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Articles 1681 - 1710 of 2229

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Emerging Role Of Lidar Remote Sensing In Coastal Research And Resource Management Full Access, John C. Brock, Samuel J. Purkis Oct 2009

The Emerging Role Of Lidar Remote Sensing In Coastal Research And Resource Management Full Access, John C. Brock, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Knowledge of coastal elevation is an essential requirement for resource management and scientific research. Recognizing the vast potential of lidar remote sensing in coastal studies, this Special Issue includes a collection of articles intended to represent the state-of-the-art for lidar investigations of nearshore submerged and emergent ecosystems, coastal morphodynamics, and hazards due to sea-level rise and severe storms. Some current applications for lidar remote sensing described in this Special Issue include bluegreen wavelength lidar used for submarine coastal benthic environments such as coral reef ecosystems, airborne lidar used for shoreline mapping and coastal change detection, and temporal waveform-resolving lidar used …

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Interpretation Of Single-Beam Acoustic Backscatter Using Lidar-Derived Topographic Complexity And Benthic Habitat Classifications In A Coral Reef Environment, Greg Foster, Brian K. Walker, Bernhard Riegl Oct 2009

Interpretation Of Single-Beam Acoustic Backscatter Using Lidar-Derived Topographic Complexity And Benthic Habitat Classifications In A Coral Reef Environment, Greg Foster, Brian K. Walker, Bernhard Riegl

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Producing thematic coral reef benthic habitat maps from single-beam acoustic backscatter has been hindered by uncertainties in interpreting the acoustic energy parameters E1 (tail of 1st echo) and E2 (complete 2nd echo), typically limiting such maps to sediment classification schemes. In this study, acoustic interpretation was guided by high-resolution lidar (LIght Detection And Ranging) bathymetry. Each acoustic record, acquired from a BioSonics DT-X echosounder and multiplexed 38 and 418 kHz transducers, was paired with a spatially-coincident value of a lidar-derived proxy for topographic complexity, reef-volume (RV), and its membership to one of eight benthic habitat classes, delineated from lidar imagery, …

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Ccl3l1 And Hiv/Aids Susceptibility, Thomas J. Urban, Amy C. Weintrob, Jacques Fellay, Sara Colombo, Kevin V. Shianna, Curtis Gumbs, Margalida Rotger, Kimberly Pelak, Kristen K. Dang, Roger Detels, Jeremy J. Martinson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Norman L. Letvin, Andrew J. Mcmichael, Barton F. Haynes, Mary Carrington, Amalio Telenti, Nelson L. Michael, David B. Goldstein Oct 2009

Ccl3l1 And Hiv/Aids Susceptibility, Thomas J. Urban, Amy C. Weintrob, Jacques Fellay, Sara Colombo, Kevin V. Shianna, Curtis Gumbs, Margalida Rotger, Kimberly Pelak, Kristen K. Dang, Roger Detels, Jeremy J. Martinson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Norman L. Letvin, Andrew J. Mcmichael, Barton F. Haynes, Mary Carrington, Amalio Telenti, Nelson L. Michael, David B. Goldstein

Biology Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

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Reticulate Evolution And Marine Organisms: The Final Frontier?, Michael L. Arnold, Nicole D. Fogarty Sep 2009

Reticulate Evolution And Marine Organisms: The Final Frontier?, Michael L. Arnold, Nicole D. Fogarty

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The role that reticulate evolution (i.e., via lateral transfer, viral recombination and/or introgressive hybridization) has played in the origin and adaptation of individual taxa and even entire clades continues to be tested for all domains of life. Though falsified for some groups, the hypothesis of divergence in the face of gene flow is becoming accepted as a major facilitator of evolutionary change for many microorganisms, plants and animals. Yet, the effect of reticulate evolutionary change in certain assemblages has been doubted, either due to an actual dearth of genetic exchange among the lineages belonging to these clades or …

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Movements And Habitat Utilization Of Two Longbill Spearfish Tetrapturus Pfluegeri In The Eastern Tropical South Atlantic Ocean, David W. Kerstetter, Eric S. Orbesen, S. Robert Snodgrass, Eric Prince Sep 2009

Movements And Habitat Utilization Of Two Longbill Spearfish Tetrapturus Pfluegeri In The Eastern Tropical South Atlantic Ocean, David W. Kerstetter, Eric S. Orbesen, S. Robert Snodgrass, Eric Prince

