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Full-Text Articles in Biology
Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Arctic Nearshore Fish Community And Food Web Structures, Mark B. Barton
Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Arctic Nearshore Fish Community And Food Web Structures, Mark B. Barton
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities are causing rapid changes to environmental and ecological processes in the Arctic Ocean. To better understand these changes, scientists have increased research efforts in these regions, but to date the number of studies on Arctic nearshore habitats are lacking. My dissertation responds to the paucity of information and investigates patterns in Arctic nearshore fish communities and food webs to gain insight to how these ecosystems may shift as these changes continue. I used multivariate statistical analysis to examine patterns in community structure and composition to determine that Arctic nearshore fish communities are largely driven …
Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Bermuda Exhibit An Ontogenetic Diet Shift Despite Overexploitation Of Resources In Their Developmental Habitat, Claire Margaret Burgett
Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) In Bermuda Exhibit An Ontogenetic Diet Shift Despite Overexploitation Of Resources In Their Developmental Habitat, Claire Margaret Burgett
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Green sea turtles in Bermuda are overgrazing the seagrasses on which later life stages are thought to specialize. I hypothesized that larger green turtles in Bermuda would display individual diet specializations during seagrass scarcity. Stable isotope methods were used to determine the diet composition of green sea turtles from the Bermuda Platform as a function of size class and in turtles captured in successive years. Individual turtles had a wide range of diets, however, the variation in diets was driven by differences among size class rather than within the size classes of larger turtles, indicating that green turtles undergo a …
Does Landscape Context Affect Habitat Value? The Importance Of Seascape Ecology In Back-Reef Systems, Lauren Yeager
Does Landscape Context Affect Habitat Value? The Importance Of Seascape Ecology In Back-Reef Systems, Lauren Yeager
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Seascape ecology provides a useful framework from which to understand the processes governing spatial variability in ecological patterns. Seascape context, or the composition and pattern of habitat surrounding a focal patch, has the potential to impact resource availability, predator-prey interactions, and connectivity with other habitats. For my dissertation research, I combined a variety of approaches to examine how habitat quality for fishes is influenced by a diverse range of seascape factors in sub-tropical, back-reef ecosystems. In the first part of my dissertation, I examined how seascape context can affect reef fish communities on an experimental array of artificial reefs created …