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Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity

Urban Nature Indexes Tool Offers Comprehensive And Flexible Approach To Monitoring Urban Ecological Performance, Jennifer Rae Pierce, Laura Costadone, Lelani Mannetti, Joeri Morpurgo, Charlyn Elaine Green, Michael D. Halder, Pablo Arturo Lopez Guijosa, Abner L. Bogan, Russell Galt, Jonathan Hughes Jan 2024

Urban Nature Indexes Tool Offers Comprehensive And Flexible Approach To Monitoring Urban Ecological Performance, Jennifer Rae Pierce, Laura Costadone, Lelani Mannetti, Joeri Morpurgo, Charlyn Elaine Green, Michael D. Halder, Pablo Arturo Lopez Guijosa, Abner L. Bogan, Russell Galt, Jonathan Hughes

ODU Articles

We present the Urban Nature Indexes (UNI), a comprehensive tool that measures urban ecological performance under one standard framework linked to global commitments. The UNI was developed by interdisciplinary experts and evaluated by practitioners from diverse cities to capture each city’s ecological footprint from local to global scale. The UNI comprises six themes (consumption drivers, human pressures, habitat status, species status, nature’s contributions to people, and governance responses) that encompass measurable impacts on climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem services, pollution, consumption, water management, and equity within one comprehensive system. Cities then adapt the UNI to their context and capacity by …


Hitting The Sweet Spot: Optimizing Camera Trapping Effort For Estimating Biodiversity In Coastal Environments, Ella Dipetto, Oleksii Dubovyk, Chi Wei, Angela Brierly, Eric Walters, Alex Teodorescu, Jillian Murphy Jan 2023

Hitting The Sweet Spot: Optimizing Camera Trapping Effort For Estimating Biodiversity In Coastal Environments, Ella Dipetto, Oleksii Dubovyk, Chi Wei, Angela Brierly, Eric Walters, Alex Teodorescu, Jillian Murphy

College of Sciences Posters

Wildlife trail cameras, or “camera traps”, have become an effective tool in ecological research and conservation management across a variety of ecosystems to monitor a wide range of taxa. Camera trapping allows for extended survey time in traditionally hard-to-survey environments and has greatly increased our ability to detect cryptic species. One question ecologists commonly face is how much sampling effort is required to accurately estimate community composition. Despite the abundant literature that uses camera trapping techniques, few studies have occurred in coastal saltmarsh ecosystems. These ecosystems are being lost at a rapid rate from land conversion, pollution, and other anthropogenic …


Unified Methods In Collecting, Preserving, And Archiving Coral Bleaching And Restoration Specimens To Increase Sample Utility And Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Emily R. Schmeltzer, Andréa G. Grottoli, Robert Van Woesik, Robert J. Toonen, Mark Warner, Kerri L. Dobson, Rowan H. Mclachlan, Katie Barott, Daniel J. Barshis, Justin Baumann, Leila Chapron, David J. Combosch, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Thomas M. Decarlo, Mary Hagedorn, Laetitia Hédouin, Kenneth Hoadley, Thomas Felis, Christine Ferrier-Pagès, Carly Kenkel, Ilsa B. Kuffner, Jennifer Matthews, Mónica Medina, Christopher Meyer, Corinna Oster, James Price, Hollie M. Putnam, Yvonne Sawall Jan 2022

Unified Methods In Collecting, Preserving, And Archiving Coral Bleaching And Restoration Specimens To Increase Sample Utility And Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Emily R. Schmeltzer, Andréa G. Grottoli, Robert Van Woesik, Robert J. Toonen, Mark Warner, Kerri L. Dobson, Rowan H. Mclachlan, Katie Barott, Daniel J. Barshis, Justin Baumann, Leila Chapron, David J. Combosch, Adrienne M.S. Correa, Thomas M. Decarlo, Mary Hagedorn, Laetitia Hédouin, Kenneth Hoadley, Thomas Felis, Christine Ferrier-Pagès, Carly Kenkel, Ilsa B. Kuffner, Jennifer Matthews, Mónica Medina, Christopher Meyer, Corinna Oster, James Price, Hollie M. Putnam, Yvonne Sawall

