Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons^™

Benthic Fisheries Ecology In A Changing Environment: Unraveling Process To Achieve Prediction, Mark J. Butler Iv

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine fisheries and the ecosystems that sustain them are increasingly beset by environmental deterioration, and the problem is particularly acute in coastal zones where human Populations are increasing. In the best of circumstances, fishery managers are faced with the multiple, often conflicting, demands of resource users, politicians, and scientists when considering strategies for resource management. A further challenge is that management decisions must be made against a backdrop of a deteriorating environment and the shifting status of coastal ecosystem integrity. Traditional tools for single-species management may be inadequate in these settings. Furthermore. the necessary empirical data to appropriately parameterize models …

Decline And Recovery Of A High Arctic Wolf-Prey System, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

A long-existing system of wolves (Canis lupus), muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), and arctic hares (Lepus arcticus) in a 2600 km² area of Canada’s High Arctic (80° N latitude) began collapsing in 1997 because of unusual adverse summer weather but recovered to a level at which all three species were reproducing by 2004. Recovery of wolf presence and reproduction appeared to be more dependent on muskox increase than on hare increase.

Un vieux système biologique composé de loups (Canis lupus), de boeufs musqués (Ovibos moschatus) et de lièvres arctiques (Lepus …

Bears Remain Top Summer Predators, Shannon M. Barber, L. David Mech, P. J. White

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

In the ten years since wolves (Canis lupus) were restored to Yellowstone National Park (YNP), elk (Cervus elaphus) numbers have substantially decreased. The northern range elk herd is the largest elk herd in Yellowstone, and constitutes the majority of the park’s elk population. During 1994–2005, early winter counts of northern Yellowstone elk decreased from 19,045 to 9,545. Also, during winters 2000–2004, calf:cow ratios declined from 29:100 to 12:100, and were among the lowest recorded during the past several decades. Though many factors (e.g., predation, hunting, and drought) likely contributed to this decreasing abundance and low recruitment, …

Caudal Polymorphism And Cephalic Morphology Among First-Stage Larvae Of Parelaphostrongylus Odocoilei (Protostrongylidae: Elaphostrongylinae) In Dall’S Sheep From The Mackenzie Mountains, Canada, Eric P. Hoberg, Emily J. Jenkins, Benjamin Rosenthal, Mayee Wong, Eric F. Erbe, Susan J. Kutz, Lydden Polley

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

We demonstrate polymorphism in the structure of the tail among first-stage larvae of Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei (Protostrongylidae). Two distinct larvae, both with a characteristic dorsal spine, include (1) a morphotype with a kinked conical tail marked by three distinct transverse folds or joints and a symmetrical terminal tail spike and (2) a morphotype with a digitate terminal region lacking folds or joints and with an asymmetrical, subterminal tail spike. These divergent larval forms had been postulated as perhaps representing distinct species of elaphostrongyline nematodes. Application of a multilocus approach using ITS-2 sequences from the nuclear genome and COX-II sequences from the …

Natural History And Karyology Of The Yucatán Vesper Mouse, Otonyctomys Hatti, Hugh H. Genoways, Robert M. Timm, Mark D. Engstrom

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Seventeen specimens of the rare Yucatán vesper mouse, Otonyctomys hatti, are now known from Belize, Guatemala, and the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán. We herein report a second specimen of O. hatti, from Belize, extending the known geographic range of the species 95 km to the southeast in the country. This is the first location at which O. hatti has been taken sympatrically with the Central American vesper mouse, Nyctomys sumichrasti. We also report data on three additional specimens of O. hatti from Campeche. Nyctomys and Otonyctomys share similar habits and habitat requirements, and …

Common Names For The Frog Genus Leptodactylus (Amphibia, Anura, Leptodactylidae), Ulisses Caramaschi, Rafael O. De Sá, W. Ronald Heyer

Biology Faculty Publications

Most species of the frog genus Leptodactylus lack common names. Common names are those names used by different human cultures and societies for the species of animals and plants where humans and biota reside together. Often times common names are lacking for Neotropical frogs or are broad in scope. For example, indigenous people may have a single name for frogs that occur on the ground and another name for frogs that occur in shrubs and trees, even though there are many species of ground frogs called by the same name as well as for the tree frogs. Sometimes colonists have …

