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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Nestedness And Modularity Of Avian Metacommunities Across Gradients Of Chesapeake Bay Island Characteristics, Grant Walter Bowers
Nestedness And Modularity Of Avian Metacommunities Across Gradients Of Chesapeake Bay Island Characteristics, Grant Walter Bowers
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Islands are not only great models for understanding the ways in which communities are linked by the dispersal of their members to form metacommunities, but are of particular interest to conservationists. One important aspect of metacommunity structure is the degree of nestedness—whether or not less speciose communities are perfect subsets of more speciose communities. Another important metric of metacommunity structure is modularity—the degree to which communities belong to modules composed of other communities that share the same species but have little species overlap with communities from different modules. Environmental gradients have received insufficient attention as predictors of metacommunity nestedness and …
Determination Of The Ecological Condition Of Benthic Communities Affected By Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In The Elizabeth River, Chesapeake Bay, Usa, Adam M. Webb
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
The Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, has historically been polluted with hydrocarbon based industrial by-products. My study compared benthic community condition from two locations in the Southern Branch: the subtidal region near Money Point, historically affected by pollution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), to a subtidal region near Blows Creek on the opposite shore that is putatively designated as unimpacted by P AH contamination. Samples from both study sites in the Southern Branch were compared to the benthic community condition of samples from the same habitat type designations collected as part of the Chesapeake …
Benthic And Planktonic Microalgal Community Structure And Primary Productivity In Lower Chesapeake Bay, Matthew Reginald Semcheski
Benthic And Planktonic Microalgal Community Structure And Primary Productivity In Lower Chesapeake Bay, Matthew Reginald Semcheski
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Microalgal populations are trophically important to a variety of micro- and macroheterotrophs in marine and estuarine systems. In Chesapeake Bay, microalgae facilitate the survival and development of ecologically and economically relevant fauna, including shellfish and finfish populations. While regarded as significant components of coastal environments, microphytobenthic communities are historically understudied. In Chesapeake Bay, the importance of phytoplankton to the ecosystem is understood, but the contribution of microphytobenthos remains unclear. This project surveys intertidal microphytobenthic communities, in relation to phytoplankton communities, around lower Chesapeake Bay describing the taxonomic makeup of these populations, coupled with quantification of cell abundance, biomass, and primary …
Investigations Of Phytoplankton Diversity In Chesapeake Bay, Todd Arthur Egerton
Investigations Of Phytoplankton Diversity In Chesapeake Bay, Todd Arthur Egerton
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Characterizing the diversity of a community in relation to environmental conditions and ecosystem functions are core concepts in ecology. While decades of research have led to a growing comprehension of diversity in many ecosystems, our understanding in aquatic habitats and microbial organisms remains relatively limited. Phytoplankton represent a diverse and important group that contribute approximately half of global primary productivity and are intrinsically connected to changing environmental conditions, especially in systems as dynamic as estuaries. To better understand the ecological processes governing phytoplankton composition and diversity, spatial and temporal patterns of environmental parameters and their relation to the algal community …
Zooplankton Community Dynamics In The Elizabeth River, Virginia, William C. Sharp
Zooplankton Community Dynamics In The Elizabeth River, Virginia, William C. Sharp
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Zooplankton community structure and dynamics were studied over a 12 month period in the Elizabeth River, an industrially polluted tidal river in the Chesapeake Bay estuarine system. An additional site in this estuary (Hampton Roads) was sampled for comparative purposes. Multivariate analysis indicated five distinct temporal groups occurred during the year, but there were no significant differences in spatial composition within the river. Maximum zooplankton concentrations were observed in July and lowest abundances were observed in February, March, and November. Copepods, especially Acartia species, were the most abundant components of the zooplankton community, comprising 67 to 93% of the total …