simulated VTS abundance index; and 4) compared the simulated VTS abundance index with the

predicted population abundance index in the simulated sublegal lobster population. The spatial scale of the study was defined by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) statistical areas in …

Evaluating The Foraging Ecology And Energetics Of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus Thynnus) In The Gulf Of Maine, Samantha Nadeau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, ABFT) have been a commercially and recreationally valuable species in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) since the early 1950s. Over the past few decades, abundance, spatial distribution, and physical condition of ABFT have shifted, possibly as a result of trophic changes including the composition, distribution, and/or condition of available prey. Historically, ABFT forage has most commonly consisted of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), squids (Cephalopoda), bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), and sand lance (Ammodytes spp.). The current stock assessment for Atlantic herring, the dominant prey item for ABFT, suggests a reduction in spawning stock …

Use Of The New England Aquarium To Evaluate Environmental Dna Metabarcoding Of Gulf Of Maine Vertebrates And Invertebrates, Samantha Silverbrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a tool that has been used to characterize biodiversity in a range of diverse systems. However, blind application of eDNA metabarcoding primer sets to new regions and species pools can result in poor taxon coverage and unaccounted detection biases. For the Maine-eDNA EPSCoR program, one of the main focuses is to understand and characterize community assemblages in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) using eDNA to further inform conservation, monitoring, and sustainability. In this study, I selected a subset of the best performing vertebrate and invertebrate metabarcoding assys to test against GoM species present in the …

Tracking Vibrio: Population Dynamics And Community Ecology In Alabama Estuaries, Blair H. Morrison

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

Integral parts of local culture along the Eastern Mississippi Sound System (EMSS)- eating raw oysters and fishing- can involve contact with vectors of pathogenic Vibrio spp. bacteria. High mortality rates from vibrio infections demonstrate the need for improved understanding of V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus dynamics in the region. This study assessed: 1) meteorological, 2) hydrographic, and 3) biological correlates of V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus in the EMSS from April-October 2019. Spearman’s correlations, linear mixed models, and non-metric dimensional scaling identified significant relationships between Vibrio spp., abiotic, and biotic parameters of the ecosystem. Vibrio spp. population dynamics were largely …

Phytoplankton Community Response To Upwelling Events: Distribution And Abundance Investigated Using Genomic Methods, Sveinn V. Einarsson

OES Theses and Dissertations

Upwelling events are known to support blooms of phytoplankton, important primary producers at the base of the oceanic food web. Phytoplankton community structure changes in response to upwelling support higher trophic level growth and increased efficiency of carbon export from the euphotic zone. While these events occur globally, this study examined upwelling in coastal regions, where alongshore winds can drive Ekman transport and upwelling of deeper waters. The two upwelling regimes examined were the California Current System and the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. In the California Current System, the relative diatom community composition was examined using 18S sequencing to determine how …

Resource Allocation And Phenotypic Plasticity Of Simultaneous Hermaphroditic Turtle Barnacles (Chelonibia Testudinaria), Kevin C. Cash

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This research addresses the knowledge gap of phenotypic plasticity in a commonly found and important species of epizoic barnacle, Chelonibia testudinaria. Limited research has been published regarding how phenotypic expression is mediated the spatial distribution of barnacles on a mobile host. To investigate this potential relationship, barnacles were collected from the backs of turtles along the beaches of Fort Lauderdale Florida. These barnacles were assessed for various phenotypic traits as well as their corresponding spatial distribution on the turtle carapace. Barnacles were safely removed from the carapace using a chisel before their preservation in ethanol. Barnacles were then numbered …

Ontogeny And Resource Use Of Invasive Lionfish, Pterois Volitans, In Shallow Water Habitats Surrounding Summerland Key, Emily Shallow

LSU Master's Theses

The invasive red lionfish, Pterois volitans, has been shown to considerably reduce reef biomass via predation and competition in non-native ranges. Primary maintenance of lionfish is through human removal (e.g., culling), which does not sufficiently control the population due to deep-water spawning, recolonization of recently culled reefs, and ontogenetic migrations to mesophotic waters. Here, I investigated the diets and primary energy pathways during ontogeny in lionfish from the Florida Keys using stomach contents and stable isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) analysis to better understand their role in the trophic food web. Additionally, isotopic overlap between lionfish …

Understanding Human Impacts On The Marine Environment In Fiji: Insights From An Odemm Conceptual Model And Semi-Structured Interviews, Alumita Talei Sekinairai