Crisis Global De Biodiversidad: Importancia De La Diversidad Genética Y La Extinción De Anfibios, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

El mundo enfrenta, por primera vez desde el comienzo de la civilización, el declive y la extinción de una clase de vertebrados, los anfibios. Esta extinción aparenta ser un evento global y de la magnitud que llevó a la desaparición de los dinosaurios. Muchas son las posibles causas de esta extinción y el efecto combinado de estos factores agravan la situación. La pérdida de ambientes naturales permanece como el factor más crítico en el declive de anfibios, pero enfermedades infecciosas emergentes parecen ser responsables de mortalidades masivas en décadas recientes. El declive y extinción de anfibios representa una llamada urgente …

On The Enigmatic Distribution Of The Honduran Endemic Leptodactylus Silvanimbus (Amphibia: Anura: Lep Todactylidae), W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá, Sarah Muller

Biology Faculty Publications

Most species of the frog genus Leptodactylus occur in South America, and all authors who have treated the zoogeography of the genus have concluded that it originated somewhere in South America (e.g., Savage 1982). Savage (1982,518) summarized the historical herpetofaunal units of the Neotropics as follows: "All evidence points to an ancient contiguity and essential similarity of a generalized tropical herpetofauna that ranged over tropical North, Middle, and most of South America in Cretaceous-Paleocene times. Descendents of this fauna are represented today by the South and Middle American tracks (Elements). To the north of this fauna ranged a subtropical-temperate Laurasian …

The Yosemite Butterflies (Text), And The Yosemite Butterflies (Text): Supplement Of Additional Information, Collections And Corrections For Volume 5, No. 1, Kenneth E. Davenport

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The current checklist covers the 170 known species and additional 48 subspecies known to occur in the Yosemite region, California, United States. This represents a total of 218 taxa (some being undescribed and unnamed) now recognized in the study area. This compares with Garth and Tilden’s 1963 survey which recognized 134 species and 16 additional subspecies, a total of 150 taxa. In addition to those, six additional species reported from the region are “questionable or doubtful” and another six species occur just outside the defined region.

The supplement includes additional information for the benefit of those who obtained the first …

Effect Of Stocking Density On Sunshine Bass (Morone Chrysops X M. Saxatilis) Production And Water Quality At Minor Clark Fish Hatchery, Kentucky, Todd A. Leonard

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Todd A. Leonard on December 15, 2004.

The Other Side Of Silence: Rachel Carson’S Views Of Animals, Marc Bekoff, Jan Nystrom

Animal Welfare Collection

The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 is widely regarded as one of the major events that launched the modern environmental movement. Silent Spring is a compelling blend of stories, natural history, human values, and biological facts. In this essay we consider Carson’s attitude toward animals in Silent Spring and in other texts. Despite the facts that she was raised to love Nature and animals, little direct attention has been given to Carson’s views about our moral responsibilities to, and the moral standing of animals. Carson favored responsible stewardship, was more of an animal welfarist and environmentalist/conservation biologist …

Predators In Natural Fragments: Foraging Ecology Of Wolves In British Columbia’S Central And North Coast Archipelago, C. T. Darimont, M. H. H. Price, N. N. Winchester, J. Gordon-Walker, P. C. Paquet

Biogeography and Ecological Opportunity Collection

Aim Predator–prey dynamics in fragmented areas may be influenced by spatial features of the landscape. Although little is known about these processes, an increasingly fragmented planet underscores the urgency to predict its consequences. Accordingly, our aim was to examine foraging behaviour of an apex mammalian predator, the wolf (Canis lupus), in an archipelago environment.

Location Mainland and adjacent archipelago of British Columbia, Canada; a largely pristine and naturally fragmented landscape with islands of variable size and isolation.

