Marine Biology Commons^™

Increasing Impacts Of Extreme Droughts On Vegetation Productivity Under Climate Change, Chonggang Xu, Nate G. Mcdowell, Rosie A. Fisher, Liang Wei, Sanna Sevanto, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Engsheng Weng, Richard S. Middleton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) is the basis of vegetation growth and food production globally1 and plays a critical role in regulating atmospheric CO2 through its impact on ecosystem carbon balance. Even though higher CO2 concentrations in future decades can increase GPP2, low soil water availability, heat stress and disturbances associated with droughts could reduce the benefits of such CO2 fertilization. Here we analysed outputs of 13 Earth system models to show an increasingly stronger impact on GPP by extreme droughts than by mild and moderate droughts over the twenty-first century. Due to a dramatic increase in …

Remote Sensing Of The Terrestrial Carbon Cycle: A Review Of Advances Over 50 Years, Jingfeng Xiao, Frederic Chevallier, Cecile Gomez, Luis Guanter, Jeffrey A. Hicke, Alfredo R. Huete, Kazuhito Ichii, Wenjian Ni, Yong Pang, Abdullah Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Highlights

• We review 50 years of history and advances in remote sensing of C fluxes and stocks

• We present an overview of terrestrial C cycle, remote sensing, and key milestones

• We review remote sensing platforms/sensors, data, methods, findings, and challenges

• We also discuss the uncertainty and validation of the C flux and stock estimates

• A forward-looking perspective and insights for future research are provided

Abstract

Quantifying ecosystem carbon fluxes and stocks is essential for better understanding the global carbon cycle and improving projections of the carbon-climate feedbacks. Remote sensing has played a vital role in this endeavor during the last …

Spatial And Temporal Variation Of Offshore Wind Power And Its Values Along The Central California Coast, Yi-Hui Wang, Ryan K. Walter, Crow White, Matthew D. Kehrli, Stephen F. Hamilton, Patrick H. Soper, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg

Physics

The analysis of the spatiotemporal variability of wind power remains limited during the planning stage of an offshore wind farm. This study provides a framework to investigate how offshore wind power varies along the Central California Coast over diurnal and seasonal time scales, which is critical for reliability and functionality of the grid system. We find that offshore wind power in this region peaks during evening hours across all seasons and maximizes in spring and summer. The timing of peak offshore wind power production better aligns with that of peak demand across California than solar and land-based wind power production, …

Spatial And Seasonal Differences In The Top Predators Of Easter Island: Essential Data For Implementing The New Rapa Nui Multiple‐Uses Marine Protected Area, Naiti A. Morales, Erin E. Easton, Alan M. Friedlander, Euan S. Harvey, Rodrigo Garcia, Carlos F. Gaymer

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Reef fishes are an important component of marine biodiversity, and changes in the composition of the assemblage structure may indicate ecological, climatic, or anthropogenic disturbances. To examine spatial differences in the reef fish assemblage structure around Easter Island, eight sites were sampled during autumn and summer 2016–2017 with baited remote underwater video systems.
2. To determine seasonal changes, quarterly (seasonal) sampling was conducted at five of those eight sites. Fifteen pelagic species of fishes were recorded during this study, some of which have not previously been recorded in scuba surveys, including the Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis, Snodgrass & Heller, …

Broadband Sound Propagation In A Seagrass Meadow Throughout A Diurnal Cycle, Kevin M. Lee, Megan S. Ballard, Gabriel R. Venegas, Jason D. Sagers, Andrew R. Mcneese, Jay R. Johnson, Preston S. Wilson, Abdullah Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Acoustic propagation measurements were conducted in a Thalassia testudinum meadow in the Lower Laguna Madre, a shallow bay on the Texas Gulf of Mexico coast. A piezoelectric source transmitted frequency-modulated chirps (0.1 to 100 kHz) over a 24-h period during which oceanographic probes measured environmental parameters including dissolved oxygen and solar irradiance. Compared to a nearby less vegetated area, the received level was lower by as much as 30 dB during the early morning hours. At the peak of photosynthesis-driven bubble production in the late afternoon, an additional decrease in level of 11 dB was observed.

