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Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Spatial And Temporal Variation In Brackish Wetland Seedbanks: Implications For Wetland Restoration Following Phragmites Control, Eric L. G. Hazelton, Rebekah Downard, Karin M. Kettenring, Melissa K. Mccormick, Dennis F. Whigham
Spatial And Temporal Variation In Brackish Wetland Seedbanks: Implications For Wetland Restoration Following Phragmites Control, Eric L. G. Hazelton, Rebekah Downard, Karin M. Kettenring, Melissa K. Mccormick, Dennis F. Whigham
Ecology Center Publications
Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands are experiencing a broad-scale, aggressive invasion by the non-native, clonal grass Phragmites australis. The grass is often managed with herbicides in efforts to restore native plant communities and wildlife habitat. Management efforts, however, can act as a disturbance, resulting in increased light availability, potentially fostering reinvasion from soil seedbanks. If native vegetation establishes quickly from seedbanks, the site should have greater resiliency against invasion, while disturbed sites where native plants do not rapidly establish may be rapidly colonized by P. australis. We surveyed the soil seedbank of three vegetation cover types in five Chesapeake …
Sea Level Rise May Increase Extinction Risk Of A Saltmarsh Ontogenetic Habitat Specialist, David S. Johnson, Bethany L. Williams
Sea Level Rise May Increase Extinction Risk Of A Saltmarsh Ontogenetic Habitat Specialist, David S. Johnson, Bethany L. Williams
VIMS Articles
Specialist species are more vulnerable to environmental change than generalist species. For species with ontogenetic niche shifts, specialization may occur at a particular life stage making those stages more susceptible to environmental change. In the salt marshes in the northeast U.S., accelerated sea level rise is shifting vegetation patterns from flood-intolerant species such as Spartina patens to the flood-tolerant Spartina alterniflora. We tested the potential impact of this change on the coffee bean snail, Melampus bidentatus, a numerically dominant benthic invertebrate with an ontogenetic niche shift. From a survey of eight marshes throughout the northeast U.S., small snails …
Ecosystem Metabolism Modeling Of Estuaries In Maine: Using Dissolved Oxygen As A Tool For Aquaculture Site Assessment, Katherine Miller
Ecosystem Metabolism Modeling Of Estuaries In Maine: Using Dissolved Oxygen As A Tool For Aquaculture Site Assessment, Katherine Miller
Honors College
The net primary productivity (NPP), also known as the net ecosystem metabolism, of an estuary is a value indicative of the growth and activity of an estuary’s primary producers, relative to the metabolic activity of its consumers. When NPP is high, estuaries exhibit autotrophic conditions that have the capacity to support fruitful bivalve aquaculture. For oyster farmers, the ability to monitor an estuary’s NPP would allow them to predict and prepare for seasonal changes to oyster growth that result from changes to their phytoplankton food source and access to dissolved oxygen (DO). Not only would this aid farmers on site …
A Comparison Of Computational Methods For Estimating Estuarine Production And Respiration From Diel Open Water Dissolved Oxygen Measurements, Spencer Tassone
A Comparison Of Computational Methods For Estimating Estuarine Production And Respiration From Diel Open Water Dissolved Oxygen Measurements, Spencer Tassone
Theses and Dissertations
Diel dissolved oxygen (DO) data were used to characterize seasonal, inter-annual, and longitudinal variation in production and respiration for the James River Estuary. Two computational methods (Bayesian and bookkeeping) were applied to these data to determine whether inferences regarding DO metabolism are sensitive to methodology. Net metabolism was sensitive to methodology as Bayesian results indicated net heterotrophy (production < respiration) while bookkeeping results indicated net autotrophy (production > respiration). Differences in net metabolism among the methods was due to low seasonal variation in respiration using the Bayesian method, whereas bookkeeping results showed a strong correlation between production and respiration. Bayesian results suggest a dependence on allochthonous organic matter (OM) whereas …