Methods We sampled 30 mainland watersheds and 29 islands for wolf faeces in summers 2000 and 2001 and identified prey remains. We examined …

Apparent Sibling Rivalry In The Freshwater Clam Sphaerium Striatinum, Mark Beekey, Ronald H. Karlson

Biology Faculty Publications

In Sphaerium striatinum, a freshwater brooding bivalve, up to 97.5% of offspring that adults initially produce fail to reach independence. Marsupial sacs, specialized extensions of gill filaments that act as nurseries, initially contain multiple offspring in various sizes and stages of development. However, by the time offspring reach later stages of development, marsupial sacs typically contain only one offspring. Brood mortality is hypothesized to be the result of competition among embryos for nutrients and/or space. Sphaeriid eggs do not contain enough yolk for offspring to complete development. Adults supply additional nutrients required to reach independence. Brood capacity is limited by …

Effect Of Thermal Discharges On The Fish Assemblages Of A Nuclear Power Plant In Northern Taiwan, Ching-Yi Chen, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Yueh-Yuan Tu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to study whether the thermal plume can affect the fish assemblages in the waters around the outlet area of the Second Nuclear Power Plant located at Kuosheng, a coastline between Yehliu and Chinshan village, northern coast of Taiwan. Both experimental and control stations of underwater census for reef fishes and of drift net sampling for pelagic or demersal fishes above sandy bottom were monitored four times per year from March 2001 to September 2004. The results show that no significant dif-ferences were found between the fish assemblages of the thermal waters and normal ambient …

Upwelling And Degree Of Nutrient Consumption In Nanwan Bay, Southern Taiwan, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Bing-Jye Wang, Li-Yu Hsing

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The newly proposed Degree of Nutrient Consumption (DNC) of upwelled waters was used to evaluate the upwelling process in Nanwan Bay off the southern tip of Taiwan. DNC values were found to be low in subsurface waters or in newly upwelled waters. In general, a low DNC value was detected alongside other traditionally used upwelling indicators such as lower temperature, pH and % oxygen saturation but higher salinity, nutrients and chlorophyll a. On the other hand, the DNC value could be several times higher in aged upwelled water found in the surface layer.

Nearshore Macrobenthic Communities Off Two Nuclear Power Plants In Northern Taiwan, I-Jiunn Cheng, Pou-Chung Ko, Shin-I Hu, Chien-Peng Hu, Trip-Ping Wei

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The nearshore macrobenthic communities outside the Nuclear Power Plants I and II were monitored on a seasonal basis from winter, 2000 to summer, 2004. The animal and sediment were sampled by scuba diving. The macrobenthic assemblages, sediment characteristics and total organic content were analyzed. The macrobenthos assemblages in terms of species richness, density and biomass was determined. The mean grain size and sorting (i.e. inclusive graphic standard deviation) of sediment were also determined. The small-sized annelids and crustaceans were the dominant macrobenthos. A total of 96 species of macrobenthos was found in the sediment near the Nuclear Power Plant I. …

The Coastal Currents Offshore The Nuclear Power Plants At Northern Taiwan, Jian-Hwa Hu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Coastal tidal currents play an important role to disperse the warm waters outlet from cooling system of a nuclear power plant (NPP). The modern technique of ship-board acoustic Doppler current profiler (SB-ADCP) was intensively applied to scan the current fields around the three NPPs at northern Taiwan. Sophisticated data processing provides time series of synoptic flow charts of vectors in grids associated with streamlines, allowing the visualization of how the bay like coastline input its boundary layer effect to the current field. The generation of cyclonic or anti-cyclonic vortices inside the bay in flood or ebb tide and their migration …

Taxonomic Composition And Seasonal Distribution Of Copepod Assemblages From Waters Adjacent To Nuclear Power Plant I And Ii In Northern Taiwan, Jiang-Shiou Hwang, Yueh-Yuan Tu, Li-Chun Tseng, Lee-Shing Fang, Sami Souissi, Tien-Hsi Fang, Wen-Tseng Lo, Wen-Hung Twan, Shih-Hui Hsiao, Cheng-Han Wu, Shao-Hung Peng, Tsui-Ping Wei, Qing-Chao Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The nuclear power plants are very important and cheap electric power source for Taiwan. However, the Nuclear Power Plant I and II (NPP I and II) are located in the northern Taiwan where the most populations inhabit. Therefore, the impact of operation of nuclear power plants on the surrounding environment, particularly in the surrounding waters, has drawn great attention to the public of Taiwan. Here we reported the first analyses on a three-year period of monitoring copepod assemblages in the adjacent waters to the NPP I and II. The copepod assemblages in the vicinity waters of NPP I and II …

