Marine Biology Commons^™

Survivorship And Growth In Staghorn Coral (Acropora Cervicornis) Outplanting Projects In The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Matt Ware, Eliza N. Garfield, Ken Nedimyer, Jessica Levy, Les Kaufman, William F. Precht, R. Scott Winters, Steven Miller

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Significant population declines in Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata began in the 1970s and now exceed over 90%. The losses were caused by a combination of coral disease and bleaching, with possible contributions from other stressors, including pollution and predation. Reproduction in the wild by fragment regeneration and sexual recruitment is inadequate to offset population declines. Starting in 2007, the Coral Restoration Foundation™ evaluated the feasibility of outplanting A. cervicornis colonies to reefs in the Florida Keys to restore populations at sites where the species was previously abundant. Reported here are the results of 20 coral outplanting projects …

The Role Of Bacterial Symbionts And Bioluminescence In The Pyrosome, Pyrosoma Atlanticum, Alexis Berger

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The pelagic tunicate, Pyrosoma atlanticum, is known for its brilliant bioluminescence, but the mechanism causing this bioluminescence has not been fully characterized. This study identifies the bacterial bioluminescent symbionts of P. atlanticum collected in the northern Gulf of Mexico using various methods such as electron microscopy, light microscopy, and molecular genetics. The bacteria are localized within a specific pyrosome light organ. Bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria of Vibrionaceae composed >50% of taxa in tunicate samples (n=13), which was shown by utilizing current molecular genetics methodologies. While searching for bacterial lux genes in 2 tunicate samples, we also serendipitously generated a draft …

Symbiosis And Bioinvasive Dynamics Of Durusdinium Trenchii And Its Acroporid Coral Hosts, David Craig Lawson

HCNSO Student Capstones

Biological invasions are a growing threat to coral reef ecosystems, as increasing anthropogenic transport and changing environmental patterns allow invasive species to establish and spread. Durusdinium trenchii is a dinoflagellate that has invaded the Greater Caribbean reef system and established symbioses with coral hosts. Establishment and persistence of invasive endosymbionts like D. trenchii could indicate a shift in the clade composition of coral holobionts worldwide. Statistical analyses were performed on the GeoSymbio database (Franklin et al. 2012) to determine whether differences in clade composition have occurred over time. Factors that influence biological invasions in marine ecosystems were assessed and analogous …

Critical Habitats And Biodiversity: Inventory, Thresholds And Governance, Alex Rogers, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, Ward Appeltans, Jorge Assis, Lisa T. Ballance, Philippe Cury, Carlos M. Duarte, Fabio Favoretto, Joy Kumagai, Catherine Lovelock, Patricia Miloslavich, Aidi Niamir, David Obura, Bethan C. O'Leary, Gabriel Reygondeau, Callum Roberts, Yvonne Sadovy, Tracey Sutton, Derek P. Tittensor, Enriqueta Velarde

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Key Messages:

• Evidence suggests that ocean biodiversity at all levels is being lost as a result of the direct and indirect impacts of human pressures. The main drivers of biodiversity loss are overexploitation and human pressures in coastal environments (development, habitat loss, pollution, disturbance). Increasingly, climate change and ocean acidification are and will be drivers of biodiversity loss especially in sensitive coastal ecosystems.
  
  
• Despite advances in understanding the distribution of species and habitats in the ocean, many aspects of marine biodiversity remain poorly understood. As a result, changes in marine biodiversity are difficult to ascertain and there is a critical …

The Microscopic Threat With A Macroscopic Impact: Microplastics Along The Southeast Florida Reef Tract, Emma Wightman

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Microplastics have been found in large quantities in marine water samples and biota around the world. These microplastics, when present in the marine environment, decrease water quality and negatively impact marine life. This research quantified and classified marine plastic pollution along the Southeast Florida Reef Tract (SEFRT), in order to understand how this plastic is entering the ocean and the scope of the microplastic contamination in the northern SEFRT. Surface and bottom water samples were collected at 7 sites along the SEFRT for 6 months, filtered, and microscopically analyzed for microplastic content and composition using Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR). Classification …

Tipping Points Of Mississippi Delta Marshes Due To Accelerated Sea-Level Rise, Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, Krista L. Jankowski, Yong-Xiang Li, Juan L. Gonzalez

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Coastal marshes are threatened by relative sea-level (RSL) rise, yet recent studies predict marsh survival even under the high rates of RSL rise expected later in this century. However, because these studies are mostly based on short-term records, uncertainty persists about the longer-term vulnerability of coastal marshes. We present an 8500-year-long marsh record from the Mississippi Delta, showing that at rates of RSL rise exceeding 6 to 9 mm year−1, marsh conversion into open water occurs in about 50 years. At rates of RSL rise exceeding ~3 mm year−1, marsh drowning occurs within a few centuries. Because present-day rates of …

