Marine Biology Commons^™

Potential And Timescales For Oxygen Depletion In Coastal Upwelling Systems: A Box-Model Analysis, Cheryl S. Harrison, B. Hales, S. Siedlecki, R. M. Samelson

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

A simple box model is used to examine oxygen depletion in an idealized ocean-margin upwelling system. Near-bottom oxygen depletion is controlled by a competition between flushing with oxygenated offshore source waters and respiration of particulate organic matter produced near the surface and retained near the bottom. Upwelling-supplied nutrients are consumed in the surface box, and some surface particles sink to the bottom where they respire, consuming oxygen. Steady states characterize the potential for hypoxic near-bottom oxygen depletion; this potential is greatest for faster sinking rates, and largely independent of production timescales except in that faster production allows faster sinking. Timescales …

Chesapeake Aquaculture, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Brain Morphology Of Madtom Catfishes (Noturus) Reflects Their Ecology, Autumn Goble, David J. Eisenhour

Celebration of Student Scholarship Poster Sessions Archive

No abstract provided.

Age, Growth, Reproduction, And Diet Of The Finetooth Shark, Carcharhinus Isodon, In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Jeremy Michael Higgs

Master's Theses

The current study examined life history parameters of the finetooth shark, Carcharhinus isodon, in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) to provide an accurate description of the species’ reproductive biology, age, growth and diet composition. A total of 1,489 finetooth sharks (830 female; 659 male) were collected from coastal waters of the nGOM between Apalachicola Bay, Florida (29.873° N and 84.514° W) and East Bay, Louisiana (28.959° N and 89.279° W) from June 2006 through October 2013. Peak reproductive development occurred during May/June for both males and females, which was followed by mating and an 11-12 month gestation period. …

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program Annual Report 2015, Susanna Musick, Lewis Gillingham

Reports

Through 2015, the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program has maintained a 20-year database of records for tagged and recaptured fish. The program is a cooperative project of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (under the Virginia Marine Resources Commission-VMRC) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) of the College of William and Mary (under the VIMS Marine Advisory Program).

Turning Performance In Squid And Cuttlefish: Unique Dual-Mode, Muscular Hydrostatic Systems, Rachel A. Jastrebsky, Ian K. Bartol, Paul S. Krueger

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Although steady swimming has received considerable attention in prior studies, unsteady swimming movements represent a larger portion of many aquatic animals' locomotive repertoire and have not been examined extensively. Squids and cuttlefishes are cephalopods with unique muscular hydrostat-driven, dual-mode propulsive systems involving paired fins and a pulsed jet. These animals exhibit a wide range of swimming behavior, but turning performance has not been examined quantitatively. Brief squid, Lolliguncula brevis, and dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis, were filmed during turns using high-speed cameras. Kinematic features were tracked, including the length-specific radius of the turn (R/L), a measure of maneuverability, and …

Dynamic Simulation And Numerical Analysis Of Hurricane Storm Surge Under Sea Level Rise With Geomorphologic Changes Along The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Matthew V. Bilskie, S. C. Hagen, Karim Alizad, S. C. Medeiros, D. L. Passeri, H. F. Needham, A. Cox

Faculty Publications

This work outlines a dynamic modeling framework to examine the effects of global climate change, and sea level rise (SLR) in particular, on tropical cyclone-driven storm surge inundation. The methodology, applied across the northern Gulf of Mexico, adapts a present day large-domain, high resolution, tide, wind-wave, and hurricane storm surge model to characterize the potential outlook of the coastal landscape under four SLR scenarios for the year 2100. The modifications include shoreline and barrier island morphology, marsh migration, and land use land cover change. Hydrodynamics of 10 historic hurricanes were simulated through each of the five model configurations (present day …

A Comparative Study Of Isolation In Headwater Fishes, Bjorn Victor Schmidt

Dissertations

Headwater resident fishes may be prone to a high rate of population fragmentation within river networks because large streams have habitat conditions outside of their preferred ecological niche and may limit gene flow in the dendritic ecological network. To investigate patterns of population structure, asymmetrical gene flow, and influences on genetic distance and isolation from connecting habitat pathways, species specific ecological traits, and basin scale characteristics, a multi-species, multi-regional study was performed. Six headwater species of fish from four taxonomic groupings were sampled for genetic material in three regions of paired neighbor drainages and then genotyped for eight microsatellite loci. …