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The longbill spearfish Tetrapturus pfleugeri Robins and de Sylva, 1963, is a small istiophorid billfish found in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas that occurs as an infrequent by-catch in recreational and commercial pelagic fisheries. Although some data exist on diet and reproduction based on dead specimens, little is known of the species’ habitat preferences or individual movement patterns. In 2004, two longbill spearfish were tagged with pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) near Ascencion Island in the South Atlantic for 11 d and 45 d. Individual movement tracks derived from light-based geolocation estimates suggested little relationship with sea surface temperature …

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Genetics And Pathogenesis Of Feline Infectious Peritonitis Virus, Meredith Brown, Jennifer L. Troyer, Jill Pecon-Slattery, M. Roelke-Parker, Stephen J. O'Brien Sep 2009

Genetics And Pathogenesis Of Feline Infectious Peritonitis Virus, Meredith Brown, Jennifer L. Troyer, Jill Pecon-Slattery, M. Roelke-Parker, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Feline coronavirus (FCoV) is endemic in feral cat populations and cat colonies, frequently preceding outbreaks of fatal feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). FCoV exhibits 2 biotypes: the pathogenic disease and a benign infection with feline enteric coronavirus (FECV). Uncertainty remains regarding whether genetically distinctive avirulent and virulent forms coexist or whether an avirulent form mutates in vivo, causing FIP. To resolve these alternative hypotheses, we isolated viral sequences from FCoV-infected clinically healthy and sick cats (8 FIP cases and 48 FECV-asymptomatic animals); 735 sequences from 4 gene segments were generated and subjected to phylogenetic analyses. Viral sequences from healthy cats were …

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Southeast Florida Coral Reef Evaluation And Monitoring Project 2008 Year 6 Final Report, David S. Gilliam Aug 2009

Southeast Florida Coral Reef Evaluation And Monitoring Project 2008 Year 6 Final Report, David S. Gilliam

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

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Summer/Fall 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center Aug 2009

Summer/Fall 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

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Segregation Of Palaemonid Shrimp Along The Shark River Estuary: Implications For Trophic Function, Lauren C. Mccarthy Aug 2009

Segregation Of Palaemonid Shrimp Along The Shark River Estuary: Implications For Trophic Function, Lauren C. Mccarthy

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the abundance, distribution, and spatiotemporal variation of palaemonid shrimp species in relation to season and salinity in the Shark River Estuary, Everglades National Park (ENP), Florida, USA. Five palaemonid species occurred in the samples: Palaemonetes paludosus, P. pugio, P. intermedius, Palaemon floridanus, and Leander paulensis; L. paulensis was collected only during the wet season. Overall, shrimp catches in traps doubled in the dry season. Catches in the upper estuary were dominated by P. paludosus, particularly in the wet season, while catch per unit effort (CPUE) at the most downstream, …

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Deep-Sea Fishes Of The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Trophic Structure And Interactions, Tracey Sutton, Joel C. Hoffman, Jeanna Kidwell, Odd Aksel Bergstad, Tone Falkenhaug, F. M. Porteiro, M. Heino, C. I. H. Anderson, J. Horne, Ann Bucklin Jul 2009

Deep-Sea Fishes Of The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Trophic Structure And Interactions, Tracey Sutton, Joel C. Hoffman, Jeanna Kidwell, Odd Aksel Bergstad, Tone Falkenhaug, F. M. Porteiro, M. Heino, C. I. H. Anderson, J. Horne, Ann Bucklin

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

Because deep-sea fisheries are increasing as coastal fisheries decline, fisheries scientists need baseline data on deep-sea ecosystems prior to further development of deep-water fisheries. We present preliminary results and ongoing efforts to characterize the trophic structure and energy flow of the pelagic ecosystems of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, from Iceland to the Azores. This study is one component of the international CoML field project MAR-ECO (www.mar-eco.no). We found a diverse deep-pelagic fish fauna (205 spp.), with unexpectedly high bathypelagic fish biomass and spatial complexity. Based on literature reports of species present, crustacean planktivory is the dominant trophic guild (79% of …

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Spatial Distributions Of Bathypelagic Fishes Along The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, C. I. H. Anderson, J. Horne, Tracey Sutton Jul 2009