An Analysis Of Dredge Efficiency For Surfclam And Ocean Quahog Commercial Dredges, Leanne Poussard

Master's Theses

Between 1997 and 2011, The National Marine Fisheries Service conducted 50 depletion experiments to estimate survey gear efficiency and stock density for Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) and ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) populations using commercial hydraulic dredges. The Patch Model was formulated to estimate gear efficiency and organism density from the data. The range of efficiencies estimated is substantial, leading to uncertainty in the application of these estimates in stock assessment. Analysis of depletion experiment simulations showed that uncertainty in the estimates of gear efficiency from depletion experiments was reduced by higher numbers of dredge tows per experiment, more tow overlap …

Fish Assemblages Associated With A Newly Deployed Eco-Engineered Artificial Seawall In The Intercoastal Waters Of Port Everglades, Olmo Cinti

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

As the demand for urbanization of coastal areas increases, there is a strong interest to create new infrastructures that would replace natural habitats (Airoldi & Beck, 2007; Dugan et al., 2011). These infrastructures, due to their differences in composition and structure, are often associated with decreasing biodiversity, and proliferation of invasive species (Firth et al., 2014; Moschella et al., 2005). To minimize or attenuate these negative effects of hardening shorelines eco-engineering can be implemented. This kind of approach focuses on the modification of artificial habitats to enhance services that would not be otherwise obtained (Barbier et al., 2011; Mayer-Pinto et …

Examination Of Parasite Assemblages In Killifish Of The Genus Fundulus Across The Atlantic Coast Of The United States And Canada, Derek Garvey

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Killifish of the genus Fundulus were examined to assess the factors shaping parasite community structure at a genus level. A database of previous parasite surveys on Fundulus species across the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada was created from a literature review. The database included parasite and environmental factor data from 15 sources. Additional sites from New Brunswick, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and South Carolina were sampled for Fundulus species. The resulting database includes data for 10 species from a total of 57 unique geographic sites. Data on the diversity and abundance of metazoan parasites were …

Understanding The Toxicity Of Single Hydrocarbons, Oil, And Dispersed Oil: A Species Sensitivity Assessment For Five Atlantic Coral Species, Nicholas R. Turner

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reefs are keystone coastal ecosystems that are at risk of exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons from a range of sources, including oil spill incidents and chronic runoff, and are usually one of the highest valued natural resources for protection in Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA)/Spill Impact Mitigation Assessment (SIMA) of response methods and environmental damage. Previous research evaluating hydrocarbon impacts to corals has resulted in no clear characterization of sensitivity, as work has generally focused on higher-level effects, compounded by significant variability in experimental methodology. This represents an important knowledge gap in oil spill preparedness and response as it relates …

Hiding In Plain Sight: Elopomorph Larvae Are Important Contributors To Fish Biodiversity In A Low-Latitude Oceanic Ecosystem, Jon A. Moore, Dante Fenolio, April Coan, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Leptocephalus larvae of elopomorph fishes are a cryptic component of fish diversity in nearshore and oceanic habitats. However, identifying those leptocephali can be important in illuminating species richness in a region. Since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, sampling of offshore fishes in the epi-, meso-, and upper bathypelagic depth strata of the northern Gulf of Mexico resulted in 8989 identifiable specimens of leptocephalus larvae or transforming juveniles, in 118 taxa representing 83 recognized and established species and an additional 35 distinctive leptocephalus morphotypes not yet linked to a known described species. Leptocephali account for ∼13% of the total …

Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella Frontalis) And Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Nearshore Distribution, Bimini, The Bahamas, Skylar L. Muller

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Bimini, The Bahamas, includes two islands surrounded by a diverse assemblage of ecosystems and a large array of organisms, including two delphinid species, Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus, inshore ecotype). Within a predefined nearshore zone, individuals of both species had largely overlapping distribution from 2003-2018; Atlantic spotted dolphins tended to disperse farther to the north while bottlenose dolphins were located farther south. The distribution of both species varied significantly by year. Atlantic spotted dolphin sightings varied across years and months while bottlenose dolphin sightings varied by month, with differences between …

A Temporal Analysis Of The Euphausiid Assemblage In The Gulf Of Mexico After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, With Notes On Seasonal Reproduction, Nathan A. La Spina

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the results of the first multi-year study on the euphausiid assemblage in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWHOS), covering depths down to 1000 m. There are no data on the euphausiid assemblage from this region prior to the oil spill; therefore, the data in this study were analyzed with respect to year (samples collected in 2011 vs. those collected between 2015 – 2016), and season (May vs. August) to determine if any trends were present. These results presented here show a statistically significant decrease in both abundance and biomass between 2011 and 2015 – …

