The Biological Stress Response In Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus) To Variations In Environmental Temperature And Dissolved Oxygen Content., 2017 Georgia Southern University
The Biological Stress Response In Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus) To Variations In Environmental Temperature And Dissolved Oxygen Content., Monique Kellman
Honors College Theses
With the predicted increase in global water temperature and acute hypoxic episodes, knowledge of the effects these stressors can have on local aquatic life is extremely valuable. This study thereby quantified the change in metabolic rate in Bluegill sunfish, in response to increased temperature and low dissolved oxygen concentration, by utilizing intermittent flow respirometry. Both maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) were determined in response to variations in dissolved oxygen content, specifically > 95% O2 and 40% O2. Additionally, three temperature treatment groups were established, with temperatures of 20, 25 and 30°C in order to …
Impact Of The Capillary Pressure-Saturation Pore-Size Distribution Parameter On Geological Carbon Sequestration Estimates, 2017 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Impact Of The Capillary Pressure-Saturation Pore-Size Distribution Parameter On Geological Carbon Sequestration Estimates, Chu-Lin Cheng, Edmund Perfect, T. Edward Yu, Michael J. Gragg
School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Cost estimates for geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) are vital for policy and decision makers evaluating carbon capture and storage strategies. Numerical models are often used in feasibility studies for the different stages of carbon injection and redistribution. Knowledge of the capillary pressure-saturation function for a selected storage rock unit is essential in applications used for simulating multiphase fluid flow and transport. However, the parameters describing these functions (e.g. the van Genuchten m pore size distribution parameter) are often not measured or neglected compared to other physical properties such as porosity and intrinsic permeability. In addition, the use of average …
Mesozooplankton Graze On Cyanobacteria In The Amazon River Plume And Western Tropical North Atlantic, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Mesozooplankton Graze On Cyanobacteria In The Amazon River Plume And Western Tropical North Atlantic, Bj Conroy, Deborah K. Steinberg, Bk Song, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Diazotrophic cyanobacteria, those capable of fixing di-nitrogen (N2), are considered one of the major sources of new nitrogen (N) in the oligotrophic tropical ocean, but direct incorporation of diazotrophic N into food webs has not been fully examined. In the Amazon River-influenced western tropical North Atlantic (WTNA), diatom diazotroph associations (DDAs) and the filamentous colonial diazotrophs Trichodesmium have seasonally high abundances. We sampled epipelagic mesozooplankton in the Amazon River plume and WTNA in May-June 2010 to investigate direct grazing by mesozooplankton on two DDA populations: Richelia associated with Rhizosolenia diatoms (het-1) and Hemiaulus diatoms (het-2), and on Trichodesmium using highly …
Assessing The Impact Of Local And Regional Influences On Nitrogen Loads To Buzzards Bay, Ma, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Assessing The Impact Of Local And Regional Influences On Nitrogen Loads To Buzzards Bay, Ma, Shanna C. Williamson, Jennie E. Rheuban, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Nitrogen and chlorophyll-a concentrations in estuarine systems often correlate positively with increased nitrogen input. To determine the interactions between nitrogen load, physical drivers, and water quality indicators, we estimated nitrogen inputs to 28 estuaries within the Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts (USA) watershed from 1985 to 2013. Estimates were derived by combining parcel specific wastewater disposal, point source wastewater discharge, land use, and atmospheric nitrogen deposition data with a previously verified nitrogen loading model. Linear regression analysis was used to quantify temporal trends in individual data sets and characterize relationships between variables. The land-use data indicated that fractional coverage of impervious surfaces …
Dredging Land Reclamation Causing Mucus Development In Massive Spherical Corals In The Spratly Islands, South China Sea: The Effects On China’S Fishing Industry, 2017 Virginia Commonwealth University
Dredging Land Reclamation Causing Mucus Development In Massive Spherical Corals In The Spratly Islands, South China Sea: The Effects On China’S Fishing Industry, Tiffany K. Ho
Undergraduate Research Posters
Images from Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative depicted huge masses of white coral mucus secreted from coral reefs in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, an area where several land reclamation projects are occurring. The purpose of this research was to understand how increased sedimentation levels from the dredging land reclamation method affects mucus development in massive corals, such as Acropora, located in these reefs. Journal articles that focused on the biology of coral mucus, bacterial communities associated with coral tissue, mucus, and seawater, coral mortality from different environment impacts, coral coverage of reefs in Spratly Islands, and symbiotic …
