Oceanography Commons^™

Absorption Efficiencies And Biochemical Fractionation Of Assimilated Compounds In The Cold Water Appendicularian Oikopleura Vanhoeffeni, Alexander B. Bochdansky, Don Deibel, Richard B. Rivkin

OES Faculty Publications

Using Ge-68:C-14 dual-labeling, we investigated the absorption efficiency of diatom carbon for the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni. The absorption efficiency of bulk carbon (mean = 67%) was not influenced by body size or ingestion rate. For the first time for a pelagic tunicate, food and feces were fractionated into their major biochemical constituents (i.e., low-molecular-weight compounds, lipid, protein, and polysaccharide), allowing calculation of absorption efficiencies for each fraction. Low-molecular-weight compounds and proteins were preferentially absorbed over lipids and polysaccharides. However, predicted C:N ratios of the fecal pellets of O. vanhoeffeni were in the lower range of C:N ratios …

Accurate Classification Of Juvenile Weakfish Cynoscion Regalis To Estuarine Nursery Areas Based On Chemical Signatures In Otoliths, Simon R. Thorrold, Cynthia M. Jones, Peter K. Swart, Timothy E. Targett

OES Faculty Publications

We investigated the ability of trace element and isotopic signatures in otoliths to record the nursery areas of juvenile (young-of-the-year) weakfish Cynoscion regalis from the east coast of the USA. Juvenile C. regalis were captured with otter trawls at multiple sites in Doboy Sound (Georgia), Pamlico Sound (North Carolina), Chesapeake Bay (Virginia), Delaware Bay (Delaware) and Peconic Bay (New York), from July to September 1996. One sagittal otolith from each specimen was assayed for Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca, Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), while delta 13 C and delta 18 O values from the other sagittal …

Fall 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Summer 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Spring 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Modeling Environmental Effects On Msx Prevalence And Intensity In Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Populations, Michelle Christine Paraso

OES Theses and Dissertations

An oyster population model coupled with a model for Haplosporidium nelsoni, the causative agent of the oyster disease MSX, was used with salinity time-series constructed from Delaware River flow measurements to study environmentally-induced variations in the annual cycle of this disease. Simulations with this model were designed to investigate the effect of increased or decreased spring freshwater discharge, the timing of high freshwater runoff, the presence or absence of a fall or late spring phytoplankton bloom, and the occurrence of a warm winter on MSX prevalence and intensity in Delaware Bay oyster populations. Model simulations for the lower Bay site …

Understanding The Success And Failure Of Oyster Populations: The Importance Of Sampled Variables And Sample Timing, Thomas M. Soniat, Eric N. Powell, Eileen E. Hofmann, John M. Klinck

CCPO Publications

One of the primary obstacles to understanding why some oyster populations are successful and others are not is the complex interaction of environmental variables with oyster physiology and with such population variables as the rates of recruitment and juvenile mortality. A numerical model is useful in investigating how population structure originates out of this complexity. We have monitored a suite of environmental conditions over an environmental gradient to document the importance of short time-scale variations in such variables as food supply, turbidity, and salinity. Then, using a coupled oyster disease population dynamics model, we examine the need for short rime-scale …

The Effects Of Increased Inundation And Wrack Deposition On Photosynthesis And Respiration In A Virginia Salt Marsh, W. David Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Oyster Reef Broodstock Enhancement In The Great Wicomico River, Virginia, Melissa Southworth

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Iron In Ice Cores From Law Dome, East Antarctica: Implications For Past Deposition Of Aerosol Iron, R. Edwards, Peter N. Sedwick, Vin Morgan, C. F. Boutron, S. Hong

OES Faculty Publications

Total-dissolvable iron has been measured in sections of three ice cores from Law Dome, East Antarctica, and the results used to calculate atmospheric iron deposition over this region during the late Holocene and to provide a preliminary est. of aerosol iron deposition during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Ice-core sections dating from 56-2730 BP (late Holocene) and ∼18 000 BP (LGM) were decontaminated using trace-metal clean techniques, and total-dissolvable iron was determined in the acidified meltwaters by flow-injection analysis. Our results suggest that the atmospheric iron flux onto the Law Dome region has varied significantly over time-scales ranging from seasonal …

The Biogeochemical Cycling Of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen In Estuarine Sediments, David J. Burdige, Shilong Zheng

OES Faculty Publications

Benthic fluxes and pore-water profiles of dissolved organic nitrogen and carbon (DON and DOC, respectively) were determined in seasonal studies at contrasting sites in Chesapeake Bay. Pore-water dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentrations were elevated over bottom-water values, generally increased with depth, and ranged from 15 to similar to 160 μM for DON and ~200-2000 μM for DOC. Pore-water DOM concentrations and the C:N ratio of this material showed spatial (depth) and temporal changes that varied among the sites studied. These trends appeared to be related to differences in the types of sediment organic matter (SOM) undergoing remineralization, as well as …

