Marine Biology Commons^™

Assessment Of The Coral Reefs Of The Turks And Caicos Islands (Part 1: Stony Corals And Algae), Bernhard Riegl, Carrie Manfrino, Casey Hermoyian, Marilyn Brandt, Kaho Hoshino

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Major constituents of the benthic reef community (stony corals, algae) were assessed in 28 reefs on the Caicos, Turks and Mouchoir Banks. Living stony coral cover ranged from 8-28%, averaging 18% overall. Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata of “intermediate” sizes (cm) dominated all examined reefs. Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis were scarce. The most frequently recruiting scleractinians were Porites astreoides and Agaricia agaricites; Montastraea recruits were uncommon. Old partial-colony mortality (overall mean = 23%) was greater than recent partial-colony mortality (mean = 3%). Crustose coralline algae and turf algae were generally more abundant than macroalgae. Mouchoir Bank, with the …

The State Of Coral Reef Ecosystems Of The United States And Pacific Freely Associated States: 2002, Donna D. Turgeon, Rebecca G. Asch, Billy Causey, Richard E. Dodge, Walter Jaap, Kenneth Banks, Joanne Delaney, Brian Keller, Richard E. Spieler, Cruz A. Matos, Jorge R. Garcia, Ernesto Diaz, Don Catanzaro, Caroline Rogers, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Richard Nemeth, Herman Taylor, Marcia Taylor, George P. Schmahl, Margaret W. Miller, David A. Gulko, James E. Maragos, Alan Friedlander, Cynthia L. Hunter, Russell E. Brainard, Peter Craig, Robert H. Richmond, Gerry W. Davis, John Starmer, Michael Trianni, Peter Houk, Charles E. Birkeland, Ahser Edward, Yimnang Golbuu, Jay Gutierrez, Noah Idechong, James E. Maragos, Gustav Paulay, Andrew Tafileichig, Nancy Vander Velde

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Called for by the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force’s (USCRTF) National Action Plan to Conserve Coral Reefs, this is the first biennial report on the condition of coral reefs. It is the scientific baseline for subsequent reports on the health of U.S. coral reef ecosystems that are to be used by NOAA and others to evaluate the efficacy of coral reef conservation and management practices. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service led the development of this report. It was authored by 38 experts and supported by 79 contributors from government agencies and non-governmental organizations across the nation …

Habitat Standardization Of Cpue Indices: Research Needs, C. Phillip Goodyear, David Die, David W. Kerstetter, Donald Olson, Eric Prince, Gerald P. Scott

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Habitat standardization for billfish CPUE offers a potentially useful alternative to the statistical procedures used in the past. However, most of the assumptions of the current habitatstandardization methodology remain untested and some are not consistent with current knowledge about the behavior of billfish. This paper outlines research required to ensure the methods for habitat standardization produce robust estimates of CPUE.

Habitat Preferences Of Istiophorid Billfishes In The Western North Atlantic: Applicability Of Archival Tag Data To Habitat-Based Stock Assessment Methodologies, John E. Graves, David W. Kerstetter, Brian E. Luckhurst, Eric D. Prince

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

The Japanese pelagic longline fishery, which has a broad temporal and spatial coverage in the Atlantic Ocean, provides an important time series used in assessments of istiophorid billfishes. Past assessments of Atlantic blue marlin and white marlin by the ICCAT SCRS indicate a pronounced decrease in stock abundance of both species over the past fifty years. The current biomass of the white marlin is estimated to be 15% of that necessary for maximum sustainable yield (BMSY), while blue marlin are estimated to be at 0.4 BMSY. Over the past fifty years Japanese pelagic longline fishing operations have moved from shallow …

Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward County, Fl 2003 Report, Curtis M. Burney, Stefanie Ouellette

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Status Of Coral Reefs Of Little Cayman, Grand Cayman And Cayman Brac, British West Indies, In 1999 And 2000 (Part 1: Stony Corals And Algae), Carrie Manfrino, Bernhard Riegl, Jerome L. Hall, Robert Graifman

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A benthic assessment of the isolated Cayman Islands was completed at 42 sites. Major changes in the reef community structure were documented by comparison with earlier studies. Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis, once abundant as shallow framework builders, were uncommon. Diseased stony corals were seen in >90% of the study sites, with the highest averages in Little Cayman, especially at Bloody Bay which is one of the most highly regulated marine parks in the Cayman Islands. The Montastraea annularis species complex accounted for two-thirds of the diseased corals which, along with other massive species, were affected largely by white-plague …

Marine Biological Monitoring In Broward County, Florida: Year 3 Annual Report, David S. Gilliam, Richard Dodge, Richard E. Spieler, Lance K. B. Jordan, Jamie A. Vernacchio

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

A study has been undertaken to monitor Broward County, Florida (southeast Florida) coral communities, reef fish assemblages and sedimentation rates in relation to possible effects from a proposed extensive beach renourishment (restoration) project. Coral communities and reef fish assemblages will be monitored at a total of 23 stations distributed offshore Broward County. This monitoring effort will characterize and quantify populations of scleractinian (stony) corals, octocorallian (gorgonian) corals, sponges, and reef fishes. In addition, sediment traps located at each station will be sampled and analyzed.