Spatial Distributions Of Bathypelagic Fishes Along The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, C. I. H. Anderson, J. Horne, Tracey Sutton

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

The spatial distribution of organisms plays a key role in facilitating biological processes, such as trophic interactions, which influence pelagic ecosystem structure and function. This study combines discrete trawl net sampling with continuous, full water column, acoustic measurements to investigate the distribution of bathypelagic (1000- 3000 m depth) nekton biomass along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from Iceland to the Azores in the North Atlantic. Two, previously unknown, distinct bathypelagic acoustic scattering layers (ASLs) were observed using 18 kHz echosounder data. One, extending down on average ~200 m from 2000 m depth, appears ubiquitous wherever bottom depth allows, while the second, found …

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A Bac-Based Physical Map Of The Hessian Fly Genome Anchored To Polytene Chromosomes, Rajat Aggarwal, Thiago R. Benatti, Navdeep Gill, Chaoyang Zhao, Ming-Shun Chen, John P. Fellers, Brandon J. Schemerhorn, Jeff J. Stuart Jul 2009

A Bac-Based Physical Map Of The Hessian Fly Genome Anchored To Polytene Chromosomes, Rajat Aggarwal, Thiago R. Benatti, Navdeep Gill, Chaoyang Zhao, Ming-Shun Chen, John P. Fellers, Brandon J. Schemerhorn, Jeff J. Stuart

Biology Faculty Articles

Background: The Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor) is an important insect pest of wheat. It has tractable genetics, polytene chromosomes, and a small genome (158 Mb). Investigation of the Hessian fly presents excellent opportunities to study plant-insect interactions and the molecular mechanisms underlying genome imprinting and chromosome elimination. A physical map is needed to improve the ability to perform both positional cloning and comparative genomic analyses with the fully sequenced genomes of other dipteran species. Results: An FPC-based genome wide physical map of the Hessian fly was constructed and anchored to the insect's polytene chromosomes. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones corresponding …

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Habitat Mapping In The Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabia) Using Casi And Quickbird Imagery, Gwilym Rowlands, James A. Goodman, Bernhard Riegl, Philip Renaud, Samuel J. Purkis Jul 2009

Habitat Mapping In The Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabia) Using Casi And Quickbird Imagery, Gwilym Rowlands, James A. Goodman, Bernhard Riegl, Philip Renaud, Samuel J. Purkis

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

Map products derived from remote sensing technology increase our understanding and ability to manage tropical marine environments. The enhanced mapping capabilities of hyperspectral sensors are well understood; yet technology uptake, particularly for large scale tasks, has been slow. The study presented represents one of the largest hyperspectral projects to date, and paves the way towards increased use of this technology. Hyperspectral CASI-550 imagery and multispectral QuickBird imagery, was acquired over 3,168 km2 of the Farasan Islands. In addition to the typical image processing steps, inopportune water condensation in the CASI sensors lens necessitated further processing to remove an across-track …

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Surface Mucous As A Source Of Genomic Dna From Atlantic Billfishes (Istiophoridae) And Swordfish (Xiphiidae), John P. Hoolihan, Nerida G. Wilson, Ronald M. Faugue, Andrea Bernard, Rebekah L. Horn, Derke Snodgrass, Duane R. Schultz Jul 2009

Surface Mucous As A Source Of Genomic Dna From Atlantic Billfishes (Istiophoridae) And Swordfish (Xiphiidae), John P. Hoolihan, Nerida G. Wilson, Ronald M. Faugue, Andrea Bernard, Rebekah L. Horn, Derke Snodgrass, Duane R. Schultz

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Procedures for sampling genomic DNA from live billfishes involve manual restraint and tissue excision that can be difficult to carry out and may produce stresses that affect fish survival. We examined the collection of surface mucous as a less invasive alternative method for sourcing genomic DNA by comparing it to autologous muscle tissue samples from Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus), sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus), and swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Purified DNA from mucous was comparable to muscle and was suitable for conventional polymerase chain reaction, random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, …

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Benthic Habitat Mapping Of Miami-Dade County: Visual Interpretation Of Lads Bathymetry And Aerial Photography, Brian K. Walker Jun 2009

Benthic Habitat Mapping Of Miami-Dade County: Visual Interpretation Of Lads Bathymetry And Aerial Photography, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

