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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Favorable Spring Conditions Can Buffer The Impact Of Winter Carryover Effects On A Key Breeding Decision In An Arctic-Breeding Seabird, Rolanda J. Steenweg, Glenn T. Crossin, Holly L. Hennin, H. Grant Gilchrist, Oliver P. Love
Favorable Spring Conditions Can Buffer The Impact Of Winter Carryover Effects On A Key Breeding Decision In An Arctic-Breeding Seabird, Rolanda J. Steenweg, Glenn T. Crossin, Holly L. Hennin, H. Grant Gilchrist, Oliver P. Love
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications
The availability and investment of energy among successive life-history stages is a key feature of carryover effects. In migratory organisms, examining how both winter and spring experiences carryover to affect breeding activity is difficult due to the challenges in tracking individuals through these periods without impacting their behavior, thereby biasing results. Using common eiders Somateria mollissima, we examined whether spring conditions at an Arctic breeding colony (East Bay Island, Nunavut, Canada) can buffer the impacts of winter temperatures on body mass and breeding decisions in birds that winter at different locations (Nuuk and Disko Bay, Greenland, and Newfoundland, Canada; assessed …
Effects Of Glacial Stressors On Sperm Maturation In Colonies Of The Red Tree Coral, Primnoa Pacifica, Joshua Lynn
Effects Of Glacial Stressors On Sperm Maturation In Colonies Of The Red Tree Coral, Primnoa Pacifica, Joshua Lynn
Honors College
The red tree coral, Primnoa pacifica, is a large, colony forming species of cold- water coral which is often an important habitat for many commercially important species of fish and crab. This keystone species is long lived and found at much shallower depths in the fjords of Glacier Bay National Park (GBNP) than elsewhere in the northern Pacific Ocean because of the phenomenon known as deep-water emergence. Due to their proximity to tidewater glaciers in GBNP, corals likely have to endure glacial stressors such as freshwater runoff and sedimentation that is not typical of populations in deeper water, which …
Primnoa Pacifica Reproduction In Shallow Versus Deep Habitats Of Glacier Bay National Park And Preserve, Alaska, Ciara N. Larence
Primnoa Pacifica Reproduction In Shallow Versus Deep Habitats Of Glacier Bay National Park And Preserve, Alaska, Ciara N. Larence
Honors College
Primnoa pacifica is a species of deep-sea cold-water coral that can be found in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. These colonies are important to their ecosystem as they provide habitat for other species living in this area. One thing that makes P. pacifica important to study is that the species displays deep-water emergence. This is a phenomenon where species normally found in deep waters can exist in shallower waters, allowing easier access for research. The purpose of this thesis was to determine if depth effects the reproduction of male P. pacifica colonies. Two colonies from deep depths …
A Coral Spawning Calendar For Sesoko Station, Okinawa, Japan, Andrew H. Baird, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Saki Harii, Masayuki Hatta, Liam Lachs, Hanaka Mera, Frederic Sinniger, David Abrego, Or Ben-Zvi, Omri Bronstein, Patrick C. Cabaitan, Vivian R. Cumbo, Gal Eyal, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Bar Feldman, Joana Figueiredo, Jean-François Flot, Mila Grinblat, Andrew Heyward, Michio Hidaka, Mamiko Hirose, Akira Iguchi, Naoko Isomura, Robert A. Kinzie, Seiya Kitanobo, Alyson Kuba, Oren Levy, Yossi Loya, Takuma Mezaki, Amin R. Mohamed, Masaya Morita, Satoshi Nojima, Yoko Nozawa, Rian Prasetia, Eneour Puill-Stephan, Catalina Ramirez-Portilla, Hanna Rapuano, Yaeli Rosenberg, Yusuke Sakai, Kazuhiko Sakai, Tom Shlesinger, Tullia I. Terraneo, Irina Yakovleva, Hiromi H. Yamamoto, Kiyoshi Yamazato
A Coral Spawning Calendar For Sesoko Station, Okinawa, Japan, Andrew H. Baird, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Saki Harii, Masayuki Hatta, Liam Lachs, Hanaka Mera, Frederic Sinniger, David Abrego, Or Ben-Zvi, Omri Bronstein, Patrick C. Cabaitan, Vivian R. Cumbo, Gal Eyal, Lee Eyal-Shaham, Bar Feldman, Joana Figueiredo, Jean-François Flot, Mila Grinblat, Andrew Heyward, Michio Hidaka, Mamiko Hirose, Akira Iguchi, Naoko Isomura, Robert A. Kinzie, Seiya Kitanobo, Alyson Kuba, Oren Levy, Yossi Loya, Takuma Mezaki, Amin R. Mohamed, Masaya Morita, Satoshi Nojima, Yoko Nozawa, Rian Prasetia, Eneour Puill-Stephan, Catalina Ramirez-Portilla, Hanna Rapuano, Yaeli Rosenberg, Yusuke Sakai, Kazuhiko Sakai, Tom Shlesinger, Tullia I. Terraneo, Irina Yakovleva, Hiromi H. Yamamoto, Kiyoshi Yamazato