This document reports the data collected during the third year of this project. Coral communities and …

Growth And Survivorship Of Meandrina Meandrites And Montastrea Cavernosa Transplants To An Artificial Reef Environment, And The Effectiveness Of Plugging Core Holes In Transplant Donor Colonies, Elizabeth Glynn Fahy

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The growth and survivorship of two species of scleractinian coral transplants, Meandrina meandrites and Montastrea cavernosa, were investigated. Identically sized replicate transplants were obtained from the second reef, off Dania Beach, using a hydraulic drill fitted with a 4” core barrel. The transplants were fixed to Reef Ball™ substrates using an adhesive marine epoxy. Drill holes in the donor corals (core holes) were filled with concrete plugs to prevent the detrimental effects of bioeroders. Control corals, of comparable size to both the donor colonies and the transplant corals, were selected for comparison. The transplant corals, donor corals, and controls …

Effects Of Epiphyte Load On Optical Properties And Photosynthetic Potential Of The Seagrasses Thalassia Testudinum Banks Ex König And Zostera Marina L, Lisa A. Drake, Fred C. Dobbs, Richard C. Zimmerman

OES Faculty Publications

The biomass and optical properties of seagrass leaf epiphytes were measured to evaluate their potential impact on the photosynthetic performance of the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König (turtlegrass) and Zostera marina L. (eelgrass). Turtlegrass was obtained from oligotrophic waters near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas; eelgrass was collected from a eutrophic environment in Monterey Bay, California. Leaf–epiphyte loads were characterized visually and quantified using measurements of their phospholipid biomass. Light absorption and reflectance of the intact epiphyte layer were determined spectrophotometrically. Turtlegrass epiphytes from the oligotrophic site absorbed a maximum of 36% of incident light in peak chlorophyll absorption …

A Biooptical Model Of Irradiance Distribution And Photosynthesis In Seagrass Canopies, Richard C. Zimmerman

OES Faculty Publications

Although extremely vulnerable to coastal eutrophication, seagrasses represent important structuring elements and sources of primary production in shallow waters. They also generate an optical signature that can be tracked remotely. Accurate knowledge of light absorption and scattering by submerged plant canopies permits the calculation of important plant- and ecosystem-level properties, including rates of photosynthesis, vegetation abundance, and distribution. The objectives of this study were to develop a realistic, yet simply parameterized two-flow model of plane irradiance distribution through a seagrass canopy submerged in an optically active water column, to evaluate its performance against in situ measurements, and to explore the …

Extracellular Enzyme Activity And Uptake Of Carbon And Nitrogen Along An Estuarine Salinity And Nutrient Gradient, Margaret R. Mulholland, Cindy Lee, Patricia M. Gilbert

OES Faculty Publications

Amino acid oxidation (AAO) and peptide hydrolysis (PH) are processes affecting the recycling of organic material and nutrients. We compared extracellular AAO and PH rates to C and N uptake rates along estuarine gradients of salinity, nutrients and productivity in the Pocomoke River, a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay. This estuary is seasonally depleted in inorganic N, and rich in dissolved organic material (DOM) throughout the year. AAO, PH, and N uptake rates measured in 1999 and 2000 were not limited to particular size fractions measured, or to auto- or heterotrophic groups of organisms. At a station near the turbidity …

The Role Of Physical, Chemical, And Microbial Heterogeneity On The Field-Scale Transport And Attachment Of Bacteria, Brian J. Mailloux, Mark E. Fuller, Tullis C. Onstott, James Hall, Hailiang Dong, Mary F. Deflaun, Sheryl H. Streger, Randi K. Rothmel, Maria Green, Donald J. P. Swift, Jon Radke

OES Faculty Publications

A field-scale bacterial transport experiment was conducted at the Narrow Channel Focus Area of the South Oyster field site located in Oyster, Virginia. The goal of the field experiment was to determine the relative influence of subsurface heterogeneity and microbial population parameters on flow direction, velocity, and attachment of bacteria at the field scale. The field results were compared with results from laboratory-scale column experiments to develop a method for predicting field-scale bacterial transport. The field site is a shallow, sandy, unconfined, aerobic aquifer that has been characterized by geophysical, sedimentological, and hydrogeological methods. Comamonas sp. strain DA001 and a …