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of The Marine Protected Area Ecological Monitoring Framework In Kenya, Tracy Masicha Wafula

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Bottom Type And Water Column Stratification On Reef Fish Community Structure At Gray’S Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Bridget Campbell

Honors Theses

Understanding the physical and oceanographic differences across reef habitats can help researchers assess how those differences influence fish distribution and community structure, which leads to a better understanding of what a healthy reef system looks like. The traditional methods used to assess fish communities on temperate reefs are limited and often focus solely on either the reef structure or water column conditions alone. An assessment of both data sets yields a more complete understanding of the ecosystem as a whole. In this study, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) was surveyed both inside and outside a Marine Protected Area (MPA) …

Sensitivity Of Aquatic Organic Matter Degradation To Changing Temperature And Nutrient Conditions In A Coastal Watershed, Curtis John Szewczyk

Theses and Dissertations

The degradation of organic matter (OM) within inland waters plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle and quantifying carbon budgets. Here, measurements of dissolved oxygen (DO) decay rates were used to infer the extent and kinetics of OM degradation under variable conditions. The goal of the investigation was to quantify how OM samples within the Waccamaw River watershed, South Carolina, respond to changes in temperature and nutrient availability as a function of their source location and lability. Samples were collected from urbanized stormwater detention ponds and undeveloped upland forested wetland drainages to provide contrasting and distinct OM sources …

The Development And Application Of Targeted Edna Metabarcoding For Monitoring Freshwater And Marine Ais, Yueyang Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Species invasions are of critical concern due to their significant impacts on ecosystems and social economies, of which aquatic invasive species (AIS) often pose significant challenges in their control and management, notably because of difficulties in early detection. Environmental DNA (eDNA) provides a promising tool in advancing the detection of newly introduced aquatic organisms because of its high sensitivity and ease of use compared to traditional capture-based methods. Although eDNA-based methods are increasingly used worldwide, especially in aquatic ecosystems, most studies focus on a limited number of target species despite a pressing need for broad taxonomic monitoring for conservation and …

Characterizations Of Dissolved Organic Carbon At Hydrothermal Systems Of The Midcayman Rise, Aaron Mau

Theses and Dissertations

Marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a carbon reservoir comparable in size to all atmospheric CO2 and is composed primarily of refractory material which can be thousands of years old. Circulation through hydrothermal systems has been demonstrated to profoundly alter this material, but the mechanisms that lead to addition, removal, and alteration of DOC are poorly understood. Consequently, the contribution of hydrothermal systems to organic carbon cycling in the deep ocean – and the biological and geochemical processes exhibited at different venting environments – remain highly uncertain.

In January 2020, samples were collected from two hydrothermal vent fields at the …

Spatial And Temporal Variability In Carbon And Nutrient Concentrations Within The North Inlet Estuary,Sc, Heather Kish

Theses and Dissertations

Coastal wetlands provide numerous ecosystem services, including the ability to sequester and store significant amounts of organic carbon (so-called “blue carbon”). Variability in carbon storage within marshes represents a major information gap in understanding and quantifying the role saltmarshes play in the global carbon cycle. This study quantified decadal and small-scale variability in carbon and nutrient concentrations across tidal inundation gradients in the relatively pristine North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina. Sampling took place within two segments of the marsh platform of Crab Haul Creek, the landward-most basin within North Inlet. In the summer of 2020, a total of 200 sediment …

Blue Carbon In South Florida's Mangroves: The Role Of Large Roots And Necromass, Zoë I. Shribman

LSU Master's Theses

Blue carbon sequestration and storage in mangroves largely result from belowground biomass allocation in response to flooded anaerobic soil conditions and nutrient availability. Biomass allocation to belowground roots is a major driver of mangrove soil formation and organic matter accumulation leading to blue carbon storage potential. Belowground biomass sampling in mangroves is labor intensive, limiting data availability on biomass stocks, particularly for large roots (>20 mm diameter) and necromass (dead roots). The mangrove nutrient model (NUMAN) uses mostly literature values to parameterize a soil cohort approach to simulate depth distribution of root mass and organic carbon concentration. We evaluated …

Connecting Communities To Coastal Resilience: Enhancing Sustainability Through Public Participation In Salt Marsh Management And Restoration In Suffolk County, Ny, Jennifer L. Mcgivern

