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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Ecology And Conservation Of Diamondback Terrapins In Virginia, Cypress Ambrose Apr 2024

Ecology And Conservation Of Diamondback Terrapins In Virginia, Cypress Ambrose

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the only turtle species native to North America with specific morphological and physiological adaptations to estuarine environments. Along with many other pressures contributing to population declines, terrapins frequently become trapped and drown as bycatch in crab pots used in the commercial and recreational blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) fishery. A wealth of evidence supports the use of inexpensive bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) that can be attached to the entrances of these traps, which leads to a marked decrease in terrapin bycatch while not reducing crab catch dramatically. Virginia is the only …


Fecal Pellet Production By North Atlantic Zooplankton, Michael Gibson May 2023

Fecal Pellet Production By North Atlantic Zooplankton, Michael Gibson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fecal pellet carbon (FPC) production by zooplankton is a significant component of the ocean’s biological carbon pump: the suite of biological processes that mediate export of carbon to the deep ocean, ultimately leading to the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the ocean. In this study, mesozooplankton (zooplankton 0.2 mm to ~2 cm) were collected from the epipelagic zone in the temperate North Atlantic Ocean during day and night in May 2021. Zooplankton were live separated into five size fractions and incubated on board ship in natural surface seawater to measure fecal pellet production rate of the mixed mesozooplankton community. …


Life History Of Two Goatfishes In Hawaii And Alternative Methodologies In Life History Research, Duncan Campbell May 2023

Life History Of Two Goatfishes In Hawaii And Alternative Methodologies In Life History Research, Duncan Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Data-driven management of fisheries requires information on the life history of the species being managed. I provide new information on the life histories of two goatfish species in Hawaiʻi, Parupeneus insularis and Parupeneus cyclostomus. Fish were collected using spearfishing from the reefs of Oʻahu between 2020 and 2023. Macroscopic and microscopic methods of assigning maturity and reproductive stage were used to estimate size at maturity and seasonality. Parapeneus insularis females are estimated to reach 50% maturity at 188 mm fork length (95% CI: 177mm, 197mm), and 95% maturity at 245 mm FL (95% CI: 226mm, 287mm). P. cyclostomus females reach …