Hypoxia In Mangroves: Occurrence And Impact On Valuable Tropical Fish Habitat, Alexia Dubuc, Ronald Baker, Cyril Marchand, Nathan Waltham, Marcus Sheaves

School of Marine and Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Intertidal mangrove forests are harsh environments that can naturally experience hypoxia in association with low tide. However, we know relatively little about dissolved oxygen (DO) fluctuations and DO-induced responses by fish, although DO is a fundamental water quality parameter. This study examines DO as a potential factor regulating the utilization of intertidal mangrove forests by fish and consequently their widely recognized feeding, refuge and nursery values. We deployed underwater video cameras, coupled with DO and depth loggers, in a mangrove forest to record changes in fish assemblages in response to tidal variations in DO and other associated environmental parameters. Our …

The Influence Of Location, Positioning, And Seasonality On Feeding Behavior Of The Sydney Oyster (Saccostrea Glomerata) In New South Wales, Australia, Nathaniel Hess

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Oysters are hard shelled bivalves that aggregate over time to create structures in estuarine systems, known as oyster reefs. These reefs are important for the promotion of estuarine biodiversity by supporting many species of fish, invertebrates, and plants. They also act as a key contributor to water health by using active suspension feeding mechanisms and selective feeding to remove nutrients and water borne pollutants from estuarine systems. They have been touted as possible bio-remediators. They also effect rates of sedimentation in estuaries.

Oyster reefs have historically been threatened by anthropogenic influences such as overharvesting, destructive fishing practices, water pollution, CO2 …

Wildlife In Parks And Communities: Institutionalizing Wildlife Conservation In Park Systems Through Municipal-Wide Planning Efforts, John J. Pipoly Iii, Lajuan Tucker, Patrick Fitzgerald, Scott Gilmore

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Wildlife populations are declining in the United States. As development increases, local parks and natural areas often become safe-havens for wildlife, including birds, pollinators and small mammals. Creeks, rights-of-way, roadsides and even private, commercial and public landscapes can create corridors for wildlife in urban and suburban areas, helping wildlife survive and minimizing human-wildlife conflicts. While many park departments and municipalities have some nature or wildlife programs at nature centers and public parks or manage some properties as natural areas, most do not integrate best practices for managing wildlife into park and recreation master plans or municipalwide sustainability, green infrastructure or …

A Toolkit For Managing The Ee (Environmental Education) And Esd (Education For Sustainable Development) Continuum, Attiyya Atkins, John J. Pipoly Iii

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) represent extremes of a global continuum. EE stresses awareness of process about, from and for the environment (Vrasidas 2007). ESD is defined as education empowering communities to acquire best management practices engendering human, social, economic and natural sustainability (UNESCO 2012) and developing their resilience despite environmental changes (Fastenrath et al. 2019). ESD is a critical component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2012), which grew from the Millennium Development Goals (UN 2000). Each park agency should develop research-based educational programs that address both EE and ESD. The ESD must promote …

Elevated Temperature Attenuates Ovarian Functions And Induces Apoptosis And Oxidative Stress In The American Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: Potential Mechanisms And Signaling Pathways, Sarah Nash, Jackson Johnston, Md Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Global climate change is predicted to intensify thermal stress in marine and coastal organisms, affecting their development, growth, and reproductive functions. In this study, we performed histological observations on ovarian development, immunohistochemical analyses of ovarian heat shock protein-70 (HSP70), nitrotyrosine protein (NTP, an indicator of reactive nitrogen species (RNS)), and dinitrophenyl protein (DNP, an indicator of protein oxidation) expressions, in situ TUNEL assay for cellular apoptosis, biochemical analyses of ovarian caspase-3/7 activity and protein carbonyl (PC, a measure of reactive oxygen species (ROS)) contents, nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels, and extrapallial fluid (EPF, an important body fluid) pH in the American oyster, …