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coastal resiliency is becoming significantly more critical to the livelihood of coastal communities as the frequency and intensity of storm events increases and is exacerbated by rising sea levels due to climate change. In October 2012 Superstorm Sandy impacted the New York-New Jersey area costing over $70 billion in storm damages and 147 lives lost, as storm surges surpassed record highs for the region. Protruding more than 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean with over 1,000 miles of shoreline, Long Island is particularly vulnerable to the increasingly ferocious and numerous storms as well as the rising sea levels that climate …

A Systematic Review Of Parasites Found Within Selected Teleost Fishes Of The South Florida Hermatypic Coral Reef Tract, Blake A. Roberts

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This report is a synthetic survey of published accounts of 43 reef-associated fish species and their parasites from the east coast of North America, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and regions adjacent to the south Florida reef tract. To date, no comprehensive host-parasite list is available for this region, although comparable reviews from other regions have played a vital role in the fields of parasitology and fish ecology, providing valuable guidance on sampling locations, available host fishes inhabiting the region, and inventories of parasites likely to be found infecting these host species. This systematic review of teleost host fish …

Insights Into Halophilic Microbial Adaptation: Analysis Of Integrons And Associated Genomic Structures And Characterization Of A Nitrilase In Hypersaline Environments, Sarah Sonbol

Theses and Dissertations

Hypersaline environments are extreme habitats that can be exploited as biotechnological resources. Here, we characterized a nitrilase (NitraS-ATII) isolated from Atlantis II Deep brine pool. It showed higher thermal stability and heavy metal tolerance compared to a closely related nitrilase.

We also studied integrons in halophiles and hypersaline environments. Integrons are genetic platforms in which an integron integrase (IntI) mediates the excision and integration of gene cassettes at specific recombination sites. In order to search for integrons in halophiles and hypersaline metagenomes, we used a PCR-based approach, in addition to different bioinformatics tools, mainly IntegronFinder.

We found that integrons and …

Environmental Impacts On The Reproduction Of Three Cold-Water Corals, With Implications For Their Vulnerability To Ocean Warming And Climate Change, Julia Johnstone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cold-water corals are important habitat builders in the deep ocean worldwide. Despite being known for centuries, recent technological advances and deep-sea exploration has revealed cold-water corals thriving at depths of up to 6000m. Similar to their warm-water relatives, cold-water corals are hotspots of diversity, with their structures creating habitat for thousands of associated species. Some cold-water corals create bioherms that stretch for tens of kilometers, while others come together to form vast undersea forests. These habitats are often home to commercially important fisheries species, and conservation efforts have recently begun to regulate fishing in cold-water coral ecosystems to protect them …

The Age And Growth Of The Yellow Stingray (Urobatis Jamaicensis) In Southeast Florida, Jessica Schieber

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The yellow stingray, Urobatis jamaicensis (Cuvier 1816), is a coastal species that has limited known life-history information, especially regarding their age and growth patterns. Age estimates were assigned by counting band-pairs deposited on the vertebral centrum of stingrays caught between 2003 and 2019 (n = 195). Marginal increment analysis of different size classes was used to validate age estimates, with the largest class having verified annual band deposition (ANOVA, F(9,7), P = 0.029). Age estimates ranged between females, and rates, but females attained larger sizes with the largest observed DW being 241-mm and 216-mm for females and males, respectively. …

Genetic Population Dynamics Of The Critically Endangered Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna Lewini) In The Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, Sydney P. Harned

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, is a Critically Endangered, migratory species known for its tendency to form large aggregations of mostly adult females, especially in the heavily-fished Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) Ocean. This species forms iconic, visually spectacular, seasonal aggregations in the northern Galápagos Islands, and it is hypothesized based on telemetry studies that pregnant females from these aggregations migrate to mainland coastal nurseries for parturition. This study investigated the population genetic dynamics of the scalloped hammerhead across most of its coastal and offshore distribution (Mexico to Ecuador) in the ETP, focusing on young-of-the-year animals sampled from nursery …

The Distribution, Composition, And Management Of Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (Dfads) In The North Atlantic Ocean, Erin E. Kimak

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs) are a gear accessory utilized on a global scale by commercial fishers to increase catch size and efficiency of target pelagic fishes such as tuna and dolphinfish. Despite their widespread use, there are few scientific estimates of the total number of abandoned or beached dFADs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Basin or the compliance of dFAD use with t-RFMO recommendations. Previous studies have utilized the modeled drift trajectories of dFADs to predict beaching probability and location, but this study is the first of its kind, analyzing true beaching events. This study identifies the beaching …