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Aves Marinas Anidando En Islas De La Sonda De Campeche, Thor Morales, Enriqueta Velarde, Francisco Daniel Ruz, Edward O. Keith Jun 2009

Aves Marinas Anidando En Islas De La Sonda De Campeche, Thor Morales, Enriqueta Velarde, Francisco Daniel Ruz, Edward O. Keith

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

Esta zona arrecifal, la más norteña del Golfo de México mexicano alberga las mayores colonias de anidación de aves marinas de la región. El último censo se realizó en 1986. En la zona se practica la pesca, turismo y explotación petrolífera, que potencialmente constituyen un riesgo para la biodiversidad del arrecife. La zona está pobremente estudiada y es importante obtener información sobre sus recursos para manejarlos adecuadamente. Nuestro objetivo es actualizar la información sobre las especies de aves marinas que anidan en las islas del Parque Nacional Arrecife Alacranes y Cayo Arenas. Se visitaron 6 islas a mediados de marzo …

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The Taming Of The Cat, Carlos A. Driscoll, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Andrew C. Kitchener, Stephen J. O'Brien Jun 2009

The Taming Of The Cat, Carlos A. Driscoll, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Andrew C. Kitchener, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

This article discusses research into the evolution of domesticated cats, which is complicated by the fact that they do not appear to serve humans. Although several species are morphologically similar, genetic research focusing on mitochondrial DNA and genetic microsatellites found that domesticated cats descended from F. sylvestris lybica. Archaeological research indicating cats came to live with humans as the prevalence of house mice in agricultural settlements increased is noted. Insets: The House Cat's Ancestor; Early Domestication; From Wild to Mild; The Truth about Cats and Dogs

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An Analysis Of Policies And Conservation Techniques To Reduce The Accidental Deaths Of Sea Turtle Hatchlings Due To Light Pollution In Broward County, Fl., Megan Wilson May 2009

An Analysis Of Policies And Conservation Techniques To Reduce The Accidental Deaths Of Sea Turtle Hatchlings Due To Light Pollution In Broward County, Fl., Megan Wilson

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Light pollution is any excessive or obtrusive man made light source which disrupts the natural environment. Hatchling marine turtles are adversely affected by light pollution and therefore unlit nesting beaches are essential habitats for all marine turtle species. In Broward County, the most significant conservation issue facing nesting and hatchling marine turtles is the amount of light pollution present on urban sea turtle nesting beaches. The reduction of hatchling mortality from light pollution is an ongoing conservation goal of the State of Florida, Broward County, and the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Project (BCSTCP). Conservation techniques and policies intended to …

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Accuracy Assessment And Monitoring For Noaa Florida Keys Mapping Aa Roi-1 (Hawk Channel Near American Shoal), Brian K. Walker, Greg Foster Apr 2009

Accuracy Assessment And Monitoring For Noaa Florida Keys Mapping Aa Roi-1 (Hawk Channel Near American Shoal), Brian K. Walker, Greg Foster

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

This report describes the methodologies, analyses, and results for an independent accuracy assessment of a thematic benthic habitat map produced by NOAA for the Florida Keys. It is an analysis of four regional accuracy assessments. Over the course of the Florida Keys mapping project, NOAA amended part of the classification scheme. The original scheme for mapping benthic cover was a tiered approach where certain benthic cover categories were given priority over others (e.g. coral was most important). Recently, this was modified to a dominant benthic cover scheme where the habitat is characterized by the single most dominant cover type and …

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Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis Apr 2009

Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Books and Book Chapters

This special publication Perspectives in Carbonate Geology is a collection of papers most of which were presented at a symposium to honor the 80th birthday of Bob Ginsburg at the meeting of Geological Society of America in Salt Lake City in 2005. The majority of the papers in this publication are connected with the study of modern carbonate sediments. Bob Ginsburg pioneered the concept of comparative sedimentology - that is using the modern to compare to and relate to and understand the ancient. These studies are concerned with Bob's areas of passion: coral reefs and sea-level; submarine cementation and formation …

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Spring 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center Apr 2009

Spring 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

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Rapid Recovery Of A Coral Reef At Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Peter W. Glynn, Bernhard Riegl, Adrienne M. S. Correa, Iliana B. Baums Jan 2009