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Sesoko Station, Okinawa, has been the site of many significant advances in coral reproductive research and it continues to be a preferred destination for both Japanese and international researchers. Consequently, there are decades of spawning observations, which we present and explore here with the aim of making it easier to predict when species spawn at Sesoko Station. The data include over 700 spawning observations from 87 species of reef-building hermatypic corals. Almost all spawning occurred between dusk and dawn, with most spawning activity concentrated in the 2 to 4 hours after sunset. Some phylogenetic patterns were evident: most Acropora species …
Latitudinal Variation In Monthly-Scale Reproductive Synchrony Among Acropora Coral Assemblages In The Indo-Pacific, Jessica Bouwmeester, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Michael L. Berumen, Andrew H. Baird
Latitudinal Variation In Monthly-Scale Reproductive Synchrony Among Acropora Coral Assemblages In The Indo-Pacific, Jessica Bouwmeester, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Michael L. Berumen, Andrew H. Baird
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Early research into coral reproductive biology suggested that spawning synchrony was driven by variations in the amplitude of environmental variables that are correlated with latitude, with synchrony predicted to break down at lower latitudes. More recent research has revealed that synchronous spawning, both within and among species, is a feature of all speciose coral assemblages, including equatorial reefs. Nonetheless, considerable variation in reproductive synchrony exists among locations and the hypothesis that the extent of spawning synchrony is correlated with latitude has not been formally tested on a large scale. Here, we use data from 90 sites throughout the Indo-Pacific and …
Advancing The Sea Ice Hypothesis: Trophic Interactions Among Breeding Pygoscelis Penguins With Divergent Population Trends Throughout The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Kristen B. Gorman, Kate E. Ruck, Tony D. Williams, William R. Fraser
Advancing The Sea Ice Hypothesis: Trophic Interactions Among Breeding Pygoscelis Penguins With Divergent Population Trends Throughout The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Kristen B. Gorman, Kate E. Ruck, Tony D. Williams, William R. Fraser
VIMS Articles
We evaluated annual and regional variation in the dietary niche of Pygoscelis penguins including the sea ice-obligate Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), and sea ice-intolerant chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins, three species that nest throughout the western Antarctic Peninsula (AP) to test the sea ice trophic interaction hypothesis, which posits that penguin breeding populations with divergent trends, i.e., declining or increasing, are reliant on differing food webs. Our study relies on values of naturally occurring carbon (13C/12C, δ13C) and nitrogen (15N/14N, δ15N) stable isotopes as integrated proxies of penguin food webs measured
over three years at three different …
Reproductive Ecology Of Dragonfishes (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae) In The Gulf Of Mexico, Alex Marks, David Kerstetter, David Wyanski, Tracey Sutton
Reproductive Ecology Of Dragonfishes (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae) In The Gulf Of Mexico, Alex Marks, David Kerstetter, David Wyanski, Tracey Sutton
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
The most abundant fishes on Earth live in the meso- and bathypelagic (deep-pelagic, collectively) zones of the open ocean, where they play a key role in deep-sea food webs by mediating energy flow from surface waters to great depth. Of these fishes, the most speciose taxon is the family Stomiidae (dragonfishes). Despite being the numerically dominant predators of the global mesopelagic zone, stomiid reproductive ecology is poorly known. Research surveys rarely catch larger adults, impeding reproductive ecology studies. Between 2010 and 2011, the Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis Program sampled the Gulf of Mexico using a research-sized, opening/closing trawl (10-m …
Spatial And Temporal Variation In Fecundity Of Acropora Spp. In The Northern Great Barrier Reef, Morgan S. Pratchett, Andrew S. Hoey, Chun-Hong Tan, Chao-Yang Kuo, Andrew G. Bauman, Rajani Kumaraswamy, Andrew H. Baird
Spatial And Temporal Variation In Fecundity Of Acropora Spp. In The Northern Great Barrier Reef, Morgan S. Pratchett, Andrew S. Hoey, Chun-Hong Tan, Chao-Yang Kuo, Andrew G. Bauman, Rajani Kumaraswamy, Andrew H. Baird
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
