Life Sciences Commons^™

Supplemental Feeding For Ecotourism Reverses Diel Activity And Alters Movement Patterns And Spatial Distribution Of The Southern Stingray, Dasyatis Americana, Mark John Corcoran, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Mahmood S. Shivji, Matthew Potenski, Demian D. Chapman, Guy Harvey

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Southern stingrays, Dasyatis americana, have been provided supplemental food in ecotourism operations at Stingray City Sandbar (SCS), Grand Cayman since 1986, with this site becoming one of the world’s most famous and heavily visited marine wildlife interaction venues. Given expansion of marine wildlife interactive tourism worldwide, there are questions about the effects of such activities on the focal species and their ecosystems. We used a combination of acoustic telemetry and tag-recapture efforts to test the hypothesis that human-sourced supplemental feeding has altered stingray activity patterns and habitat use at SCS relative to wild animals at control sites. Secondarily, we …

Synthesizing Larval Competence Dynamics And Reef-Scale Retention Reveals A High Potential For Self-Recruitment In Corals, Joana Figueiredo, Andrew H. Baird, Sean R. Connolly

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Many organisms have a complex life-cycle in which dispersal occurs at the propagule stage. For marine environments, there is growing evidence that high levels of recruitment back to the natal population (self-recruitment) are common in many marine organisms. For fish, swimming behavior is frequently invoked as a key mechanism allowing high self-recruitment. For organisms with weak-swimming larvae, such as many marine invertebrates, the mechanisms behind self-recruitment are less clear. Here, we assessed whether the combination of passive retention of larvae due to re-circulation processes near reefs, and the dynamics of settlement competence, can produce the high levels of self-recruitment previously …

Antioxidant Treatment Regulates The Humoral Immune Response During Acute Viral Infection, Katie E. Crump, P. Kent Langston, Sujana Rajkarnikar, Jason M. Grayson

Biology Faculty Articles

Generation of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) following antigen receptor ligation is critical to promote cellular responses. However, the effect of antioxidant treatment on humoral immunity during a viral infection was unknown. Mice were infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and treated with Mn(III)tetrakis(4-benzoic acid)porphyrin chloride (MnTBAP), a superoxide dismutase mimetic, from days 0 to 8 postinfection. On day 8, at the peak of the splenic response in vehicle-treated mice, virus-specific IgM and IgG antibody-secreting cells (ASC) were decreased 22- and 457-fold in MnTBAP-treated animals. By day 38, LCMV-specific IgG ASC were decreased 5-fold in the bone marrow of drug-treated mice, …

When Hawks Give Rise To Doves: The Evolution Of Enforcement Strategies, Omar Tonsi Eldakar, W. W. Driscoll, A. C. Gallup

Biology Faculty Articles

The question of how altruism can evolve despite its local disadvantage to selfishness has produced a wealth of theoretical and empirical research capturing the attention of scientists across disciplines for decades. One feature that has remained consistent through this outpouring of knowledge has been that researchers have looked to the altruists themselves for mechanisms by which altruism can curtail selfishness. An alternative perspective may be that just as altruists want to limit selfishness in the population, so may the selfish individuals themselves. These alternative perspectives have been most evident in the fairly recent development of enforcement strategies. Punishment can effectively …

The Thermoregulatory Theory Of Yawning: What We Know From Over Five Years Of Research, Andrew C. Gallup, Omar Tonsi Eldakar

Biology Faculty Articles

Over the past 5 years numerous reports have confirmed and replicated the specific brain cooling and thermal window predictions derived from the thermoregulatory theory of yawning, and no study has found evidence contrary to these findings. Here we review the comparative research supporting this model of yawning among homeotherms, while highlighting a recent report showing how the expression of contagious yawning in humans is altered by seasonal climate variation. The fact that yawning is constrained to a thermal window of ambient temperature provides unique and compelling support in favor of this theory. Heretofore, no existing alternative hypothesis of yawning can …