Predation Efficiency And Prey Choice Of Estuarine Organisms Under Varying Anthropogenic Light Types And Intensities, Carmen Montalvo

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The coastlines of Florida are becoming highly urbanized, and the growing human population is affecting many mangrove and estuarine habitats. Exploring the predation efficiency and prey choice of estuarine organisms under varying anthropogenic light types and intensities could help determine anthropogenic effects. Mangrove habitats support both relatively large predators such as Blue Striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus) and Gray Snapper (Lutjanus griseus), and a diversity of smaller taxa that occupy lower trophic levels, including Grass Shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus) and Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). Understanding how predation (or predation evasion) efficiencies are affected by different …

A Survey Of The Order Tetraodontiformes On Coral Reef Habitats In Southeast Florida, Anne C. Sevon

HCNSO Student Capstones

The economy of south Florida relies, in part, on the recreation and tourism industries; both of which are integrally linked to Florida’s coastal ecosystems. These ecosystems provide tourists the opportunity to explore mangroves and the Everglades, enjoy local beaches, and experience the ocean with fishing charters, scuba diving adventures, and snorkeling. One of the major attractions for tourists is the Florida Reef Tract (FRT), which includes multiple coral reef and hardbottom habitats that extend from St. Lucie Inlet through the Florida Keys and into the Dry Tortugas. The FRT has been a major part of research because a wide range …

Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Analysis Of Mangrove Ecosystems Using Gis, Kayla Caldwell

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is accelerating beyond what is natural due to excessive emissions from human activities. The sea level has been rising for many years and is currently at a rate of 3.6 mm/yr. Mangroves are known to only keep pace with a sea level rate of less than 1.2 mm/yr. Mangroves are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels if they are not able to keep pace through vertical sediment accretion or inland migration. To test the vulnerability of the south Florida mangrove ecosystems to sea level rise, this study analyzed changes in the mangrove forest coverage of the Oleta River …

Pelagic Habitat Partitioning Of Late-Larval And Juvenile Tunas In The Oceanic Gulf Of Mexico, Nina Pruzinsky, Rosanna Milligan, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Tunas are ecologically important in pelagic ecosystems, but due to their high economic value, large-bodied species are overfished. Declines in fishery landings of large-bodied tuna species in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) are expected to increase fishing pressures on unmanaged, small-bodied tuna species, whose life history traits are less known. While predicting spawning stocks and recruitment success typically focuses on estimates of larval abundances, juveniles may provide a better estimate of future adult stock sizes, as they are more likely to survive to adulthood because mortality rates scale inversely with body size. However, distributional studies on juveniles are rare, leading …

Comparative Study Of The Effects Of Light On Photophore Ultrastructure From Two Families Of Deep-Sea Decapod Crustaceans: Oplophoridae And Sergestidae, Jamie E. Sickles

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Counterillumination, the mechanism by which pelagic species produce bioluminescence to replace the light blocked by their bodies to hide their silhouettes, has been known for over 100 years. However, little is known about how these animals are able to so precisely replicate the intensity of downwelling light. The recent discovery of opsins in photophores (Bracken-Grissom et al. 2020) suggests that these autogenic organs (i.e. non-bacterial) may be sensitive to light, in addition to their function of emitting visible light. The study presented here is 1) the first ultrastructural assessment of photophores in species Systellaspis debilis, Janicella spinicauda, Parasergestes armatus, …

An Investigation Into The Factors Influencing Growth And Survival Of Caribbean Acroporid Corals In A Floating Nursery, Cassie M. Vanwynen

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

For decades, coral reef ecosystems have been in decline. To promote recovery, restoration efforts have been implemented for many degraded reefs across the globe. In the Caribbean, there is restoration focus on the coral genus Acropora. Current methods target Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, two threatened species of branching coral that can mate to form a hybrid taxon, A. prolifera. By including the hybrid in restoration efforts, researchers may better understand how this taxon may promote nursery expansion and outplanting in restoration efforts. Establishing efforts in novel areas may further advance restoration methods by comparing location differences in nursery …

How Can We Change Gut Microbiota For Healthy Lives?, Elizaveta Shmakova

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Essential And Non-Essential Elements Recorded In Western Arctic Bowhead Whales (Balaena Mysticetus), Samantha L. Shore

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Western Arctic bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, migrate annually among the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas. Foraging along their route, they use keratinous baleen to filter microscopic zooplankton from the water column. A single baleen plate from an adult bowhead whale grows continuously and stores 20+ years of dietary and environmental data. This study utilized induced coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to evaluate concentrations of 14 essential and non-essential elements in baleen samples from nine subsistence-harvested whales, yielding continuous data from 1958–1999 (n=148). Stable isotope data previously reported on these samples provided information on location (Beaufort Sea; Bering/Chukchi seas), season (winter; …

Complete Mitochondrial Genome Of Carijoa Riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea: Stolonifera: Clavulariidae), Erin E. Easton, David Hicks

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We report the first complete Stolonifera mitochondrial genome. Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) isolate CLP2_A03 was collected by scuba at 32 m on the USTS Texas Clipper (27° 53.7827′N, 93° 36.2702′W). The complete mitogenome has the ancestral octocoral gene order for its 14 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, and one tRNA gene. It is 18,714 bp (30.7% A, 15.8% C, 18.8% G, and 34.7% T). Of the Alcyonacea mitogenomes published to date, it is most genetically similar (94% uncorrected) to Sinularia ceramensis Verseveldt, 1977 (NC_044122).