The amount of energy invested in sexual reproduction by scleractinian corals depends on their life history strategies (i.e., allocation of energy between growth, reproduction, and maintenance). However, energy allocated to reproduction will also be affected by the amount of energy acquired and prevailing environmental conditions. Coral fecundity is therefore likely to vary spatially, especially along marked gradients in environmental conditions. One of the foremost gradients in reef structure and environmental conditions occurs with distance from the coast, whereby inner-shelf or near shore reefs are generally subject to higher levels of nutrients, sediments and pollutants, which often adversely affect reef-building corals. …
Baseline Corticosterone Does Not Reflect Iridescent Plumage Traits In Female Tree Swallows, Keneth Sarpong, Christine L. Madliger, Christopher M. Harris, Oliver P. Love, Stéphanie M. Doucet, Pierre Paul Bitton
Baseline Corticosterone Does Not Reflect Iridescent Plumage Traits In Female Tree Swallows, Keneth Sarpong, Christine L. Madliger, Christopher M. Harris, Oliver P. Love, Stéphanie M. Doucet, Pierre Paul Bitton
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications
The production of high quality secondary sexual traits can be constrained by trade-offs in the allocation of energy and nutrients with other metabolic activities, and is mediated by physiological processes. In birds, the factors influencing male plumage quality have been well studied; however, factors affecting female plumage quality are poorly understood. Furthermore, it remains uncertain which physiological traits mediate the relationship between body condition and ornaments. In this three-year study of after-second-year female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), we investigated (1) the relationship between baseline corticosterone near the end of the brood-rearing period (CORTBR) and feather colour characteristics (hue, saturation, brightness) …
Multiple Mating By Females In The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus Population, S. Wells, J. Mcconaugha, L. Horth
Multiple Mating By Females In The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus Population, S. Wells, J. Mcconaugha, L. Horth
OES Faculty Publications
Mature females of the Chesapeake Bay (USA) blue crab Callinectes sapidus population mate multiple times. Microsatellite DNA analysis of sperm stored in the spermathecae has shown that virtually all (~97%, 104 out of 107) females collected in a 2009−2010 study mated with at least 2 males. Enumeration of stored sperm revealed that despite multiple mating, some females did not have enough sperm to fulfill their lifetime reproductive potential, suggesting that female blue crabs may experience varying levels of sperm limitation. This could result from multiple factors. The average body size of males in the population has decreased, which reduces the …
Coral Mass Spawning Predicted By Rapid Seasonal Rise In Ocean Temperature, Sally A. Keith, Jeffrey A. Maynard, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Ruben Van Hooidonk, Scott F. Heron, Michael L. Berumen, Jessica Bouwmeester, Srisakul Piromvaragorn, Carsten Rahbek, Andrew H. Baird
Coral Mass Spawning Predicted By Rapid Seasonal Rise In Ocean Temperature, Sally A. Keith, Jeffrey A. Maynard, Alasdair J. Edwards, James R. Guest, Andrew G. Bauman, Ruben Van Hooidonk, Scott F. Heron, Michael L. Berumen, Jessica Bouwmeester, Srisakul Piromvaragorn, Carsten Rahbek, Andrew H. Baird
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Coral spawning times have been linked to multiple environmental factors; however, to what extent these factors act as generalized cues across multiple species and large spatial scales is unknown. We used a unique dataset of coral spawning from 34 reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans to test if month of spawning and peak spawning month in assemblages of Acropora spp. can be predicted by sea surface temperature (SST), photosynthetically available radiation, wind speed, current speed, rainfall or sunset time. Contrary to the classic view that high mean SST initiates coral spawning, we found rapid increases in SST to be …
Mate Choice In Temperate And Tropical Spiny Lobsters With Contrasting Reproductive Systems, Mark Butler Iv, Rodney Bertelsen, Alison Macdiarmid
Mate Choice In Temperate And Tropical Spiny Lobsters With Contrasting Reproductive Systems, Mark Butler Iv, Rodney Bertelsen, Alison Macdiarmid
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