Florida-Friendly Shrubs For Perimeter Plantings, John J. Pipoly Iii, Sandra L. Granson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of The Heart Transcriptome Of The White Shark (Carcharodon Carcharias), Vincent P. Richards, Haruo Suzuki, Michael J. Stanhope, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background: The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a globally distributed, apex predator possessing physical, physiological, and behavioral traits that have garnered it significant public attention. In addition to interest in the genetic basis of its form and function, as a representative of the oldest extant jawed vertebrate lineage, white sharks are also of conservation concern due to their small population size and threat from overfishing. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the biology of white sharks, and genomic resources are unavailable. To address this deficit, we combined Roche-454 and Illumina sequencing technologies to characterize the first …

Fall 2013, Nova Southeastern University

Currents

No abstract provided.

A New List Of Cuban Crinoids (Echinodermata: Crinoidea), Ruber Rodriguez-Barreras, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

This review is based on the most recent taxonomic classification of extant Cuban Crinoidea. Existing material in natural history collections in Cuba was analyzed in detail and accurately reflects species presence. The crinoid literature was also reviewed. Several previously unpublished observations of species found in waters off Cuba have also been included. This paper provides the most up to date description of the Cuban crinoid fauna. Habitat, distribution, depth range and localities in Cuba are reported for each species. Collection codes for available specimens are included when known. The work describes a total of 33 species (plus two subspecies) in …

Habitat Characterization, Distribution, And Areal Extent Of Deep-Sea Coral Ecosystems Off Florida, Southeastern U.S.A., John K. Reed, Charles G. Messing, Brian K. Walker, Sandra Brooke, Thiago B.S. Correa, Myra Brouwer, Tina Udouj, Stephanie Farrington

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The deep-sea (200-1000 m) seafloor off the southeastern U.S. has a variety of extensive deep-sea coral ecosystem (DSCE) habitats including: deep-water coral mounds; various hard-bottom habitats off Florida including the Miami Terrace, Pourtales Terrace, and deep-water canyons (Agassiz and Tortugas Valleys); and deep island slopes off western Bahamas and northern Cuba. The dominant structure-forming scleractinian corals are Lophelia pertusa and Enallopsammia profunda; other structure-forming taxa include stylasterid corals, gorgonians, black corals, and sponges. This biota is associated with hard-bottom seafloor of variable high-relief topography which can be remotely identified from bathymetric data. NOAA bathymetric contour maps and digital elevation …

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.

Reconstruction Of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships Within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes, Malcolm S. Hill, April L. Hill, Jose V. Lopez, Kevin J. Peterson, Shirley Pomponi, Maria C. Diaz, Robert W. Thacker, Maja Adamska, Nicole Boury-Esnault, Paco Cárdenas, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, Elizabeth Danka, Bre-Onna De Laine, Dawn Formica, Eduardo Hajdu, Gisele Lobo-Hajdu, Sarah Klontz, Christine C. Morrow, Jignasa Patel, Bernard Picton, Davide Pisani, Deborah Pohlmann, Niamh E. Redmond, John Reed, Stacy Richey, Ana Riesgo, Ewelina Rubin, Zach Russell, Klaus Rützler, Erik A. Sperling, Michael Di Stefano, James E. Tarver, Allen G. Collins

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.e., Calcarea, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha), but focused on family-level relationships within demosponges. With data for 21 newly sampled families, our Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian-based approaches recovered previously phylogenetically defined taxa: Keratosa^p, …

Florida-Friendly Shrubs For Perimeter Plantings, John J. Pipoly Iii, Sandra L. Granson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Shrubs Recommended For Use As Perimeter Plantings (Informal Or Formal Hedge) In South Florida, John J. Pipoly Iii, Sandra L. Granson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Things to remember when planting perimeter shrubs:

• Avoid monocultures (all one Species)
• Plant shrubs with similar water needs rates together
• Plants shrubs with similar growth rates together
• Vary shrub species in alternating segments or other patterns