Elevated Temperature Attenuates Ovarian Functions And Induces Apoptosis And Oxidative Stress In The American Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: Potential Mechanisms And Signaling Pathways, Sarah Nash, Jackson Johnstone, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Global climate change is predicted to intensify thermal stress in marine and coastal organisms, affecting their development, growth, and reproductive functions. In this study, we performed histological observations on ovarian development, immunohistochemical analyses of ovarian heat shock protein-70 (HSP70), nitrotyrosine protein (NTP, an indicator of reactive nitrogen species (RNS)), and dinitrophenyl protein (DNP, an indicator of protein oxidation) expressions, in situ TUNEL assay for cellular apoptosis, biochemical analyses of ovarian caspase-3/7 activity and protein carbonyl (PC, a measure of reactive oxygen species (ROS)) contents, nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels, and extrapallial fluid (EPF, an important body fluid) pH in the American oyster, …

Prevalence And Distribution Of Ranavirus In Amphibians From, Drew R. Davis, Jillian K. Farkas, Taylor R. Kruisselbrink, Jessa L. Watters, Elyse D. Ellsworth, Jacob L. Kerby, Cameron D. Siler

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Several infectious diseases are threatening amphibian species worldwide and have resulted in massmortality events across the globe. An emerging group of viral pathogens (ranaviruses) are documented to cause die-offs in amphibian populations worldwide, including in several regions of the U.S. Unfortunately, large gaps remain in our understanding of the distribution of this systemic pathogen in the U.S., including within the state of Oklahoma. To address this gap in our understanding, we carried out surveys of this infectious pathogen across 14 sites in seven southeastern Oklahoma counties in spring 2015, screening 17 amphibian species from this region. Using liver and tail …

An Analysis Of The Potential Toxicological Effects Of Marine Plastics And Associated Organic And Inorganic Toxic Compounds On Six Commercially Significant Fishery Species, Nicole Marie Jackson

HCNSO Student Capstones

Marine plastics are a global issue which has garnered significant support for mitigation efforts in recent history. Research on the prevalence of plastic polymers in the marine environment has also come to the forefront of the scientific community, however studies on the toxicological impacts of their presence remains to be a little studied matter to date. In this study an intensive critical review of existing data was conducted to compile profiles (including: stability ranks, sorption capacities, organic and inorganic toxic constituent concentrations, bioaccumulations scores per constituent, biomagnification scores per constituent, and totaled threat scores out of five) for the three …

Deep Machine Learning Techniques For The Detection And Classification Of Sperm Whale Bioacoustics, Peter C. Bermant, Michael M. Bronstein, Robert J. Wood, Shane Gero, David F. Gruber

Publications and Research

We implemented Machine Learning (ML) techniques to advance the study of sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) bioacoustics. This entailed employing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to construct an echolocation click detector designed to classify spectrograms generated from sperm whale acoustic data according to the presence or absence of a click. The click detector achieved 99.5% accuracy in classifying 650 spectrograms. The successful application of CNNs to clicks reveals the potential of future studies to train CNN-based architectures to extract finer-scale details from cetacean spectrograms. Long short-term memory and gated recurrent unit recurrent neural networks were trained to perform classification tasks, including (1) …

Trophic Upgrading And Mobilization Of Wax Esters In Microzooplankton, Keyana Roohani, Brad A. Haubrich, Kai-Lou Yue, Nigel D'Souza, Amanda Mantalbano, Tatiana Rynearson, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Christopher Reid

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Heterotrophic protists play pivotal roles in aquatic ecosystems by transferring matter and energy, including lipids, from primary producers to higher trophic predators. Using Oxyrrhis marina as a model organism, changes to the non-saponifiable protist lipids were investigated under satiation and starvation conditions. During active feeding on the alga Cryptomonas sp., the O. marina hexane soluble non-saponifiable fraction lipid profile reflected its food source with the observed presence of long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohols up to C25:1. Evidence of trophic upgrading in O. marina was observed with long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohol accumulation of up to C35:1. To the best of …