Opsin Repertoire And Expression Patterns In Horseshoe Crabs: Evidence From The Genome Of Limulus Polyphemus (Arthropoda: Chelicerata), Barbara-Anne Battelle, Joseph F. Ryan, Karen E. Kempler, Spencer R. Saraf, Catherine E. Marten, Wesley C. Warren, Patrick J. Minx, Michael J. Montague, Pamela J. Green, Skye A. Schmidt, Lucinda Fulton, Nipam H. Patel, Meredith E. Protas, Richard K. Wilson, Megan L. Porter

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Horseshoe crabs are xiphosuran chelicerates, the sister groupto arachnids. As such, they are important for understandingthemost recent common ancestor of Euchelicerata and the evolution and diversification of Arthropoda. Limulus polyphemus is the most investigated of the four extant species of horseshoe crabs, and the structure and function of its visual system have long been a major focus of studies critical for understanding the evolution of visual systems in arthropods. Likewise, studies of genes encoding Limulus opsins, the protein component of the visual pigments, are critical for understanding opsin evolution and diversification among chelicerates, where knowledge of opsins is limited, and …

Systematic Patterning Of Sediments In French Polynesian Coral Reef Systems, Andrew Calhoun

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Through a discipline termed “comparative sedimentology”, modern carbonate depositional environments have been used extensively as analogs to aid in the interpretation of equivalent fossil systems. Using field samples, GIS and remote sensing data for three isolated carbonate platforms in the Pacific, this thesis seeks to examine relationships between grain texture and grain type and their environment of deposition. The motivation is to highlight relationships that have the potential to better understand facies relations on carbonate platforms, and thereby reduce uncertainty and increase accuracy of subsurface exploration. The results of this study show that on Raivavae, Tubuai, and Bora Bora: French …

Assessment Of Recent Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Reef Restoration Projects In The Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire: Planning For The Future, Raymond E. Grizzle, Krystin M. Ward

PREP Reports & Publications

Current oyster populations in New Hampshire total less than 10% of what they were in the 1980s, and the causal factors for the declines include disease, sedimentation, and human harvest. The two major results from a population ecology perspective have been dramatic losses of oyster shell (the major substrate on which oyster larvae typically settle) as well as juvenile annual recruitment to the remaining reefs. Experimental scale oyster restoration projects addressing these two limitations (substrate and natural recruitment) were initiated in the state in the early 2000s by scientists at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Since the mid-2000s, the …

Top Predators Negate The Effect Of Mesopredators On Prey Physiology, Maria Palacios, Shaun S. Killen, Lauren E. Nadler, James R. White, Mark I. Mccormick

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

1. Predation theory and empirical evidence suggest that top predators benefit the survival of resource prey through the suppression of mesopredators. However, whether such behavioural suppression can also affect the physiology of resource prey has yet to be examined.
2. Using a three‐tier reef fish food web and intermittent‐flow respirometry, our study examined changes in the metabolic rate of resource prey exposed to combinations of mesopredator and top predator cues.
3. Under experimental conditions, the mesopredator (dottyback, Pseudochromis fuscus ) continuously foraged and attacked resource prey (juveniles of the damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis ) triggering an increase in prey O2 uptake by 38 ± …

Acoustic Repertoire Of Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) Bachelor Groups In The Waters Surrounding Ischia, Italy (Tyrrhenian Sea), Cristina M. Ledon

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The subpopulation of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Mediterranean Sea is presently list as “Endangered”. This study is an attempt to provide detailed data on sperm whale Bachelor Groups surrounding Ischia, Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea). 24 hours, 38 minutes, and 38 seconds of sperm whale Bachelor Group acoustic data was analyzed in order to describe acoustic repertoire, classify behavioral associations to acoustic types, and identify habitat-use. The data showed that the acoustic repertoire of sperm whale Bachelor Groups is dominated by Usual Clicks. Additionally, a click type that maintains an inter-click interval (ICI) in …

Geographic And Depth Distributions Of Decapod Shrimps (Caridea: Oplophoridae) From The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico With Notes On Ontogeny And Reproductive Seasonality, Eric A. Burdett

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the first description of the geographic and depth distributions of pelagic decapod shrimps in the area located around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, based on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NRDA (National Resource Damage Assessment) trawl samples collected from April – June, 2011. This information is important in ecosystem models investigating trophic effects of the spill because pelagic decapod shrimp are consumed by a variety of organisms occupying higher trophic levels. One of the most abundant and diverse groups of decapods is the Family Oplophoridae. Their roles in pelagic food webs in the Gulf of …

Bacteriophages That Can Lyse Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, Michael Monaco

Honors Theses

A Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteriophage was isolated from waste water and purified over multiple rounds of plaque removals and serial titrations. This bacteriophage was imaged in a transmission electron microscope and then tested with selected antibiotics for effectiveness in reducing optical density of K. pneumoniae colonies. The phage was shown to have an increased effectiveness in reducing the optical density when used together with an antibiotic that the bacteria was susceptible to.