Trace Element Signatures In Otoliths Record Natal River Of Juvenile American Shad (Alosa Sapidissima), Simon R. Thorrold, Cynthia M. Jones, Steven E. Campana, James W. Mclaren, Joseph W. H. Lam

OES Faculty Publications

The elemental composition of fish otoliths may represent a permanent record of the environmental conditions an individual has experienced as trace elements, incorporated into the growing surface of the otolith, reflect the physical and chemical characteristics of the ambient water. We tested the utility of trace element signatures in otoliths as natural tags of the river of origin of juvenile American shad (Alosa sapidissima) collected from the Connecticut, Hudson and Delaware Rivers in August and October 1994. Four elements (K, Mn, Sr, and Ba) showed significant variability among sites within rivers in August, although only Mg showed a …

Age, Growth, And Mortality Of Black Drum, Pogonias Cromis, In The Chesapeake Bay Region, Cynthia M. Jones, Brian Wells

OES Faculty Publications

We used otolith ageing to describe the population dynamics of black drum, Pogonias cromis, collected over a three-year period from the Chesapeake Bay region's commercial and recreational fisheries. Black drum average age, total length, and weight were 26 years, 109.5 cm, and 22.1 kg respectively. The oldest fish was 59 years and fish older than 50 years were present in the catch from 1990 to 1992. Growth in length slowed by age 20, whereas growth in weight did not slow until age 45. A von Bertalanffy growth function was fitted to our data (L(infinity) = 117.3 cm, …

Tagging And Habitat Utilization Of Juvenile Summer Flounder, Paralichthys Dentatus, Richard Thomas Kraus

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Parasite Fauna Of The Wreckfish, Polyprion Americanus, In The North Atlantic Ocean: Application To Host Biology And Stock Identification, Colleen Jill Fennessy

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Tidal Freshwater And Oligohaline Benthos: Evaluating The Development Of A Benthic Index Of Biological Integrity For Chesapeake Bay, Robyn C. Draheim

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Comparative Evolution Of Molecular Markers: An Analysis Of Genetic Variation Within The Blue Marlin (Makaira Nigricans), Vincent Patrick Buonaccorsi

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Blue marlin diversity was assessed at mtDNA, scnDNA, microsatellite DNA, and allozyme molecular markers. Hierarchical analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that most genetic variation was maintained within populations, with a non-significant fraction attributable to variation among temporal replicates and between locations within oceans. In contrast, inter-ocean divergence was highly significant for a majority of loci within each marker class. Previous studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA; n = 104) genetic variation within the blue marlin revealed two distinct clades of haplotypes, one of which was present only in the Atlantic (the 'Atlantic clade'), at a frequency of 40% &(F\sb{lcub}st{rcub}& = …

Caribbean Spiny Lobster And Their Molluscan Prey: Are Top-Down Forces Key In Structuring Prey Assemblages In A Florida Bay Seagrass System, Martha Nizinski

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Relative importance of predator-prey dynamics and several environmental variables in structuring gastropod and bivalve diversity and distribution was investigated in the subtropical seagrass and macroalgal community of Florida Bay, a highly productive system and primary nursery and foraging ground for finfish and invertebrate predators, including the numerically dominant Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus. The molluscan assemblage, a primary food source for P. argus in particular, is speciose (75 gastropod and 25 bivalve species) and a significant component of epifaunal and infaunal invertebrate assemblages within Florida Bay. Two experimental areas, located within separate basins and each comprised of two experimental sites, …

Biogeography Of Amphi-Atlantic And Amphi-American Fishes: The Scomberomorus Regalis (Scombridae), Strongylura Marina (Belonidae) And Hyporhamphus Unifasciatus (Hemiramphidae) Species Groups, Heidi M. Banford

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Phylogenetic and historical biogeographic hypotheses were explored for three groups of teleost fishes that are hypothesized to share a common biogeographic track. Distributed across the eastern Pacific/eastern Atlantic (EP/EA) biogeographic track of Rosen (1975) are the Scomberomorus regalis (Scombridae), Strongylura marina (Belonidae) and Hyporhamphus unifasciatus (Hemiramphidae) species groups comprised of one eastern Atlantic; three, three and four western Atlantic; and two, two and four eastern Pacific species, respectively, for each group. In addition, two species in the Strongylura marina and Hyporhamphus unifasciatus groups, have invaded freshwater drainages of Central and South America. Each of the three species groups were found …

Non-Volatile Dissolved Organic Iodine In Marine Water, Xianhao Cheng

OES Theses and Dissertations

An analytical scheme for the determination of marine DOI has been established. The concentration of DOI is estimated as total iodine (TI) minus total inorganic iodine (TII). The concentration of total iodine is determined as [special characters omitted] after DOI has been oxidized to inorganic iodine quantitatively by intensive UV-irradiation and all the inorganic iodine in the samples had been converted to [special characters omitted] by the addition of NaClO.

Production of DOI in seawater can be via both non-phytoplankton and phytoplankton related processes. In the former, iodide is converted to DOI. In the latter, most likely, iodate is converted …