Seastar: A Mission To Study Ocean Submesoscale Dynamics And Small-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Processes In Coastal, Shelf And Polar Seas, Christine Gommenginger, Bertrand Chapron, Andy Hogg, Christian Buckingham, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Leif Eriksson, Francois Soulat, Clement Ubelmann, Francisco Ocampo-Torres, Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli, David Griffin, Paco Lopez-Dekker, Per Knudsen, Ole Andersen, Lars Stenseng, Neil Stapleton, William Perrie, Nelson Violante-Carvalho, Johannes Schulz-Stellenfleth, David Woolf, Jordi Isern-Fontanet, Fabrice Ardhuin, Patrice Klein, Alexis Mouche, Ananda Pascual, Xavier Capet, Daniele Hauser, Ad Stoffelen, Rosemary Morrow, Lotfi Aouf, Øyvind Breivik, Lee-Leung Fu, Johnny A. Johannessen, Yevgeny Aksenov, Lucy Bricheno, Joel Hirschi, Adrien C. H. Martin, Adrian P. Martin, George Nurser, Jeff Polton, Judith Wolf, Harald Johnsen, Alexander Soloviev, Gregg A. Jacobs, Fabrice Collard, Steve Groom, Vladimir Kudryavtsev, John Wilkin, Victor Navarro, Alex Babanin, Matthew Martin, John Siddorn, Andrew Saulter, Tom Rippeth, Bill Emery, Nikolai Maximenko, Roland Romeiser, Hans Graber, Aida Alvera Azcarate, Chris W. Hughes, Doug Vandemark, Jose Da Silva, Peter Jan Van Leeuwen, Alberto Naveira-Garabato, Johannes Gemmrich, Amala Mahadevan, Jose Marquez, Yvonne Munro, Sam Doody, Geoff Burbidge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

High-resolution satellite images of ocean color and sea surface temperature reveal an abundance of ocean fronts, vortices and filaments at scales below 10 km but measurements of ocean surface dynamics at these scales are rare. There is increasing recognition of the role played by small scale ocean processes in ocean-atmosphere coupling, upper-ocean mixing and ocean vertical transports, with advanced numerical models and in situ observations highlighting fundamental changes in dynamics when scales reach 1 km. Numerous scientific publications highlight the global impact of small oceanic scales on marine ecosystems, operational forecasts and long-term climate projections through strong ageostrophic circulations, large …

New Host Records And Range Extensions For Helminth Parasites From Wading Birds In Southeastern Florida, Sarah Gumbleton, David Kerstetter, Amy Hirons, Christopher Blanar

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Six species of wading birds collected from wildlife centers throughout South Florida were dissected for parasites. Twenty-six species of parasites represent new host records and five parasite species represent new geographic range extensions.

Evaluating Responses Of Benthic Macrofauna To Artificial Reef Presence In The Gulf Of Mexico, Douglas Faircloth

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial reef research has long concerned itself with the interactions of fishes and has tended to favor commercially valuable species. Because of this, a larger yet less known group that heavily benefits fishes have been overlooked; benthic macrofauna. Benthic macrofauna are marine invertebrates that live below the sediment-water interface and play many roles in the ecosystem. Macrofauna are important prey items, ecosystem engineers, and bioindicators, as well as being ubiquitous in the marine environment. Since macrofauna have been largely ignored in this field, not much is known regarding their interaction with the placement of artificial reefs. To try and fill …

Developing Multispectral Imaging Techniques To Determine Canopy Coverage And Carbon Storage Of Seagrasses In The Gulf Of Mexico, Ivy Michelle Hinson

Theses and Dissertations

Although seagrass beds provide global ecosystem services, coverage is in rapid decline, with the capacity of seagrasses to sequester carbon of special concern. Current seagrass monitoring methods are labor intensive and may not offer a complete picture of coverage. Remote sensing offers the ability to oversee landscapes but water in coastal environments presents challenges, as the commonly used near-infrared wavelength dissipates in water.