Evaluating Acropora Cervicornis Growth And Survivorship In A Line Nursery, Zachary Ostroff

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata were once dominant, reef-building corals of Caribbean reefs. Over the last several decades, population declines of Caribbean Acropora have been dramatic, and both species are now listed as “Threatened” under the United States Endangered Species Act. Numerous restoration efforts now utilize coral gardening techniques to cultivate these species for transplantation, in which A. cervicornis is primarily cultivated both on fixed structures and in line nurseries. This study evaluates growth and survivorship of multiple A. cervicornis genotypes grown via two line nursery techniques, and compares the efficacy of each against the conventional method of fixed nursery …

Host Genomic Influences On Hiv/Aids, Stephen J. O'Brien, Sher L. Hendrickson

Biology Faculty Articles

The AIDS era has seen multiple advances in the power of genetics research; scores of host genetic protective factors have been nominated and several have translated to the bedside. We discuss how genomics may inform HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and eradication.

Depth-Variable Settlement Patterns And Predation Influence On Newly Settled Reef Fishes (Haemulon Spp., Haemulidae), Lance K. B. Jordan, Kenyon C. Lindeman, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

During early demersal ontogeny, many marine fishes display complex habitat-use patterns. Grunts of the speciose genus Haemulon are among the most abundant fishes on western North Atlantic coral reefs, with most species settling to shallow habitats (≤12 m). To gain understanding into cross-shelf distributional patterns exhibited by newly settled stages of grunts (<2 cm total length), we examined: 1) depth-specific distributions of congeners at settlement among sites at 8 m, 12 m, and 21 m, and 2) depth-variable predation pressure on newly settled individuals (species pooled). Of the six species identified from collections of newly settled specimens (n = 2125), Haemulon aurolineatum (tomtate), H. flavolineatum(French grunt), and H. striatum (striped grunt) comprised 98% of the total abundance; with the first two species present at all sites. Prevalence of H. aurolineatum and H. flavolineatumdecreased substantially from the 8-m site to the two deeper sites. In contrast, …

Density And Diversity Of Penaeid Shrimp And Fish Species In Near-Shore Seagrass Beds Of Northern Biscayne Bay, Florida (Usa), Robin Cascioli

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass beds serve critical functions in coastal Florida ecosystems. The beds serve as nursery habitat for many juvenile reef fish species and provide protection for many types of benthic organisms found in Biscayne Bay. They help stabilize sediment that would otherwise increase turbidity around coral reefs, filter the water of contaminants, and help support an entire food web. Three species of seagrass were found at the study sites in northern Biscayne Bay: Thalassia testudinum, Halodule wrightii, and Syringodium filiforme. This study focused on understanding the organism habitat interaction by determining the species diversity, seasonal densities, and the …

The Role Of Gene Duplication And Unconstrained Selective Pressures In The Melanopsin Gene Family Evolution And Vertebrate Circadian Rhythm Regulation, Rui Borges, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Vitor Vasconcelos, Agostinho Antunes

Biology Faculty Articles

Melanopsin is a photosensitive cell protein involved in regulating circadian rhythms and other non-visual responses to light. The melanopsin gene family is represented by two paralogs,OPN4x and OPN4m, which originated through gene duplication early in the emergence of vertebrates. Here we studied the melanopsin gene family using an integrated gene/protein evolutionary approach, which revealed that the rhabdomeric urbilaterian ancestor had the same amino acid patterns (DRY motif and the Y and E conterions) as extant vertebrate species, suggesting that the mechanism for light detection and regulation is similar to rhabdomeric rhodopsins. Both OPN4m and OPN4x paralogs are found …

Peroxiredoxin Ii Regulates Effector And Secondary Memory Cd8+ T Cell Responses, Ryan D. Michalek, Katie E. Crump, Ashley E. Weant, Elizabeth M. Hiltbold, Daniel G. Juneau, Eun-Yi Moon, Dae-Yeul Yu, Leslie B. Poole, Jason M. Grayson