Winter 2003, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Bio-Optical Properties Of The Labrador Sea, Glenn F. Cota, W. Glen Harrison, Trevor Platt, Shubha Sathyendranath, Venetia Stuart

CCPO Publications

Three cruises were conducted during fall and spring in the Labrador Sea to investigate the effects of bio-optical properties on satellite retrievals of phytoplankton chlorophyll in this important high-latitude ecosystem. Taxon-specific and regional differences were found. Diatoms had similar to 1.5 lower chlorophyll-specific absorption but significantly higher reflectance ratios than prymnesiophytes. Particulate absorption at 443 nm for total, phytoplankton, and "detrital'' fractions was related to chlorophyll, but values were lower than reported for lower latitudes. Decreased particulate absorption is attributed primarily to pigment packaging, while low backscattering to scattering ratios result from a lower relative abundance of bacteria and picophytoplankton …

Fisheries Research Report No. 142 - Identifying The Development Stages Of Preserved Eggs Of Snapper, Pagrus Auratus, From Shark Bay, Western Australia, J. Norriss, Gary Jackson

Fisheries Research Reports

The characteristics used to identify 19 developmental stages of preserved eggs of snapper, Pagrus auratus, collected from Shark Bay, Western Australia, during annual plankton surveys, are described and illustrated. A key is provided to enable the age of each egg stage to be estimated based on sea surface temperature and salinity observed during sampling. This report is intended as a reference for inexperienced staff, to ensure that between-year comparisons of snapper spawning biomass, estimated using the daily egg production method, are based on consistent egg staging and ageing methods.

Fisheries Research Report No. 143 - Methods Used In The Collection, Preparation And Interpretation Of Narrow-Barred Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus Commerson) Otoliths For A Study Of Age And Growth In Western Australia, Paul Lewis, M. C. Mackie

Fisheries Research Reports

The narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) is wide ranging throughout the Indo-West Pacific region where it has been the subject of various age and growth studies. Methods used in these studies have varied considerably and in some cases may have led to misleading conclusions. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to document in detail the methods used in determining the age and growth during a FRDC funded stock assessment of the species in the waters off Western Australia. These methods are considered to optimise the collection, processing, accuracy of microincrement counts, and interpretation of the annuli in both whole …

Review Of Recreational Take Of Coral In Western Australia. A Discussion Paper., Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

This discussion paper has been prepared by the Department of Fisheries (Western Australia) to address the issue of recreational collection of coral in coastal waters of Western Australia. The paper describes: • popular coral locations in WA; • management issues associated with the recreational collection of corals; • management objectives and strategies as possible options to address the issue of recreational collection of corals; and • seeks public input on the proposed management objectives and strategies.

Fall 2002, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Characteristics Of Shark Bycatch Observed On Pelagic Longlines Off The Southeastern United States, 1992-2000, Lawrence R. Beerkircher, Enric Cortes, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Data collected by fisheries observers aboard U.S. pelagic longline vessels were examined to quantify and describe elasmobranch bycatch off the southeastern U.S. coast (lat. 22°-35°N, long. 71°-82°W). From 1992 to 2000, 961 individual longline hauls were observed, during which 4,612 elasmobranchs (15% of the total catch) were documented. Of the 22 elasmobranch species observed, silky sharks, Carcharhinus falciformis, were numerically dominant (31.4% of the elasmobranch catch). The catch status of the animals (alive or dead) when the gear was retrieved varied widely depending on the species, with high mortalities seen for the commonly caught silky and night, C. signatus …

Fisheries Research Report No. 141 - A Guide To Good Otolith Cutting, Jerry Jenke

Fisheries Research Reports

This is a guide for embedding and sectioning fish otoliths. It is based on many years of otolith sectioning experience and is written as a recipe book for novice and expert alike. Included is a method for the enhancement of the clarity of small otoliths for improved sectioning, development of custom made tools, as well as a list of do’s and don’ts and hints to make the job easier. Use of this guide will assist in the most reliable interpretation of an otolith's internal structure, thereby improving ageing studies in general.