This project aimed to provide reliable methodology to assess seagrass coverage using multispectral imagery taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle and to provide evidence for the link between seagrass coverage and stored belowground carbon for common seagrasses …

Reconstruction Of Northeastern Pacific Ocean Holocene Production Using Marine Mammal Archaeofauna, Andrea M. Traffichini

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Changes in marine production play a key role in determining the trophic structure of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. This is a region of great environmental fluctuations due to modern, historical, and paleo-environmental variability recorded throughout the Holocene. These fluctuations are recorded in the bone collagen of the marine mammals that reside in these waters. Marine mammal remains from four previously excavated archaeological deposits on Unalaska Island, Alaska are used as a proxy for marine production changes throughout the Holocene (4,500 BP to 350 BP). Historic and modern samples from museum collections, subsistence harvests, and previously published data provide a distinct …

A Characterization Of A Southeast Florida Stony Coral Assemblage After A Disease Event, Nicole K. Hayes

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reefs have declined globally due to anthropogenic stressors increasing the frequency and severity of bleaching and disease events. In 2014, a stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) outbreak occurred off the coast of southeast Florida and subsequently spread throughout the region. Data collected by the Southeast Florida Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (SECREMP) were used to examine the regional impacts of the disease event on the Southeast Florida stony coral assemblage. A long-term annual monitoring project, SECREMP samples permanent sites along the Southeast Florida Reef Tract (SEFRT) from Miami-Dade County north to Martin County. Analysis of stony coral demographic …

Spatial And Temporal Trends In The Xestospongia Muta (Giant Barrel Sponge) Population On The Southeast Florida Reef Tract, Alanna D. Waldman

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Xestospongia muta, the giant barrel sponge, is a key component of coral reef benthic communities in Southeast Florida and the Caribbean. Xestospongia muta increases habitat complexity and stability, and filters large volumes of water, enhancing water quality and facilitating nutrient cycling. Therefore, it is important to investigate trends in the X. muta population on Southeast Florida reefs in response to anthropogenic stressors, changing environmental conditions and acute disturbances and how these events affect its ecological role in the benthic community. This study identified trends in X. muta population density, volume, and size class distribution over time and across reef …

Timing And Potential Drivers Of Symbiont Selection In The Early Life Stages Of The Massive Starlet Coral Siderastrea Siderea, Sarah G. Koerner

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The ability of corals to build reefs can be attributed to their relationship with single-celled algae of the familySymbiodiniaceae.Through the process of photosynthesis, these algae can provide their coral hosts with over 90% of their daily energy requirements. Most coral species acquire multiple species of symbionts from the surrounding water during their larval stage or immediately after settling. However, over time, the coral will select a dominant symbiont speciesthat can depend on the local environment. Until this study, the size or age of the coral at which this transition from multiple Symbiodiniaceaespecies to one dominant species occurs has remained …

Shallow- Water Hardbottom Communities Support The Separation Of Biogeographic Provinces On The West- Central Florida Gulf Coast, Shelby Eagan

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Several studies have found separation of biogeographic provinces on the West Florida Shelf (WFS), but the location of this separation differs depending on different organisms with faunal boundaries proposed at Apalachicola, Cedar Key, Anclote Key. Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Cape Romano, or Cape Sable. Biogeographic boundaries can be gradual over a given space and are often species-specific. Analyses of marine benthic mapping and community characterization of Florida’s West-central coast shallow water (depth) hardbottom habitats indicate a major shift in the benthos across Tampa Bay. Quantitative benthic surveys of 29 sites yielded a total of 4,079 individuals of nine stony coral …

Desperate Coral Larvae? Behavioral Responses To Settlement Cues In Aging Agaricia Agaricites Larvae, Helena Sasha Fulmore

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The global stressors of ocean warming and acidification, as well as local stressors such as eutrophication, overfishing, and coastal construction, have all contributed to the severe decline in coral populations worldwide. Recovery of coral reefs depends partly on recruitment, which relies on the response of larvae to settlement cues indicative of habitat quality; however, it remains unclear whether recruitment in disturbed areas will be compromised. Specifically, as reefs become more disturbed and dominated by macroalgae, it is important to understand larval behavior in response to changes in habitat quality. In this study, we first assessed the settlement success of newly …