Marine Environmental Radioactivity Near Nuclear Power Plants In Northern Taiwan, Chih-An Huh, Chih-Chieh Su, Yueh-Yuan Tu, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Ching-Yi Chen, I-Jiunn Cheng

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The levels and composition of environmental radioactivity at the outlets of nuclear power plants and nearby coastal environs in northern Taiwan have been investigated by gamma spectrometric analysis of seawater, algae, fish and sediment samples collected systematically in the past four years. The results show that anthropogenic radionuclides contribute very little to the total radioactivities in all types of samples. Samples from the outlet of the Second Nuclear Power Plant are more enriched in artificial nuclides, with average algae samples containing ~4 Bq/kg of 137Cs + 54Mn + 60Co (or 3.6% of the total activity) and average sediment samples containing …

Physical Properties Of Thermal Plumes From A Nuclear Power Plant In The Southernmost Taiwan, Sen Jan, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Yueh-Yuan Tu, Hsien-Shiow Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Circulation and hydrographic variations in the inner shelf of a semi-enclosed bay adjacent to a nuclear power plant of the southernmost Taiwan were analyzed using intensive observation data from 2003-2004. The dominant tide in the bay is a mixture of diurnal and semidiurnal components. Currents are dominated by tidal forcing which flows southwestward during flood and northeastward during ebb. The amplitudes of tidal currents range from 0.2 to 0.4 m/s. A persistent southwestward subtidal flow is present with a mean velocity of 0.15 m/s. The upwelled cold deep water in the central bay can intrude to the inner reach near …

Features Of The Fishing Ground Near The Third Nuclear Power Plant In Taiwan, Lei-Zong Cheng, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The purpose of this study is to understand the features of the fishing ground near the Third Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan such as the fish species, catch, the amount of money of catch, the distribution area of fishing ground , cost and income of each voyage. Five adopted fishing rafts were applied in this research to gather relevant data for the investigation from July 1996 to December 2003. There are 146 kinds of species have been found for the total catches, most of the operating area were located at the center of the sea in which the thermal effluent …

A Trophic Model For Kuosheng Bay In Northern Taiwan, Hsing-Juh Lin, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Jiang-Shiou Hwang, Wen-Tseng Lo, I-Jiunn Cheng, Lih-Huwa Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Using the Ecopath with Ecosim software system, a mass-balanced trophic model of Kuosheng Bay, where the Second Nuclear Power Plant is sited on the coast, was constructed. This model comprised 17 compartments, ranging from a trophic level of 1.00 for primary producers and detritus to 3.97 for piscivorous fish. The geometric mean of the trophic transfer efficiencies was 6.5%. The lower efficiencies were attributable to high flows to detritus, suggesting that the food web was more dependent on detritus than on primary producers to generate total system throughput. The total system throughput, system production, and system biomass were comparable to …

Hydrographical Studies Of Waters Adjacent To Nuclear Power Plants I And Ii In Northern Taiwan, Tien-Hsi Fang, Jing-Fang Chen, Yueh-Yuan Tu, Jiang-Shiou Hwang, Wen-Tseng Lo

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

From 2000 to 2003, water samples were seasonally collected from the coastal area near nuclear power plants (NPPs) I and II to assess the ecological impact of thermal effluent on the water quality. The water quality in the investigated area during the survey periods was as follows: pH, 7.87-8.40; dissolved oxygen, 3.61-7.11 mL/L; chlorophyll a, 0.07-1.9 µg/L; nitrite, 0.02-7.42 µM; nitrate, 0.3- 15.4 µM; phosphate, 0.02-1.48 µM; and silicate, 0.84-46.82 µM. The concentrations of nutrients in the spring and winter seasons were relatively higher than those in the summer and fall seasons. The concentrations of chlorophyll a showed the reverse …