Rapid Recovery Of A Coral Reef At Darwin Island, Galapagos Islands, Peter W. Glynn, Bernhard Riegl, Adrienne M. S. Correa, Iliana B. Baums

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Surveys at Darwin Island in 2006 and 2007 have demonstrated that this northernmost Galapagos Islands coral reef has recovered significantly since the 1982–3 El Niño event. When first surveyed in 1975, this structural reef exhibited actively accreting frameworks of pocilloporid and poritid corals. The coral suffered severe mortality in 1983, resulting in the near total loss of pocilloporids and extensive partial mortality of poritid corals. Large sections of the reef had not recovered by 1992 and dead frameworks were subject to bio-erosion, although small numbers of sexual recruits of pocilloporid corals and numerous recruits plus regenerating patches of Porites lobata …

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Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis Jan 2009

Markov Models For Linking Environments And Facies In Space And Time (Recent Arabian Gulf, Miocene Paratethys), Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

If, as comparative sedimentology maintains, knowledge of the Recent can sometimes be helpful to explain the past (and vice-versa), common quantitative denominators might exist between Recent and fossil systems. It may also be possible to describe dynamics and find linkages between space and time with a unique set of quantitative tools. To explore such conceptual links, spatial facies patterns mapped using satellite imagery were compared with temporal patterns in analogous ancient outcropping facies using Markov chains and graphs. Landsat and Ikonos satellite imagery was used to map benthic facies in a nearshore carbonate ramp (Ras Hasyan) and offshore platform system …

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The Influence Of Artificial Reef Associated Fish Assemblages And Varying Substrates On Coral Recruitment, T. Patrick Quinn Jan 2009

The Influence Of Artificial Reef Associated Fish Assemblages And Varying Substrates On Coral Recruitment, T. Patrick Quinn

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This study examined enhancing coral recruitment to artificial substrate by manipulating fish assemblages and the use of coral attractant substrates. One hundred sixty artificial reef modules were organized into 40 four-module replicate configurations (quads) of varying complexity to induce different fish assemblages. The deployment array consisted of the 40 quads, each in a square configuration with three to four-meter sides (approximately 1 m separation between modules) measured from the outside corners. The quads were divided into four fill treatments of differing complexity: Empty, Small, Mixed, and Large. Each quad had four potential coral attractant treatments on settlement plates: CaCO3, iron, …

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New Perspectives On Ecological Mechanisms Affecting Coral Recruitment On Reefs, Raphael Ritson-Williams, Suzanne N. Arnold, Nicole D. Fogarty, Robert S. Steneck, Mark J. A. Vermeij, Valerie J. Paul Jan 2009

New Perspectives On Ecological Mechanisms Affecting Coral Recruitment On Reefs, Raphael Ritson-Williams, Suzanne N. Arnold, Nicole D. Fogarty, Robert S. Steneck, Mark J. A. Vermeij, Valerie J. Paul

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Coral mortality has increased in recent decades, making coral recruitment more important than ever in sustaining coral reef ecosystems and contributing to their resilience. This review summarizes existing information on ecological factors affecting scleractinian coral recruitment. Successful recruitment requires the survival of coral offspring through sequential life history stages. Larval availability, successful settlement, and post-settlement survival and growth are all necessary for the addition of new coral individuals to a reef and ultimately maintenance or recovery of coral reef ecosystems. As environmental conditions continue to become more hostile to corals on a global scale, further research on fertilization ecology, connectivity, …

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Ros-Mediated Oxidative Stress Influence Anti-Apoptotic Genes And Cyt C Release In Hyperglycemic Mouse Kidneys To Initiate Late Nephropathic Complications, Krina Shah, Mayur S. Parmar, Sidhartha D. Ray Jan 2009

Ros-Mediated Oxidative Stress Influence Anti-Apoptotic Genes And Cyt C Release In Hyperglycemic Mouse Kidneys To Initiate Late Nephropathic Complications, Krina Shah, Mayur S. Parmar, Sidhartha D. Ray