Optimizing Lighting Regimes For Rearing Orbicella Faveolata And Acropora Cervicornis Recruits, Paul D. Kreh

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reef decline worldwide has led to the need for coral reef restoration. The use of sexual reproduction in restoration efforts is required to increase genetic diversity; however, the procedures for rearing newly-settled coral recruits ex situ still need to be optimized. Recruits initially require low light irradiance, but it is unclear when higher irradiances are required to enhance growth and survival. Here we determined the optimal light regime for Orbicella faveolata and Acropora cervicornis recruits. Newly settled recruits were reared under treatments with varied rates of increasing irradiance (after reaching 5 weeks of age), and their survival, growth, and …

Microbial Analysis Of Surfactant-Associated Bacteria In The Sea Surface Microlayer And Remote Sensing Of Associated Slicks, Georgia Parks

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The sea-surface microlayer (SML) is the boundary layer at the air-sea interface where many biogeochemical processes occur. Many organisms (e.g., bacteria) produce surface active agents (surfactants) for life processes, which accumulate in the SML and dampen short gravity-capillary waves, resulting in sea surface slicks. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is capable of remotely sensing these features on the sea surface by measuring reflected backscatter from the ocean surface in microwaves. This study coordinates SAR overpasses with in situ SML and subsurface (SSW) microbial sample collection to guide subsequent analysis after 16s rRNA sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq. In April …

An Index To Better Estimate Tropical Cyclone Intensity Change In The Western North Pacific, Woojeong Lee, Sung-Hun Kim, Pao-Shin Chu, Il-Ju Moon, Alexander Soloviev

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A revised predictor called the net energy gain rate (NGR) is suggested by considering wind dependent drag coefficient based on the existing maximum potential intensity theory. A series of wind speed dependent NGR, known as NGR‐w, is calculated based on pre‐tropical cyclone (TC) averaged ocean temperatures from the surface down to 120 m (at 10‐m intervals) to include the TC‐induced vertical mixing for 13 years (2004–2016) in the western North Pacific. It turns out that the NGR50‐w (NGR‐w based on temperature averaged over top 50 m) has the highest correlation with 24‐h TC intensity …

Some Environmental And Biological Determinants Of Coral Richness, Resilience And Reef Building In Galápagos (Ecuador), Bernhard Riegl, Matthew Johnston, Peter W. Glynn, Inti Keith, Fernando Rivera, Mariana Vera-Zambrano, Stuart Banks, Joshua Feingold, Peter J. Glynn

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Throughout the Galápagos, differences in coral reef development and coral population dynamics were evaluated by monitoring populations from 2000–2019, and environmental parameters (sea temperatures, pH, NO₃⁻, PO₄³⁻) from 2015–19. The chief goal was to explain apparent coral community differences between the northern (Darwin and Wolf) and southern (Sta. Cruz, Fernandina, San Cristóbal, Española, Isabela) islands. Site coral species richness was highest at Darwin and Wolf. In the three most common coral taxa, a declining North (N)-South (S) trend in colony sizes existed for Porites lobata and Pocillopora spp., but not for Pavona spp. …

Nutrient Controls Over Cyanobacterial Synthesis Of The Neurotoxin Β-N-Methylamino-L-Alanine (Bmaa) And Its Potential Accumulation In The Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus), Madeline M. Hummel

OES Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria are known to produce a variety of toxins that negatively impact both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. One putative neurotoxic compound is the non-protein amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), which has epidemiological linkages to the development of several human neurological diseases. Three cyanobacterial species thought to produce BMAA —Microcystis aeruginosa, Synechococcus bacillaris, and Nostoc sp. —were grown in nutrient replete cultures to examine its synthesis and cellular distribution over a growth cycle. Production of BMAA was also examined in nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) deplete cultures of Microcystis aeruginosa. In addition, natural assemblages of phytoplankton dominated by …