Investigating The Effects Of Changes In Light Quality On Different Life History Stages Of Seagrasses, 2017 Edith Cowan University
Investigating The Effects Of Changes In Light Quality On Different Life History Stages Of Seagrasses, Simone Strydom
Theses: Doctorates and Masters
Seagrass meadows provide crucial ecosystem services to the coastal zone but globally are threatened. Seagrass loss to date has mainly been attributed to anthropogenic activities that reduce light quantity, such as dredging, declining water quality from urban and agricultural run-off and eutrophication. However, light quality (wavelengths of light) is also altered by these anthropogenic stressors as well as natural events. This study consisted of three main components: (1) characterising light quality to which seagrasses are exposed across a local natural estuarine-ocean gradient and with a human impact pressure; (2) the influence of monochromatic light quality (blue λ=451 nm; green λ=522 …
Residence Time In Coastal Canopies, 2017 Edith Cowan University
Residence Time In Coastal Canopies, Maryam Abdolahpour
Theses: Doctorates and Masters
Aquatic canopies provide important ecosystem services such as improved water quality, oxygen flux, sediment stabilisation and trapping and recycling of nutrients. The ecological health of coastal canopies and the significant ecosystem services they provide depends largely on the continuous exchange of dissolved and particulate materials across the canopy boundaries. In coastal environments, where flow is typically wavedominated, vertical mixing is believed to be the dominant process controlling residence time and, therefore, exchange. However, experiments have shown that wave-driven flows over rough boundaries, such as canopies, generate strong onshore mean currents (75% of the orbital velocity far above the canopy) near …
Response And Recovery Of A Mixed Tropical Seagrass Assemblage To Variation In The Frequency And Magnitude Of Light Deprivation. Report Of Theme 5 - Project 5.5.3 Prepared For The Dredging Science Node, 2017 Edith Cowan University
Response And Recovery Of A Mixed Tropical Seagrass Assemblage To Variation In The Frequency And Magnitude Of Light Deprivation. Report Of Theme 5 - Project 5.5.3 Prepared For The Dredging Science Node, John Statton, Kathryn Mcmahon, Rosin Mccallum, Gary Kendrick, Paul Lavery
Research outputs 2014 to 2021
The capacity of seagrasses to cope with episodes of light deprivation from overlying turbid waters may not only depend on the absolute quantity of light they receive during that episode, but also on how the light deprivation varies through time. For example, turbidity and therefore light reduction may be relatively constant over the episode or it may fluctuate depending on the frequency of pulsed turbidity events.
This report presents findings from a controlled mesocosm experiment that aimed to determine the responses of seagrasses to, and recovery from, differences in the pattern of the delivery of light. The study focussed on …
Direct And Indirect Impacts Of Shoreline Development On Shallow-Water Benthic Communities In A Depauperate Estuarine System, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Direct And Indirect Impacts Of Shoreline Development On Shallow-Water Benthic Communities In A Depauperate Estuarine System, Cassie D. Lovall, Rochelle D. Seitz, Kathleen E. Knick
VIMS Articles
Modification of natural coastlines is prevalent as human coastal populations swell and effects of global climate change become clearer. We investigated effects of shoreline hardening and environmental factors on benthic infauna and trophic structure in the Patuxent River, Maryland, a stressed mesohaline Chesapeake Bay tributary. We characterized differences in density, diversity, biomass, and trophic structure for large (>3 mm) and small (>500 μm) infauna adjacent to natural marsh, riprap, and bulkhead (i.e., seawall) shores throughout the river. Akaike information criterion model comparisons were used to assess the evidence for differences in benthic infaunal structure using primary (shoreline type) …
Valuing Ecosystem Services: Oysters, Denitrification, And Nutrient Trading Programs, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Valuing Ecosystem Services: Oysters, Denitrification, And Nutrient Trading Programs, Gs Depiper, Dw Lipton, Rn Lipcius
VIMS Articles
As part of their strategy to meet total maximum daily load restrictions in the Chesapeake Bay, managers have developed nutrient trading markets to curb nitrogen and phosphorus flows into the estuarine system. Historically, nutrient trading programs have been restricted to credits between point sources or for agricultural mitigation technologies, such as the planting of cover crops. However, the denitrification and nutrient sequestration associated with oyster reefs has recently been a topic of much biological research. We investigate the role that nutrient credits for ecosystem services provided by restored oyster reefs can play in optimally managing oyster reef complexes by developing …
A Synergistic Approach For Evaluating Climate Model Output For Ecological Applications, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
A Synergistic Approach For Evaluating Climate Model Output For Ecological Applications, Rochelle Cavanaugh, Ej Murphy, Et Al, Walker O. Smith Jr., Et Al
VIMS Articles
Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems is prompting ecologists and ecosystem managers to seek reliable projections of physical drivers of change. The use of global climate models in ecology is growing, although drawing ecologically meaningful conclusions can be problematic. The expertise required to access and interpret output from climate and earth system models is hampering progress in utilizing them most effectively to determine the wider implications of climate change. To address this issue, we present a joint approach between climate scientists and ecologists that explores key challenges and opportunities for progress. As an exemplar, our focus …
Interactive Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Co2 On Nitrate, Urea, And Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Uptake By A Coastal California, Usa, Microbial Community, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Interactive Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Co2 On Nitrate, Urea, And Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Uptake By A Coastal California, Usa, Microbial Community, Jl Spackeen, Rachel E. Sipler, K Xu, Et Al, Da Bronk
VIMS Articles
Average global temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are expected to increase in the coming decades. Implications for ocean ecosystems include shifts in microbial community structure and subsequent modifications to nutrient pathways. Studying how predicted future temperature and CO2 conditions will impact the biogeochemistry of the ocean is important because of the ocean’s role in regulating global climate. We determined how elevated temperature and CO2 affect uptake rates of nitrate, urea, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) by 2 size classes (0.7-5.0 and >5.0 µm) of a microbial assemblage collected from coastal California, USA. This microbial community was incubated for 10 …
Differential Effects Of Bivalves On Sediment Nitrogen Cycling In A Shallow Coastal Bay, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Differential Effects Of Bivalves On Sediment Nitrogen Cycling In A Shallow Coastal Bay, Ashley Smyth, Anna E. Murphy, Iris C. Anderson, Bk Song
VIMS Articles
In coastal ecosystems, suspension-feeding bivalves can remove nitrogen though uptake and assimilation or enhanced denitrification. Bivalves may also retain nitrogen through increased mineralization and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). This study investigated the effects of oyster reefs and clam aquaculture on denitrification, DNRA, and nutrient fluxes (NOx, NH4 6 +, O2). Core incubations were conducted seasonally on sediments adjacent to restored oyster reefs (Crassostrea virginica), clam aquaculture beds (Mercenaria mercenaria) which contained live clams, and bare sediments from Smith Island Bay, Virginia, USA. Denitrification was significantly higher at oyster reef sediments and clam aquaculture site than bare sediment in …
Forensic Reconstruction Of Ictalurus Punctatus Invasion Routes Using On-Line Fishermen Records, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Forensic Reconstruction Of Ictalurus Punctatus Invasion Routes Using On-Line Fishermen Records, Filipe Banha, Ana Verissimo, Filipe Ribeiro, Anastacio Filipe
VIMS Articles
In this work, the presence of the channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus in the Portuguese section of the Guadiana drainage (Iberian Peninsula) is confirmed based on morphological and molecular species identification. The spatial and temporal dispersal of this non-native catfish was also reconstructed for the Guadiana drainage, based mostly on online fishermen records with minor contributions from the few scientific reports available. The obtained records (mainly from angling fora) span the period since the species' first reported presence in Iberia (1980s) up to the present, and support a westward invasion pattern of non-native fish (NNF) reported for the Iberian fish invasion …
Transmission Routes Maintaining A Viral Pathogen Of Steelhead Trout Within A Complex Multi-Host Assemblage, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Transmission Routes Maintaining A Viral Pathogen Of Steelhead Trout Within A Complex Multi-Host Assemblage, Rachel Breyta, Ilana Brito, Paige Ferguson, Gael Kurath, Kerry Naish, Maureen Purcell, Ar Wargo, Shannon Ladeau
VIMS Articles
This is the first comprehensive region wide, spatially explicit epidemiologic analysis of surveillance data of the aquatic viral pathogen infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) infecting native salmonid fish. The pathogen has been documented in the freshwater ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest of North America since the 1950s, and the current report describes the disease ecology of IHNV during 2000-2012. Prevalence of IHNV infection in monitored salmonid host cohorts ranged from 8% to 30%, with the highest levels observed in juvenile steelhead trout. The spatial distribution of all IHNV-infected cohorts was concentrated in two sub-regions of the study area, where historic …
Denitrification Potential Of The Eastern Oyster Microbiome Using A 16s Rrna Gene Based Metabolic Inference Approach, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Denitrification Potential Of The Eastern Oyster Microbiome Using A 16s Rrna Gene Based Metabolic Inference Approach, Ann Arfken, Bk Song, Jeff S. Bowman, Michael Piehler
VIMS Articles