Sperm limitation of reproductive success is common in decapod crustaceans, favouring mating systems in which females compete for large males of high reproductive value. We investigated these phenomena in two species of spiny lobsters—one temperate, one tropical—with contrasting reproductive systems: the Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwardsii) and the Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus). We hypothesized that female mate selection should be more pronounced in the temperate J. edwardsii than in the tropical P. argus because J. edwardsii matures later, has a shorter mating season, and produces just one clutch of eggs per year that benefit from …
The Effect Of Parental Size On Spermatophore Production, Egg Quality, Fertilization Success, And Larval Characteristics In The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Mark J. Butler Iv, Alison Macdiarmid, Gaya Gnanalingam
The Effect Of Parental Size On Spermatophore Production, Egg Quality, Fertilization Success, And Larval Characteristics In The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Mark J. Butler Iv, Alison Macdiarmid, Gaya Gnanalingam
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
The average size of spiny lobsters (Decapoda; Palinuridae) has decreased worldwide over the past few decades. Market forces coupled with minimum size limits compel fishers to target the largest individuals. Males are targeted disproportionately as a consequence of sexual dimorphism in spiny lobster size (i.e. males grow larger than females) and because of protections for ovigerous females. Therefore, overexploitation of males has led to sperm limitation in several decapod populations with serious repercussions for reproductive success. In the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, little is known about the effect of reduced male size on fertilization success or the role …
Symbiont Presence And Identity Influence Life History Strategies Of A Temperate Sea Anemone, Brian L. Bingham, James L. Dimond, Gisele Muller-Parker
Symbiont Presence And Identity Influence Life History Strategies Of A Temperate Sea Anemone, Brian L. Bingham, James L. Dimond, Gisele Muller-Parker
Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications
Along the North American Pacific coast, the common intertidal sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima engages in facultative, flexible symbioses with Symbiodinium muscatinei (a dinoflagellate) and Elliptochloris marina (a chloro- phyte). Determining how symbiotic state affects host fitness is essential to understanding the ecological significance of engaging in such flexible relationships with diverse symbionts. Fitness consequences of hosting S. muscatinei, E. marina or negligible numbers of either symbiont (aposymbiosis) were investigated by measuring growth, cloning by fission and gonad development after 8.5 – 11 months of sustained exposure to high, moderate or low irradiance under seasonal environmental conditions. Both symbiotic state …
The Yellow Stingray, Urobatis Jamaicensis (Chondrichthyes Urotrygonidae): A Synoptic Review, Richard E. Spieler, Daniel P. Fahy, Robin L. Sherman, James Sulikowski, T. Patrick Quinn
The Yellow Stingray, Urobatis Jamaicensis (Chondrichthyes Urotrygonidae): A Synoptic Review, Richard E. Spieler, Daniel P. Fahy, Robin L. Sherman, James Sulikowski, T. Patrick Quinn
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
The yellow stingray, Urobatis jamaicensis (Cuvier) has been the subject of a multitude of diverse studies on its natural history, morphology, and physiology. We have attempted here to briefly review all the studies on U. jamaicensis both published and unpublished with the goal of providing comparative information for researchers working on related species as well as to highlight areas of research requiring further investigation in this one.
Use Of Fluorescence Microscopy In An Assay Of Sperm Density For The Gorgonian Coral, Plexaura Kuna, Timothy D. Swain, K. Kim, H. R. Lasker
Use Of Fluorescence Microscopy In An Assay Of Sperm Density For The Gorgonian Coral, Plexaura Kuna, Timothy D. Swain, K. Kim, H. R. Lasker
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures
The density of sperm in the water column during the broadcast spawning events of marine invertebrates is often undetermined or reported in terms of fertilization potential. The density of sperm during such events can be determined by directly counting numbers of spermatozoa using a modification of the acridine orange direct count (AODC) technique for enumerating bacteria. A number of variables in the handling and processing of samples may bias estimates. Sample collection in glass and rapid fixation and filtration are necessary for reproducible estimates. Once filtered, samples are stable for many months, and counts on filters that were poorly stained …