Biology Faculty Articles

Reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) generated in response to receptor stimulation play an important role in cellular responses. However, the effect of increased H₂O₂on an antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell response was unknown. Following T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation, the expression and oxidation of peroxiredoxin II (PrdxII), a critical antioxidant enzyme, increased in CD8⁺ T cells. Deletion of PrdxII increased ROI, S phase entry, division, and death during in vitro division. During primary acute viral and bacterial infection, the number of effector CD8⁺ T cells in PrdxII-deficient mice was increased, while the number of memory …

How The Leopard Hides Its Spots: Asip Mutations And Melanism In Wild Cats, Alexsandra Schneider, Victor A. David, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Gregory S. Barsh, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Eduardo Eizirik

Biology Faculty Articles

The occurrence of melanism (darkening of the background coloration) is documented in 13 felid species, in some cases reaching high frequencies at the population level. Recent analyses have indicated that it arose multiple times in the Felidae, with three different species exhibiting unique mutations associated with this trait. The causative mutations in the remaining species have so far not been identified, precluding a broader assessment of the evolutionary dynamics of melanism in the Felidae. Among these, the leopard (Panthera pardus) is a particularly important target for research, given the iconic status of the ‘black panther’ and the extremely …

The Principal Genetic Determinants For Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma In China Involve The Hla Class I Antigen Recognition Groove, Minzhong Tang, J. A. Lautenberger, Xiaojiang Gao, Efe Sezgin, Sher L. Hendrickson, Jennifer L. Troyer, Victor A. David, Li Guan, Carl Mcintosh, Xiuchan Guo, Yuming Zheng, Jian Liao, Hong Deng, Michael Malasky, Bailey Kessing, Cheryl Winkler, Mary Carrington, Guy De The, Yi Zeng, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy facilitated by Epstein-Barr Virus infection. Here we resolve the major genetic influences for NPC incidence using a genome-wide association study (GWAS), independent cohort replication, and high-resolution molecular HLA class I gene typing including 4,055 study participants from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong province of southern China. We detect and replicate strong association signals involving SNPs, HLA alleles, and amino acid (aa) variants across the major histocompatibility complex-HLA-A, HLA –B, and HLA -C class I genes (P_{HLA-A-aa-site-62}= 7.4×10⁻²⁹; P _{HLA-B-aa-site-116}= 6.5×10⁻¹⁹; P _{HLA-C-aa-site-156} = 6.8×10 …

Global Trophic Position Comparison Of Two Dominant Mesopelagic Fish Families (Myctophidae, Stomiidae) Using Amino Acid Nitrogen Isotopic Analyses, C. Anela Choy, Peter C. Davison, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Adrian Flynn, Elizabeth J. Gier, Joel C. Hoffman, Jennifer P. Mcclain-Counts, Todd W. Miller, Brian N. Popp, Steve W. Ross, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The δ15N values of organisms are commonly used across diverse ecosystems to estimate trophic position and infer trophic connectivity. We undertook a novel cross-basin comparison of trophic position in two ecologically well-characterized and different groups of dominant mid-water fish consumers using amino acid nitrogen isotope compositions. We found that trophic positions estimated from the δ15N values of individual amino acids are nearly uniform within both families of these fishes across five global regions despite great variability in bulk tissue δ15N values. Regional differences in the δ15N values of phenylalanine confirmed that bulk tissue δ15N values reflect region-specific water mass biogeochemistry …

Microbial Effects On The Production And Transformation Of Surfactants Within The Microlayer And Subsurface Waters In Application To Remote Sensing Techniques, Katie E. Vella

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The sea surface microlayer is a millimeter-scale interfacial layer between the atmosphere and the ocean. A number of studies have suggested that there is a unique ecosystem for marine bacteria in the sea surface microlayer, but little information exists on the microbial community composition of this ecosystem due to sampling complexities. In this work, we present an improved method to sample and compare the bacterial diversity of the sea surface microlayer with that of subsurface water at the same site. Bacterial samples were collected from the sea surface microlayer with a sampling method, which minimized sample contamination from the research …