Fisheries Research Report No. 132 - A Review Of Food Availability, Sea Water Characteristics And Bivalve Growth Performance At Coastal Culture Sites In Temperate And Warm Temperate Regions Of The World, Sidney A. Saxby

Fisheries Research Reports

The suitability of a coastal area for bivalve farming, as well as the density at which bivalves can be farmed in that area, is limited by the available food supply and other environmental variables. In this review, a range of successful and marginal bivalve growing areas in temperate and warm temperate coastal areas around the world are characterised. These include areas of high food and nutrient levels, such as Saldanha Bay in South Africa, and the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, through to more oligotrophic areas, typified by parts of the South Australian coastline and the Mediterranean Sea. The latter areas …

Reseeding Of Grazing Gastropods And Bivalves Into The Marine Environment In Western Australia, Jane Borg

Fisheries Management Papers

The Department of Fisheries does not want to embark on what is ‘new territory’ in Western Australia without a policy framework to define what is to happen, why it is to happen, and what will happen if the project does or does not succeed. This paper therefore attempts to do three things. 1. It sets in place accepted definitions of reseeding and stock enhancement within the general context of fisheries management in Western Australia. 2. It discusses the policy issues associated with reseeding grazing gastropods and bivalves into the natural environment. 3. It proposes a framework or process to be …

Summer 2002, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Fisheries Research Report No. 138 - Historical Diving Profiles For Pearl Oyster Divers In Western Australia, H M A Lulofs, Neil R. Sumner

Fisheries Research Reports

The annual value of the pearl oyster fishery off the north coast of Western Australia is in the vicinity of 153 million dollars. Most pearl oyster fishing occurs in the Broome area. This area is managed on a quota system with a total allowable catch of 512,000 shells in 1996, during which 511,716 shells were taken. This required 12,775 hours of dive time at a catch rate of 40 shell per hour.

Drift diving practices in the Western Australian pearling industry over the last eighteen years are described and related to the number of medical incidents. The study provides a …

Fisheries Occasional Publication No. 2 - Scientific Workshop On The Margaret River Marron, Brett Molony

Fisheries Occasional Publications

Purpose of the Workshop

To gather together and review the scientific evidence around genetic and sustainability issues necessary for the management of Margaret River Marron (MRM)

The outcomes of the day will be to provide scientific advice, options and priorities to the relevant Programs within the Department of Fisheries to promote the sustainability of marron within MR.

* Introduction to, and comparison of, genetic techniques available to researchers. Presenter - Phil Vercoe

* What do we know about the genetic diversity of marron and other Cherax? Presenter - Chris Austin

* Morphology and Hybrids Presenter - Craig Lawrence

* The …

In Situ Observations On Three Species Of Large-Finned Deep-Sea Squids, M. Vecchione, C. F. E. Roper, Edith A. Widder, Tamara M. Frank

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The manned submersible Johnson Sea-Link II was used for a series of dives on the continental slope of the eastern Gulf of Mexico in September 1995. The deep-sea squids Mastigoteuthis hjorti Chun, 1913 and Octopoteuthis megaptera (Verrill, 1885) were repeatedly observed at depths of 600–850 m. Both species were videotaped alive, in situ, for the first time during these dives. These species share the characteristic of very large fins, almost as long as the mantle length, but their swimming behavior observed in the vicinity of the submersible differed greatly. Throughout most of the videotaped sequences of O. megaptera, it …

The Introduction And Aquaculture Of Non-Endemic Species In Western Australia: The ‘Rotund’ Yabby Cherax Rotundus And The All-Male Hybrid Yabby. A Discussion Paper., Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Management Papers

This discussion paper has been prepared to provide information to assist in the assessment of the possible impact of the translocation of Cherax rotundus and allmale hybrid yabbies within Western Australia, for the purposes of commercial aquaculture on private properties. In assessing the translocation of any aquatic species, the economic and social benefits must be balanced with biological and environmental risks.

3d Visualization Of Coral Reef Habitat, Brian K. Walker, Richard E. Dodge

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

A bathymetric survey was recently conducted in Southeast Florida (Broward County) during April 2001 using the Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) system. This four-meter resolution survey encompassed from North Dade County, through the length of Broward County coastline, to south Palm Beach County (approximately 43 km) and from the shore eastward to depths of approximately 40 m (2.5-3.5 km offshore). This georeferenced data was sun shaded at various angles and azimuths and draped with a NOAA NAPP 1:24,000 georeferenced air photograph mosaic. The model was zoomed and tipped to the desired orientations and processed into three-dimensional perspectives. Two views, slightly …

Zooplankton, Tracey Sutton, Scott E. Burghart

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Artificial Keys To The Genera Of Living Stalked Crinoids (Echinodermata), Michel Roux, Charles G. Messing, Nadia Améziane

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Two practical, illustrated, dichotomous keys to the 29 genera of living stalked crinoids are provided: one for entire animals and one for stalk ossicles and fragments. These are accompanied by (1) an overview of taxonomically important morphology, and (2) an alphabetical list by family and genus of the ∼95 nominal living species and their distribution by region. This is the first compilation of such data for all living stalked crinoids since Carpenter (1884) recognized 27 species in six genera in his monograph based on the H.M.S. CHALLENGER Expedition collection.