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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Phytoplankton Blooms: Their Occurrence And Composition Within Virginia's Tidal Tributaries, Harold G. Marshall, Todd A. Egerton Oct 2009

Phytoplankton Blooms: Their Occurrence And Composition Within Virginia's Tidal Tributaries, Harold G. Marshall, Todd A. Egerton

Virginia Journal of Science

Sporadic algal bloom development within a 10 year monitoring program in Virginia tidal tributaries of Chesapeake Bay is reviewed. These blooms were common events, characteristically producing a color signature to the surface water, typically short lived, occurring mainly from spring into autumn throughout different salinity regions of these rivers, and were produced primarily by dinoflagellates. The abundance threshold levels that would identify bloom status from a non-bloom presence were species specific, varied with the taxon's cell size, and ranged from ca. 10 to 104 cells mL-1. Among the most consistent sporadic bloom producers were the dinoflagellates Akashiwo …


First Records Of Hypleurochilus Geminatus And Centropristis Philadelphica From Chesapeake Bay, Aimee D. Halvorson Oct 2009

First Records Of Hypleurochilus Geminatus And Centropristis Philadelphica From Chesapeake Bay, Aimee D. Halvorson

Virginia Journal of Science

During the fall of 2007, Centropris philadelphica (rock seabass) and Hypleurochilus geminatus (Crested blenny) were collected from Chesapeake Bay. These captures are significant as they represent the first substantiated record of C. philadelphica from Chesapeake Bay and only the second and third validated records of H. geminatus. Additionally, the first record of H. geminatus from Chesapeake Bay was only recently recognized since the specimen had been previously misidentified as Parablennius marmoreus (seaweed blenny). The collection of seven individuals of H. geminatus in 2007, from two locations, indicates that the species may be resident within the Chesapeake Bay estuary.


Factors Affecting Adult Foraging And Chick Growth Of Adélie Penguins (Pygoscelis Adeliae) Off The Western Antarctic Peninsula: A Modeling Study, Erik W. Chapman Apr 2009

Factors Affecting Adult Foraging And Chick Growth Of Adélie Penguins (Pygoscelis Adeliae) Off The Western Antarctic Peninsula: A Modeling Study, Erik W. Chapman

OES Theses and Dissertations

Coupled individual-based models that simulate Adélie penguin ( Pygoscelis adeliae) chick growth and adult foraging behavior during the chick growth period were developed and used to explore factors that influence chick fledging mass and adult foraging energetics off the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Adélie penguin colonies in this region are undergoing changes in population size that have been correlated with climate-driven alteration of the marine and terrestrial environment. Simulations were selected to highlight possible mechanistic linkages between climate variability and chick growth and adult foraging processes. These processes were the focus of this study because chicks that fledge at …


Management And Social Indicators Of Soil Carbon Storage In A Residential Ecosystem, Midlothian, Va, Christopher M. Gough, Eliza A. Fritz Jan 2009

Management And Social Indicators Of Soil Carbon Storage In A Residential Ecosystem, Midlothian, Va, Christopher M. Gough, Eliza A. Fritz

Virginia Journal of Science

Soil carbon storage- defined here as carbon mass per unit ground area- is an important ecosystem service, sequestering carbon that might otherwise exist in atmospheric CO2 . Significant attention has focused on the effects that humans have on carbon cycling, but little is known about how human behaviors and attitudes relate to lawn carbon storage. The objectives of this study were to conduct household surveys in concert with soil carbon sampling in a 10-year-old exurban neighborhood near Richmond, Virginia to quantify differences in soil carbon storage between residential lawns and mixed pine-hardwood forest fragments, and to determine how lawn …


Synergistic Effects Of Iron And Temperature On Antarctic Phytoplankton And Microzooplankton Assemblages, J. M. Rose, Y. Feng, G. R. Ditullio, R. B. Dunbar, C. E. Hare, P. A. Lee, M. Lohan, M. Long, W. O. Smith Jr., B. Sohst, S. Tozzi, Y. Zhang, D. A. Hutchins Jan 2009

Synergistic Effects Of Iron And Temperature On Antarctic Phytoplankton And Microzooplankton Assemblages, J. M. Rose, Y. Feng, G. R. Ditullio, R. B. Dunbar, C. E. Hare, P. A. Lee, M. Lohan, M. Long, W. O. Smith Jr., B. Sohst, S. Tozzi, Y. Zhang, D. A. Hutchins

OES Faculty Publications

Iron availability and temperature are important limiting factors for the biota in many areas of the world ocean, and both have been predicted to change in future climate scenarios. However, the impacts of combined changes in these two key factors on microbial trophic dynamics and nutrient cycling are unknown. We examined the relative effects of iron addition (+1 nM) and increased temperature (+4° C) on plankton assemblages of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a region characterized by annual algal blooms and an active microbial community. Increased iron and temperature individually had consistently significant but relatively minor positive effects on total phytoplankton …


Geobiology: Evidence For Early Life On Earth And The Search For Life On Other Planets, Sherry L. Cady, Nora Noffke Jan 2009

Geobiology: Evidence For Early Life On Earth And The Search For Life On Other Planets, Sherry L. Cady, Nora Noffke

OES Faculty Publications

Extensive research efforts in the subdisciplinary field of geobiology have focused on the interactions between Earth and life through time. As a consequence, gaps in our knowledge of Earth’s history are closing, and the search for life beyond Earth is expanding. A few examples of geobiology studies designed to advance our understanding of life on early Earth and to improve the chances of finding life on other planets are provided to highlight recent developments and research areas that are on the verge of new discoveries.


Potential Export Of Unattached Benthic Macroalgae To The Deep Sea Through Wind Driven Langmuir Circulation, H. M. Dierssen, Richard C. Zimmerman, Lisa A. Drake, David J. Burdige Jan 2009

Potential Export Of Unattached Benthic Macroalgae To The Deep Sea Through Wind Driven Langmuir Circulation, H. M. Dierssen, Richard C. Zimmerman, Lisa A. Drake, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Carbon export to the deep sea is conventionally attributed to the sinking of open ocean phytoplankton. Here, we report a Langmuir supercell event driven by high winds across the shallow Great Bahama Bank that organized benthic non-attached macroalgae, Colpomenia sp., into visible windrows on the seafloor. Ocean color satellite imagery obtained before and after the windrows revealed a 588 km2 patch that rapidly shifted from highly productive macroalgae to bare sand. We assess a number of possible fates for this macroalgae and contend that this event potentially transported negatively buoyant macroalgae to the deep Tongue of the Ocean …


The Epidemiological Status Of Pav1, And The Effects Of Infection On Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Condition, Olfaction, And Predation Risk, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, Jeffrey D. Shields Jan 2009

The Epidemiological Status Of Pav1, And The Effects Of Infection On Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) Condition, Olfaction, And Predation Risk, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, Jeffrey D. Shields

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.