Life Sciences Commons^™

Growing Up Is Hard: Vertical Accretion In Salt Marshes, Alex Smith

Reports

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Biology | Environmental Science | Oceanography

In this exercise, students will use graphing to examine the importance of natural environmental feedbacks on marsh survival.

High To Low: Exploring Estuarine Gradients, Cristin Wright

Reports

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Earth Science | Biology | Oceanography

In this lesson, student scientists will examine nutrients, suspended sediment, and phytoplankton level then plot their results to track estuarine gradients.

Quantifying The Increased Resiliency Of Chesapeake Bay Hypoxia To Environmental Conditions: A Benefit Of Nutrient Reductions, Luke Thomas Frankel

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Seasonal hypoxia is a characteristic feature of the Chesapeake Bay as a result of anthropogenic eutrophication from agriculture and urban development throughout the watershed. Although in recent years coordinated management efforts have successfully reduced the flux of nutrients into the Bay, the overall goal of sufficient oxygen concentrations below the pycnocline for living resources remains unfulfilled. This was particularly apparent in 2018 and 2019 when the volume of hypoxic water exceeded the long-term (35-year) average due to anomalously high riverine discharge. To quantify the impact of watershed nutrient reductions, conventional statistical methods were employed in concert with a 3-D numerical …

A Quantitative Genetic Analysis Of Commercial Traits In Polyploid Crassostrea Virginica, With An Evaluation Of Strategies For Genetic Improvement Of Triploids, Joseph L. Matt

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Triploids are a popular product in commercial oyster aquaculture and make up most of the hatchery-produced Crassostrea virginica farmed in the Chesapeake Bay. Despite their importance to commercial aquaculture, the potential of genetically improving triploid C. virginica from selective breeding and breeding strategies for their improvement had not been evaluated. In this dissertation, the prospect of improving triploid C. virginica through selective breeding was assessed with a quantitative genetic analysis from a field test, and breeding strategies for genetically improving triploids were compared by computer simulation. Heritability and genetic correlations involving commercial traits in triploids, including mass mortality associated with …

Stock Composition Of Striped Marlin (Kajikia Audax) In The Central North Pacific Ocean Inferred By Analyses Of Genome-Wide Molecular Markers, Jackson Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Relative to many highly migratory fishes, Striped Marlin, Kajikia audax, exhibit considerable stock structure. At least four genetically distinct stocks of Striped Marlin have been delineated in the Pacific and Indian oceans, although stock composition in the central North Pacific (CNP) remains unclear and the presence of an additional stock in the North Pacific has been suggested in two recent studies. The goals of this research were to clarify the number of Striped Marlin stocks in the North Pacific and utilize temporal sampling to better understand the stock dynamics of Striped Marlin exploited by the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fishery (HBPLLF). …

Dealing With Many Species: Improving Methodology For Forming And Assessing Species Complexes, Kristen Omori

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In the United States, the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act mandates that all federally fished species must have catch limits, which can be challenging for data-limited species. One approach is to assess and manage a group of species with similar life history characteristics, vulnerability to the fishery, and overlapping geographic distributions in a single management unit, or a complex (i.e., stock or species complex). Using the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Other Rockfish complex as a case study, the main goals of this dissertation are five-fold: 1) review species complexes in the United States; 2) compare multivariate techniques for assigning species to complexes; …

Improving Observation, Assessment, And Management Of Atlantic Coastal Sharks, Cassidy Dawn Peterson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Coastal sharks represent a group of stocks for which observation, assessment, and management are particularly challenging. Large distributional ranges, complex migratory behavior, low economic value, and relatively few observations in fishery independent surveys hinder relative abundance estimation. Assessing stock status of coastal sharks is encumbered by limited data availability, data quality, and knowledge of life history strategy. Further, coastal sharks are challenging to manage due to their slow intrinsic population growth rates, competing stakeholder interests, history of overexploitation, and in some cases, subjection to international exploitation. This dissertation aimed to improve the capacity to observe relative abundance of coastal sharks. …

Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing: The Search For Antibiotics, Amanpreet Kohli

Reports

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Life Science | Biology

Examining agar plates, students determining the effectiveness of antibiotics for fish pathogens.

Case Of The Stressed-Out Larva: A Study Of Climate Change Effects On Oyster Cellular Physiology, Annie Schatz

Reports

Grades: 9-12 Subjects: Advanced Biology | Chemistry | Oceanography

Using a jigsaw puzzle approach, students will piece together the results of three molecular measures to understand how warming and acidified waters affect the health of oyster larvae.

Marsh Migration Mania!, Emily Goetz

Reports

Grades: 6-12 Subjects: Life Science | Environmental Science

In this lesson, students investigate sea-level rise and migration of saltmarsh invertebrates in a "ghost forest."

Sunny-Side-Up: Temperature & Lobster Egg Development, Abigail Sisti

Reports

Grades: 6-12 Subjects: Biology

This lesson allows students to use math and science to characterize the effects of temperature on lobster egg development. Students will measure features of lobster eggs at different time points and plot how they change across development. This development will be compared between lobsters from different environments, and students will be asked to draw conclusions about how these differences may relate to lobster performance and climate change.

Virginia Institute Of Marine Science Research Experiences For Undergraduates Program : Final Research Papers 2019, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

• Sediment Modeling – iRUSLE via Bayesian Melding / Kayla Rutherford
• Bottom Boundary Layer Dynamics Modelling in the Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone”/ Jacob Wacht
• Interactions between Vibrio Bacteria and Phytoplankton Species / Coral O’Brien
• Red Disease and Antibiotic Resistance of American Eels / Thalia Wallace
• Understanding the feeding ecology of the Atlantic deep-sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus using DNA barcoding / Brittany Baker
• Using macroinvertebrate assemblages to assess nursery habitat quality for juvenile black sea bass and summer flounder/ Nicholas Coleman
• Characterizing York River estuary Benthic Metabolism/ Mary McGuinness
• Effects of pH and temperature on the growth, development, and metabolic rate …