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Full-Text Articles in Biology

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 9 No. 5, John Tanacredi Ph.D. Oct 2022

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 9 No. 5, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

There are a multitude of lessons learned from the last 3 years of the Covid-19 pandemic. But one truly stands out ...the total lack of understanding of the basic chemistry associated with the nitrogen cycle, which in Suffolk County, NY, continues to be declared as the “evil-nitrogen”. The major source of nitrogen into the water body comes from the atmosphere which is the predominate constituent of the air we breathe79% nitrogen. Nitrogen compounds contribution to eutrophication in freshwater (ponds & lakes) systems is legendary and, the concentration of nitrogen in marine waters has always been known as a limiting agent …


Chromosome Number Evolution, Phylogeography, And The Effects Of Climate Change On Species Distributions In Polyploid Plant Systems, Courtney H. Babin Aug 2022

Chromosome Number Evolution, Phylogeography, And The Effects Of Climate Change On Species Distributions In Polyploid Plant Systems, Courtney H. Babin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Polyploidy, a term used to describe organisms with cells having more than two paired sets of chromosomes, is a significant driver of diversification among land plants. Over a century of research has advanced our understanding of polyploidization in some taxa, but polyploid organisms remain understudied. In this dissertation, I investigate chromosome number evolution, phylogeographic structure, genetic differentiation, and the effects of climate change on ploidy level distribution using polyploid plant systems. In the first chapter, I inferred a molecular phylogeny of Allium, an economically important genus that includes cultivated crops and ornamentals, to investigate evolutionary transitions in chromosome number …


In The Face Of Climate Change, Does Human Trampling Affect Dune Resilience And Alter Ecosystem Services?, Alexandra O. Findlay Apr 2022

In The Face Of Climate Change, Does Human Trampling Affect Dune Resilience And Alter Ecosystem Services?, Alexandra O. Findlay

Honors College Theses

Sand dunes play a valuable role on the coastline supporting unique native species and protecting beach communities. The City of Tybee Island, Georgia, USA has undergone extensive dune restoration to expand and rehabilitate its shoreline to better defend the town against the increasing frequency of hurricanes and storm surge. The project included the recovery of existing dune structures and construction of new dunes filled with sand pumped from offshore and vegetated with a variety of native species. To analyze the impact of human trampling on dune vegetation occurring adjacent to footpaths and crossovers in new and established dunes, we measured …


A Comparison Of Natural, Living, And Hardened Shorelines Ability To Prevent Coastal Erosion And Maintain A Healthy Ecosystem, Gabrielle Spellmann Mar 2022

A Comparison Of Natural, Living, And Hardened Shorelines Ability To Prevent Coastal Erosion And Maintain A Healthy Ecosystem, Gabrielle Spellmann

Master's Theses

It is important to find a suitable method to protect the U.S. Gulf Coast shoreline, since its’ low elevation and the Loop current make it vulnerable to sea level rise. I focused on two manmade methods, hardened, and living shorelines, of coastal protection for when the natural marsh suffers excess erosion rates. Living shorelines are a suite of shoreline conservation and restoration techniques that usually involve some sort of hardened structure that dampens wave energy so that the native vegetation behind it can take root and stabilize the shoreline. This study looked at six different sites, all containing a natural, …


Cetacean Strandings In The Us Pacific Northwest 2000–2019 Reveal Potential Linkages To Oceanographic Variability, Amanda J. Warlick, Jessica L. Huggins, Dyanna M. Lambourn, Deborah A. Duffield, Dalin Nichole D'Alessandro, James M. Rice, John Calambokidis, M. Bradley Hanson, Joseph K. Gaydos, Multiple Additional Authors Mar 2022

Cetacean Strandings In The Us Pacific Northwest 2000–2019 Reveal Potential Linkages To Oceanographic Variability, Amanda J. Warlick, Jessica L. Huggins, Dyanna M. Lambourn, Deborah A. Duffield, Dalin Nichole D'Alessandro, James M. Rice, John Calambokidis, M. Bradley Hanson, Joseph K. Gaydos, Multiple Additional Authors

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Studying patterns in marine mammal stranding cases can provide insight into changes in population health, abundance, and distribution. Cetaceans along the United States West coast strand for a wide variety of reasons, including disease, injury, and poor nutritional status, all of which may be caused by both natural and anthropogenic factors. Examining the potential drivers of these stranding cases can reveal how populations respond to changes in their habitat, notably oceanographic variability and anthropogenic activities. In this study, we aim to synthesize recent patterns in 1,819 cetacean strandings across 26 species in the Pacific Northwest from 2000 to 2019 to …


The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 8 No. 4, John Tanacredi Ph.D. Mar 2022

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 8 No. 4, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

The original five acre of land portion of the historic Blue Points Oyster Company is located at the southern end of Atlantic Ave in West Sayville, Islip Town, Suffolk County, New York on the shore of Great South Bay. The Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM) is the science field station serving Molloy College’s BCES programs in Earth & Environmental Sciences and Biology. Our mission is to provide unique hands-on educational opportunities in the physical and life sciences, in collaboration with a host of Federal, State, and local and NGO groups, to bolster students’ career path. Great …


Impacts Of Plastic Pollution On A Pelagic Marine Mammal, The Northern Elephant Seal, Lauren M. Kashiwabara Jan 2022

Impacts Of Plastic Pollution On A Pelagic Marine Mammal, The Northern Elephant Seal, Lauren M. Kashiwabara

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

As plastic pollution increases, top marine predators such as marine mammals are becoming increasingly susceptible to plastic particles and their additives. Plastic particles have been found in gastrointestinal tracts and scat of many marine mammals, and quantifying plastic pollution in those that are pelagic can provide insight into plastic pollution in mesopelagic ecosystems that are just beginning to be analyzed. Adapting well-developed laboratory techniques for microplastic (MP) isolation (i.e. density separation and chemical digestion), I isolated MPs from the scat of the deepest diving pinniped, the northern elephant seal (NES), and found that100% of scat samples (n=11) contained high counts …


Largemouth Bass In The Upper Mississippi River: An Evaluation Of Management Strategies And Understanding Potential Factors Influencing Dynamic Rate Functions, Kylie Beth Sterling Jan 2022

Largemouth Bass In The Upper Mississippi River: An Evaluation Of Management Strategies And Understanding Potential Factors Influencing Dynamic Rate Functions, Kylie Beth Sterling

MSU Graduate Theses

The Upper Mississippi River (UMR) supports ecologically and economically important commercial and recreational fisheries. One recreational fishery in the UMR is the Largemouth Bass fishery. Recreational fisheries can be effectively managed using information on population dynamics, though little is known about Largemouth Bass population dynamics in large river ecosystems. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate recruitment, growth, and mortality of three Largemouth Bass populations in the UMR, specifically within Pools 4, 8, and 13, and 2) to use those estimates of recruitment, growth and mortality to inform exploitation models to evaluate best management practices for each …