HPD Articles

Decades of intense research has shown that hyperglycemiainduced ROS production can lead to a redox-imbalance causing oxidative stress (OS) in a variety of target organs in vivo. In the absence of an efficient antioxidant counteracting system, massive OS often leads to activation of stress-responsive signaling pathways resulting in deregulated expression of pro-survival and/or pro-death genes. Persistent deregulation of such pathways eventually masterminds late complications of diabetes. Most studies hold hyperglycemia-induced OS as the ‘cause’, and premature onset of apoptosis as the ‘effect’. This ‘cause and effect’ axis ultimately initiates the development and progression of macro and microvascular complications including diabetic …

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Winter 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center Jan 2009

Winter 2009, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

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Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates The Origin Of The Extinct Caspian Tiger And Its Relationship To The Amur Tiger, Carlos A. Driscoll, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Gila Kahila Bar-Gal, Alfred L. Roca, Shu-Jin Luo, David W. Macdonald, Stephen J. O'Brien Jan 2009

Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates The Origin Of The Extinct Caspian Tiger And Its Relationship To The Amur Tiger, Carlos A. Driscoll, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, Gila Kahila Bar-Gal, Alfred L. Roca, Shu-Jin Luo, David W. Macdonald, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) flourished in Central Asian riverine forest systems in a range disjunct from that of other tigers, but was driven to extinction in 1970 prior to a modern molecular evaluation. For over a century naturalists puzzled over the taxonomic validity, placement, and biogeographic origin of this enigmatic animal. Using ancient-DNA (aDNA) methodology, we generated composite mtDNA haplotypes from twenty wild Caspian tigers from throughout their historic range sampled from museum collections. We found that Caspian tigers carry a major mtDNA haplotype differing by only a single nucleotide from the monomorphic haplotype found across …

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Lidar-Derived Benthic Habitat Maps Enable The Quantification Of Potential Dredging Impacts To Coral Reef Ecosystems, Brian K. Walker, Richard E. Dodge, David S. Gilliam Dec 2008

Lidar-Derived Benthic Habitat Maps Enable The Quantification Of Potential Dredging Impacts To Coral Reef Ecosystems, Brian K. Walker, Richard E. Dodge, David S. Gilliam

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

An essential component to the analysis of ecosystem services is to characterize and define the major habitats within the area of interest. Aerial photography and/or satellite imagery coupled with geographic information systems (GIS) are frequently used to identify and quantify habitats in open terrestrial ecosystems. However, it is more difficult to successfully apply this methodology to deeper, <20 m, underwater environments. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR), a relatively new remote sensing technology that provides detailed bathymetry, can be used when adequate imagery is not available. This study uses LIDAR as the basis to characterize various benthic habitats in a coral reef ecosystem in order to quantify the habitats for a Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) related to planned dredging activities to expand the Port Everglades entrance channel, Broward County, FL. As part of a regional mapping effort, marine benthic habitats were characterized for Broward County, FL. A mosaic of interpolated, sunshaded, laser bathymetry data served as the foundation upon which acoustic ground discrimination, limited subbottom profiling and aerial photography, and groundtruthing data were added in a GIS to aid in interpretation of benthic habitats. Expert-driven visual interpretation outlined geomorphological features in the LIDAR data at a scale of 1:6000 with a minimum mapping unit of 1 acre. The map of Broward County yielded a high overall accuracy of 89.6%. To quantify the potential dredging impacts, the habitat layer was clipped in GIS to the boundaries of anticipated direct and indirect impacts of the proposed project. Then the area of each clipped polygon was totaled for each habitat by impact type. HEA and Florida’s Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM) were performed using these areas. This work would not have been possible using satellite imagery or aerial photography alone and illustrates the capability of relatively new remote sensing technologies to aid in the definition and quantification of habitats for ecosystem service analyses.

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Streptococcus Pyogenes: A Versatile Human Pathogen, Maria E. Cevallos Dec 2008

Streptococcus Pyogenes: A Versatile Human Pathogen, Maria E. Cevallos

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Streptococcus pyogenes is one of the most medically relevant genera of Gram positive bacteria. S. pyogenes belongs to Group A streptococcus (GAS), the most pathogenic streptococci. S. pyogenes is exclusively a human pathogen that is known for its ability to cause a wide array of infections ranging from superficial pharyngitis and impetigo to invasive life threatening conditions including septicemia, necrotizing fasciitis, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. The dissemination of S. pyogenes within a human host is dependent upon virulence factors aimed at host immune system evasion leading to infection. More specifically, S. pyogenes’ virulence factors are required for bacterial …

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