Effects Of Sedimentation On The Physiology And Oxidative Stress Of Two Common Scleractinian Corals, Margaret E. Rushmore

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a growing environmental stressor, sedimentation, on the physiology and oxidative stress throughout the different life stages of two common scleractinian corals Montastraea cavernosa and Porites astreoides. Physiology, oxidative stress, and settlement success of newly released P. astreoides larvae were measured after exposure to various turbidity treatments. No significant effects were seen on larval settlement and photosynthetic efficiency, however carbonyl content and catalase activity were significantly higher in 2015 compared to 2014; highlighting a possible inter-annual variability in susceptibility. Larval settlement deterrence in the presence of a layer of accumulated fine- or coarse-grained sediment …

"Patterns In The Abundance Of Benthic Algae In Streams", Courtney Wright

Honors Theses

Benthic, microscopic algae are the main drivers of primary productivity in streams. The relationship between the abundance and productivity of benthic algae in streams and lakes and the availability of limiting nutrients, especially soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), has been extensively studied (reviewed in Allan and Castillo 2007, Larned 2010). However, nearly all of this research has been conducted on the periphyton assemblage found on hard substrates (e.g., stones, wood), while very little work has addressed the factors affecting the abundance of epipelic algae (i.e., the algae associated with depositional (soft) sediments such as sands and silts). One of the few …

Examining The Relationship Between Fish Herbivore Biomass, Coral And Macroalgal Cover On Singapore’S Heavily Disturbed Reefs, James R. Guest, A. Vergés, Andrew G. Bauman, Alexandra H. Campbell, Loke Ming Chou, David A. Feary, Jeffrey K. Y. Low, Ezequiel M. Marzinelli, Karenne Tun, Peter D. Steinberg

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Herbivores play a critical role in structuring benthic communities on tropical coral dominated reefs by removing macroalgae. Reducing herbivory has been implicated in promoting phase shifts from coral dominance to other ecosystem states following disturbances. Turbidity and sedimentation are key physical processes that also structure coral reef communities because they limit light penetration and interfere with biological processes such as heterotrophy. Singapore’s coral reefs have been heavily impacted by human activities for decades and experience very high levels of sedimentation and turbidity. As a result, coral and algal growth is restricted to shallow reef flats and upper reef slopes. While …

Sea Turtle Conservation: Reviewing The Efficacy Of Land- And Sea-Based Management Strategies For Loggerhead (Caretta Caretta) And Leatherback (Dermochelys Coriacea) Sea Turtles, Glenn D. Goodwin

HCNSO Student Capstones

As cosmopolitan species, loggerhead and leatherback turtles are confronted with a multitude of threats as they progress through their respective life stages. These range from depredation and poaching of eggs, hatchlings, and females on nesting beaches, to incidental hooking in pelagic longline fisheries and capture in trawl fisheries. Some threats are species specific on regional scales, though most impact both species. To confront these threats, various conservation strategies have been developed and implemented, including monitoring and caging of nests and changes to hook shape and trawl design. Here, current conservation methods are presented and discussed on a global scale for …

Global Genetic Connectivity And Diversity In A Shark Of High Conservation Concern, The Oceanic Whitetip, Carcharhinus Longimanus, Cassandra L. Ruck

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, is a circumtropical pelagic shark of high conservation concern (IUCN Red List: “Critically Endangered” in the Western North and Western Central Atlantic and “Vulnerable” globally). I present the first, population genetic assessment of the oceanic whitetip shark on a global scale, based on analysis of two mitochondrial genome regions (entire 1066-1067 bp control region and 784 bp partial ND4 gene), and nine nuclear microsatellite loci. No population structure was detected within the Western Atlantic. However, highly significant population structure was detected between Western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Ocean sharks across all markers. Additionally, a …