The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is a foundation species providing significant ecosystem services. However, the roles of oyster microbiomes have not been integrated into any of the services, particularly nitrogen removal through denitrification. We investigated the composition and denitrification potential of oyster microbiomes with an approach that combined 16S rRNA gene analysis, metabolic inference, qPCR of the nitrous oxide reductase gene (nosZ), and N-2 flux measurements. Microbiomes of the oyster digestive gland, the oyster shell, and sediments adjacent to the oyster reef were examined based on next generation sequencing (NGS) of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Denitrification potentials of the microbiomes …
Oyster Toadfish (Opsanus Tau) Boatwhistle Call Detection And Patterns Within A Large-Scale Oyster Restoration Site, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Oyster Toadfish (Opsanus Tau) Boatwhistle Call Detection And Patterns Within A Large-Scale Oyster Restoration Site, Shannon W. Ricci, Delwayne R. Bohnenstiehl, David B. Eggleston, M. Lisa Kellogg, R. Patrick Lyon
VIMS Articles
During May 2015, passive acoustic recorders were deployed at eight subtidal oyster reefs within Harris Creek Oyster Sanctuary in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland USA. These sites were selected to represent both restored and unrestored habitats having a range of oyster densities. Throughout the survey, the soundscape within Harris Creek was dominated by the boatwhistle calls of the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau. A novel, multi-kernel spectral correlation approach was developed to automatically detect these boatwhistle calls using their two lowest harmonic bands. The results provided quantitative information on how call rate and call frequency varied in space and time. Toadfish boatwhistle fundamental …
World Without Borders-Genetic Population Structure Of A Highly Migratory Marine Predator, The Blue Shark (Prionace Glauca), 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
World Without Borders-Genetic Population Structure Of A Highly Migratory Marine Predator, The Blue Shark (Prionace Glauca), Ana Verssimo, Iris Sampaio, Jan Mcdowell, Paulo Alexandrino, Gonzalo Mucientes, Nuno Queiroz, Charlene Da Silva, Catherine S. Jones, Leslie R. Noble
VIMS Articles
Highly migratory, cosmopolitan oceanic sharks often exhibit complex movement patterns influenced by ontogeny, reproduction, and feeding. These elusive species are particularly challenging to population genetic studies, as representative samples suitable for inferring genetic structure are difficult to obtain. Our study provides insights into the genetic population structure one of the most abundant and wide-ranging oceanic shark species, the blue shark Prionace glauca, by sampling the least mobile component of the populations, i.e., young-of-year and small juveniles (year; N = 348 individuals), at three reported nursery areas, namely, western Iberia, Azores, and South Africa. Samples were collected in two different time …
Vegetation Recovery In Tidal Marshes Reveals Critical Slowing Down Under Increased Inundation, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Vegetation Recovery In Tidal Marshes Reveals Critical Slowing Down Under Increased Inundation, Jim Van Belzen, Johan Van De Koppel, Matthew L. Kirwan, Daphne Van Der Wal, Peter M.J. Herman, Vasilis Dakos, Sonia Kefi, Marten Scheffer, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Tjeerd J. Bouma
VIMS Articles
A declining rate of recovery following disturbance has been proposed as an important early warning for impending tipping points in complex systems. Despite extensive theoretical and laboratory studies, this 'critical slowing down' remains largely untested in the complex settings of real-world ecosystems. Here, we provide both observational and experimental support of critical slowing down along natural stress gradients in tidal marsh ecosystems. Time series of aerial images of European marsh development reveal a consistent lengthening of recovery time as inundation stress increases. We corroborate this finding with transplantation experiments in European and North American tidal marshes. In particular, our results …
Created Mangrove Wetlands Store Belowground Carbon And Surface Elevation Change Enables Them To Adjust To Sea-Level Rise, 2017 Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Created Mangrove Wetlands Store Belowground Carbon And Surface Elevation Change Enables Them To Adjust To Sea-Level Rise, Ken W. Krauss, Nicole Cormier, Michael J. Osland, Matthew L. Kirwan, Camille L. Stagg, Janet A. Nestlerode, Marc J. Russell, Andrew S. From, Amanda C. Spivak, Darrin D. Dantin, James E. Harvey, Alejandro E. Almario
VIMS Articles
Mangrove wetlands provide ecosystem services for millions of people, most prominently by providing storm protection, food and fodder. Mangrove wetlands are also valuable ecosystems for promoting carbon (C) sequestration and storage. However, loss of mangrove wetlands and these ecosystem services are a global concern, prompting the restoration and creation of mangrove wetlands as a potential solution. Here, we investigate soil surface elevation change, and its components, in created mangrove wetlands over a 25 year developmental gradient. All created mangrove wetlands were exceeding current relative sea-level rise rates (2.6 mm yr(-1)), with surface elevation change of 4.2-11.0 mm yr(-1) compared with …