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coral reefs are declining worldwide primarily because of bleaching and subsequent mortality resulting from thermal stress. Currently, extensive efforts to engage in more holistic research and restoration endeavors have considerably expanded the techniques applied to examine coral samples. Despite such advances, coral bleaching and restoration studies are often conducted within a specific disciplinary focus, where specimens are collected, preserved, and archived in ways that are not always conducive to further downstream analyses by specialists in other disciplines. This approach may prevent the full utilization of unexpended specimens, leading to siloed research, duplicative efforts, unnecessary loss of additional corals to research …


Investigations Of Phytoplankton Diversity In Chesapeake Bay, Todd Arthur Egerton Apr 2013

Investigations Of Phytoplankton Diversity In Chesapeake Bay, Todd Arthur Egerton

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Characterizing the diversity of a community in relation to environmental conditions and ecosystem functions are core concepts in ecology. While decades of research have led to a growing comprehension of diversity in many ecosystems, our understanding in aquatic habitats and microbial organisms remains relatively limited. Phytoplankton represent a diverse and important group that contribute approximately half of global primary productivity and are intrinsically connected to changing environmental conditions, especially in systems as dynamic as estuaries. To better understand the ecological processes governing phytoplankton composition and diversity, spatial and temporal patterns of environmental parameters and their relation to the algal community …


Conus: First Comprehensive Conservation Red List Assessment Of A Marine Gastropod Mollusc Genus, Howard Peters, Bethan C. O'Leary, Julie P. Hawkins, Kent E. Carpenter, Callum M. Roberts Jan 2013

Conus: First Comprehensive Conservation Red List Assessment Of A Marine Gastropod Mollusc Genus, Howard Peters, Bethan C. O'Leary, Julie P. Hawkins, Kent E. Carpenter, Callum M. Roberts

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine molluscs represent an estimated 23% of all extant marine taxa, but research into their conservation status has so far failed to reflect this importance, with minimal inclusion on the authoritative Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). We assessed the status of all 632 valid species of the tropical marine gastropod mollusc, Conus (cone snails), using Red List standards and procedures to lay the groundwork for future decadal monitoring, one of the first fully comprehensive global assessments of a marine taxon. Three-quarters (75.6%) of species were not currently considered at risk of extinction owing …


Habitat Availability And Heterogeneity And The Indo-Pacific Warm Pool As Predictors Of Marine Species Richness In The Tropical Indo-Pacific, Jonnell C. Sanciangco, Kent E. Carpenter, Peter J. Etnoyer, Fabio Moretzsohn Jan 2013

Habitat Availability And Heterogeneity And The Indo-Pacific Warm Pool As Predictors Of Marine Species Richness In The Tropical Indo-Pacific, Jonnell C. Sanciangco, Kent E. Carpenter, Peter J. Etnoyer, Fabio Moretzsohn

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Range overlap patterns were observed in a dataset of 10,446 expert-derived marine species distribution maps, including 8,295 coastal fishes, 1,212 invertebrates (crustaceans and molluscs), 820 reef-building corals, 50 seagrasses, and 69 mangroves. Distributions of tropical Indo-Pacific shore fishes revealed a concentration of species richness in the northern apex and central region of the Coral Triangle epicenter of marine biodiversity. This pattern was supported by distributions of invertebrates and habitat-forming primary producers. Habitat availability, heterogeneity, and sea surface temperatures were highly correlated with species richness across spatial grains ranging from 23,000 to 5,100,000 km(2) with and without correction for autocorrelation. The …


Extinction Risk And Bottlenecks In The Conservation Of Charismatic Marine Species, Loren Mcclenachan, Andrew B. Cooper, Kent E. Carpenter, Nicholas K. Dulvy Jan 2012

Extinction Risk And Bottlenecks In The Conservation Of Charismatic Marine Species, Loren Mcclenachan, Andrew B. Cooper, Kent E. Carpenter, Nicholas K. Dulvy