Seasonal And Spatial Distribution Of Phytoplankton In The Waters Off Nuclear Power Plants, North Of Taiwan, Wen-Tseng Lo, Jiuan-Jiuan Hwang, Pei-Kai Hsu, Hung-Yen Hsieh, Yueh-Yuan Tu, Tien-Hsi Fang, Jiang-Shiou Hwang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Species composition of phytoplankton was monitored seasonally in the waters off the First and Second Nuclear Power plants (NPP1 and NPP2), north of Taiwan during 2001-2002. In total, 290 phytoplankton samples were collected and 265 taxa of phytoplankton were recorded. Chaetoceros compressus, Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima, Skeletonema costatum, Thalassionema nitzschioides, and Lauderia annulata were the top five dominant species. Together they comprised 75% of the total phytoplankton cells. The species number and abundance of phytoplankton showed distinct seasonal, annual, and spatial changes, higher abundance in 2002 than 2001 and highest in August in both years and lowest in March in 2001 and …

Temporal Changes In Fish Assemblage From The Impingement Data At The Second Nuclear Power Plant,Northern Taiwan, Yun-Chih Liao, Li-Shu Chen, Kwang-Tsao Shao, Yueh-Yuan Tu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The main purposes of this study are to find out the temporal fluctuation of marine fish community based on impingement data collected at the Second Nuclear Power Plant in recent years (September 2000 to May 2004), and to compare the recent fish community structure data to that of an earlier period, around 14 years ago (July 1987 to April 1990). Comparison of the data collected recently to that collected 14 years ago showed that there were no yearly or monthly differences. However, the community structures reflected by clustering dendrograms or MDS ordination plots were quite different between earlier and recent …

Effects Of Nuclear Power Plant Thermal Effluent On Marine Sessile Invertebrate Communities In Southern Taiwan, Yalan Chou, Ta-Yu Lin, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Li-Lian Liu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The present study aimed at determining the impact of cooling water discharge from a Nuclear Power Plant in Kenting, Taiwan on the recruitment patterns of marine invertebrates. Field experiments were conducted over a six-year period in the vicinity of the power plant, with six control sites, five at influent areas, one at reference site, and three experimental sites at effluent areas. In general, among the monitoring sites, polychaetes and bryozoans were the most abundant organisms, and their recruitment on settlement plates was always higher in influent than in effluent areas. Partially as a result of a 5-week accidental shutdown of …

The International Lepidoptera Survey Newsletter, October 2004, International Lepidoptera Survey, Ron Gatrelle, Vitaly Charny

International Lepidoptera Survey Newsletter

Contents

Phyciodes incognitus by Ron Gatrelle (pages 1-4)

New findings of Mitchell’s Satyr (Neonympha mitchellii) in Alabama by Vitaly Charny (pages 5-6)

Fall 2004, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Benthic Biological Monitoring Program Of The Elizabeth River Watershed (2003), Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

Macrobenthic communities of the Elizabeth River watershed have been quantitatively sampled since summer 1999. This report presents the data from the fifth year of sampling in 2003. The three objectives of the Benthic Biological Monitoring Program of the Elizabeth River watershed are: (1) To characterize the health of the tidal waters of the Elizabeth River watershed as indicated by the structure of the benthic communities. ( 2) To conduct trend analyses on long-term data at 14 fixed-point stations to relate temporal trends in the benthic communities to changes in water and/or sediment quality. Trend analyses will be updated …

Strong Interactions Between Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Argus) And Caribbean Reef Octopus (Octopus Briareus) In The Florida Keys, Jennifer Anne Lear

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Coexisting species may simultaneously compete for resources and interact as predator and prey, creating a strong interaction that can alter the structure of animal communities. This type of interaction potentially occurs between juvenile Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) and Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus briareus) within hard-bottom habitats in the Florida Keys, FL (USA), where octopuses may consume juvenile lobsters and also compete with them for limited crevice shelters. I conducted a series of field and mesocosm studies to investigate the nature of octopus-lobster interactions and their implications for the structure of their populations in the wild. …