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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Empirical Valuation Of Primary And Alternative Nursery Habitats For The Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus In Chesapeake Bay, Alexander C. Hyman
Empirical Valuation Of Primary And Alternative Nursery Habitats For The Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus In Chesapeake Bay, Alexander C. Hyman
Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects
The blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is a commercially and ecologically importantspecies found along the Atlantic coast of North and South America. These crustaceans play a critical role in coastal ecosystems, serving as both predators and prey in the food web. The blue crab supports a major fishery in Chesapeake Bay, where the species is a cultural icon. Juvenile blue crabs, the smallest and most vulnerable size classes of individuals, are reliant upon structurally complex habitats. Population dynamics of this species are therefore influenced by spatiotemporally fluctuating environmental variables, such as habitat availability. Understanding blue crab ecology is essential for managing …
Impacts Of Minuca Pugnax On Ecosystem Functioning In Its Historical And Expanded Range, Kayla Shanice Martinez-Soto
Impacts Of Minuca Pugnax On Ecosystem Functioning In Its Historical And Expanded Range, Kayla Shanice Martinez-Soto
Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects
Animals across Earth are shifting or expanding their ranges because of climate change. These are climate migrants. Although climate migrants are well-documented, their impacts on recipient ecosystems are not. Climate migrants that are also ecosystem engineers (species that modify or create habitats) will likely have profound effects on ecosystem functioning. The Atlantic marsh fiddler crab, Minuca pugnax, is a burrowing crab that recently expanded its range into the northeast United States. The historical range of M. pugnax was between southern Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Daytona Beach, Florida (Grimes et al., 1989). In 2014, Johnson (2014) found that M. pugnax was …
Hybridization As A Tool For Rapid Adaptation To Novel Environments In Virginia Asclepias, Casey Hensen
Hybridization As A Tool For Rapid Adaptation To Novel Environments In Virginia Asclepias, Casey Hensen
Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects
Plants, unlike animals, lack the ability to quickly move to desirable locations, which poses a challenge when faced with climate change. Here, we use anthropogenic forest canopy loss in the eastern United States as a model for understanding the effects of climate change. Removal of the forest canopy significantly alters the abiotic habitat, as does climate change, by increasing the variability of moisture, light, and temperature. One powerful mechanism plants can use to cope with environmental change is hybridization, as it provides novel genetic variation. Hybridization, followed by introgression, makes it possible to pass along adaptive traits between species, which …
Impact Of Substrate Type On Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Recruitment And Benthic Community Structure And Productivity In The York River, Jainita Patel
Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects
Restoration of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is important, as oyster reefs provide habitat for temperate estuarine communities and shoreline protection. Oysters that settle in crevices, such as those found on natural shell substrates, suffer low mortality, but natural shell is becoming a limited resource in the Chesapeake Bay. Finding an alternative settlement substrate that is complex like natural shell and mimics the benefits of shell substrates with less expense could be the best way to encourage oyster recruitment and survival. The two main goals of this experiment were to (1) understand which …