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The oceans face a biodiversity crisis, but the degree and scale of extinction risk remains poorly characterized. Charismatic species are most likely to gar- ner greatest support for conservation and thus provide a best-case scenario of the status of marine biodiversity. We summarize extinction risk and diagnose impediments to successful conservation for 1,568 species in 16 families of marine animals in the movie Finding Nemo. Sixteen percent (12–34%) of those that have been evaluated are threatened, ranging from 9% (7–28%) of bony fishes to 100% (83–100%) of marine turtles. A lack of scientific knowledge impedes analysis of threat status …


Foundational Checklist Of The Amphibians Of Wise County, Virginia, Sarah R.A. Davidson, David L. Chambers Oct 2010

Foundational Checklist Of The Amphibians Of Wise County, Virginia, Sarah R.A. Davidson, David L. Chambers

Virginia Journal of Science

The Appalachian Mountains are arguably home to the highest degree of amphibian diversity in the world, particularly caudate (salamander) biodiversity. Despite the high degree of amphibian endemism in the Appalachians, several regions remain unsurveyed for amphibian species. In addition to this knowledge gap, we are in the midst of alarming amphibian biodiversity loss. Thus, it is of the utmost importance to bridge this knowledge gap by conducting surveys before some of these amphibian species are lost. We surveyed Wise County (previously unsurveyed county in the Appalachian Mountains with no records existing in the primary literature) over two years to assess …


The Loss Of Species: Mangrove Extinction Risk And Geographic Areas Of Global Concern, Beth A. Polidoro, Kent E. Carpenter, Lorna Collins, Norman C. Duke, Aaron M. Ellison, Joanna C. Ellison, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, Edwino S. Fernando, Kandasamy Kathiresan, Nico E. Koedam, Suzanne R. Livingstone, Toyohiko Miyagi, Gregg E. Moore, Vien Ngoc Nam, Jin Eong Ong, Jurgenne H. Primavera, Serverino G. Salmo, Jonnell C. Sanciango, Sukristijono Sukardjo, Yamin Wang, Jean Wan Hong Yong Apr 2010

The Loss Of Species: Mangrove Extinction Risk And Geographic Areas Of Global Concern, Beth A. Polidoro, Kent E. Carpenter, Lorna Collins, Norman C. Duke, Aaron M. Ellison, Joanna C. Ellison, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, Edwino S. Fernando, Kandasamy Kathiresan, Nico E. Koedam, Suzanne R. Livingstone, Toyohiko Miyagi, Gregg E. Moore, Vien Ngoc Nam, Jin Eong Ong, Jurgenne H. Primavera, Serverino G. Salmo, Jonnell C. Sanciango, Sukristijono Sukardjo, Yamin Wang, Jean Wan Hong Yong

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mangrove species are uniquely adapted to tropical and subtropical coasts, and although relatively low in number of species, mangrove forests provide at least US $1.6 billion each year in ecosystem services and support coastal livelihoods worldwide. Globally, mangrove areas are declining rapidly as they are cleared for coastal development and aquaculture and logged for timber and fuel production. Little is known about the effects of mangrove area loss on individual mangrove species and local or regional populations. To address this gap, species-specific information on global distribution, population status, life history traits, and major threats were compiled for each of the …


Biodiversity Assessment Of The Fishes Of Saba Bank Atoll, Netherlands Antilles, Jeffrey T. Williams, Kent E. Carpenter, James L. Van Tassell, Paul Hoetjes, Wes Toller, Peter Etnoyer, Michael Smith Jan 2010

Biodiversity Assessment Of The Fishes Of Saba Bank Atoll, Netherlands Antilles, Jeffrey T. Williams, Kent E. Carpenter, James L. Van Tassell, Paul Hoetjes, Wes Toller, Peter Etnoyer, Michael Smith

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Biodiversity surveys were conducted on Saba Bank, Netherlands Antilles, to assess ichthyofaunal richness and to compare with published surveys of other Caribbean localities. The primary objective was to estimate the total species richness of the Saba Bank ichthyofauna. A variety of sampling techniques was utilized to survey the fish species of both the visually accessible megafauna and the camouflaged and small-sized species comprising the cryptic ichthyofauna. Based on results presented herein, the number of species known on Saba Bank is increased from 42 previously known species to 270 species. Expected species-accumulation curves demonstrate that the current estimate of species richness …