Air-Sea Interface In Hurricane Conditions, Alexander Soloviev, A. Fujimura, Silvia Matt

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Improving hurricane prediction models requires better understanding of complex processes taking place at the air-sea interface at high wind speeds. The change of the air-sea interaction regime in hurricane conditions has been linked to the mechanism of direct disruption of the air-sea interface by pressure fluctuations working against the surface tension force. This can be achieved through the Kelvin-Helmholtz type instability. In order to investigate this mechanism, we have conducted a series of 3D numerical experiments using a volume of fluid multiphase model. The experiments were initialized with either a flat interface or short wavelets and wind stress applied at …

Functional And Structural Divergence Of An Unusual Ltr Retrotransposon Family In Plants, Dongying Gao, Jose Jimenez-Lopez, Aiko Iwata, Navdeep Gill, Scott Jackson

Biology Faculty Articles

Retrotransposons with long terminal repeats (LTRs) more than 3 kb are not frequent in most eukaryotic genomes. Rice LTR retrotransposon, Retrosat2, has LTRs greater than 3.2 kb and two open reading frames (ORF): ORF1 encodes enzymes for retrotransposition whereas no function can be assigned to ORF0 as it is not found in any other organism. A variety of experimental and in silico approaches were used to determine the origin of Retrosat2 and putative function of ORF0. Our data show that not only is Retrosat2 highly abundant in the Oryza genus, it may yet be active in rice. Homologs of Retrosat2 …

The Lli Chronicle Volume 3 Number 4, Nova Southeastern University

Lifelong Learning Institute Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Light And Vision In The Deep-Sea Benthos: Ii. Vision In Deep-Sea Crustaceans, Tamara M. Frank, Sönke Johnsen, Thomas W. Cronin

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Using new collecting techniques with the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible, eight species of deep-sea benthic crustaceans were collected with intact visual systems. Their spectral sensitivities and temporal resolutions were determined shipboard using electroretinography. Useable spectral sensitivity data were obtained from seven species, and in the dark-adapted eyes, the spectral sensitivity peaks were in the blue region of the visible spectrum, ranging from 470 to 497 nm. Under blue chromatic adaptation, a secondary sensitivity peak in the UV portion of the spectrum appeared for two species of anomuran crabs:Eumunida picta (λ_max 363 nm) and Gastroptychus spinifer (λ_max 383 nm). Wavelength-specific …

Light And Vision In The Deep-Sea Benthos: I. Bioluminescence At 500-1000 M Depth In The Bahamian Islands, Sönke Johnsen, Tamara M. Frank, Steven H.D. Haddock, Edith A. Widder, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Bioluminescence is common and well studied in mesopelagic species. However, the extent of bioluminescence in benthic sites of similar depths is far less studied, although the relatively large eyes of benthic fish, crustaceans and cephalopods at bathyal depths suggest the presence of significant biogenic light. Using the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible, we collected numerous species of cnidarians, echinoderms, crustaceans, cephalopods and sponges, as well as one annelid from three sites in the northern Bahamas (500–1000 m depth). Using mechanical and chemical stimulation, we tested the collected species for light emission, and photographed and measured the spectra of the emitted light. In addition, …

Development And Characterization Of 11 Novel Microsatellite Loci For The Roundscale Spearfish Tetrapturus Georgii And Their Cross-Species Amplification Among Other Istiophorid Species, Andrea M. Bernard, Kevin A. Feldheim, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Eleven novel polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and characterized for the recently validated roundscale spearfish Tetrapturus georgii. Characterization of these markers, based on 35 roundscale spearfish from the western North Atlantic, revealed two to 21 alleles per locus with an average expected heterozygosity (HE) of 0·09–0·94, and all loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg expectations. Cross-amplification of these 11 loci against all other eight known istiophorid species indicates promising prospects for the utility of these markers for istiophorids in general.