An Ecopath With Ecosim Analysis On Offshore Petroleum Platform Influences On Gulf Of Mexico Red Snapper, Valentin Gomez

LSU Master's Theses

Offshore oil and gas platforms have had a significant presence in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1950s. An important secondary function of these structures is that they provide artificial habitat to fisheries, most notably Red snapper. Policy changes intended to reduce the risk associated with aging infrastructure have reduced the number of standing platforms from 4044 to 1867 from 2001 to 2018. The effect this loss of habitat has on Red snapper was tested by creating three scenarios of platform changes and modeling the perturbation from 2005 to 2050. The simulation was accomplished using the ecological model Ecopath with …

The Simulated Biological Response To Southern Ocean Eddies Via Biological Rate Modification And Physical Transport, Tyler Rohr, Cheryl S. Harrison, Matthew C. Long, Peter Gaube, Scott C. Doney

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We examine the structure and drivers of anomalous phytoplankton biomass in Southern Ocean eddies tracked in a global, multiyear, eddy-resolving, 3-D ocean simulation of the Community Earth System Model.We examine how simulated anticyclones and cyclones differentially modify phytoplankton biomass concentrations, growth rates, and physical transport. On average, cyclones induce negative division rate anomalies that drive negative net population growth rate anomalies, reduce dilution across shallower mixed layers, and advect biomass anomalously downward via eddy-induced Ekman pumping. The opposite is true in anticyclones. Lateral transport is dominated by eddy stirring rather than eddy trapping. The net effect on anomalous biomass can …

Eddy-Modified Iron, Light, And Phytoplankton Cell Division Rates In The Simulated Southern Ocean, Tyler Rohr, Cheryl S. Harrison, Matthew C. Long, Peter Gaube, Scott C. Doney

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We examine the effects of Southern Ocean eddies on phytoplankton cell division rates in a global, multiyear, eddy‐resolving, 3‐D ocean simulation of the Community Earth System Model. We first identify and track eddies in the simulation and validate their distribution and demographics against observed eddy trajectory characteristics. Next, we examine how simulated cyclones and anticyclones differentially modify iron, light, and ultimately population‐specific cell division rates. We use an eddy‐centric, depth‐averaged framework to explicitly examine the dynamics of the phytoplankton population across the entire water column within an eddy. We find that population‐averaged iron availability is elevated in anticyclones throughout the …

Innovative Protection And Conservation Of Coral Reefs In Madagascar, Meghan Parker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Madagascar is home to approximately 3,450 kilometers of coral reefs, including some of the most biodiverse and valuable marine ecosystems in the Indian Ocean (Webster 2002). This online research project investigates the status of Madagascar’s coral reefs separated by region, threats that are facing the reefs and community-based solutions to protect and conserve the reefs. Conclusions of this online research suggest that most coral reefs in Madagascar are in relatively good health, although looming threats exist from overfishing, increased coastal populations, tourism, and warming waters. Community-based solutions are abundant and have proven effective, and can be implemented nation-wide, personalized to …

Microbial Symbionts And Ecological Divergence Of Caribbean Sponges: A New Perspective On An Ancient Association, Christopher Freeman, Cole Easson, Kenan O. Matterson, Robert W. Thacker, David M. Baker, Valerie J. Paul

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Marine sponges host diverse communities of microbial symbionts that expand the metabolic capabilities of their host, but the abundance and structure of these communities is highly variable across sponge species. Specificity in these interactions may fuel host niche partitioning on crowded coral reefs by allowing individual sponge species to exploit unique sources of carbon and nitrogen, but this hypothesis is yet to be tested. Given the presence of high sponge biomass and the coexistence of diverse sponge species, the Caribbean Sea provides a unique system in which to investigate this hypothesis. To test for ecological divergence among sympatric Caribbean sponges …

Phylogeography Of Acartia Tonsa Dana, 1849 (Calanoida: Copepoda) And Phylogenetic Reconstruction Of The Genus Acartia Dana, 1846, Nicole J. Figueroa, Diego F. Figueroa, David Hicks

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The calanoid copepod, Acartia tonsa Dana, 1849 is one of the most abundant and well-studied estuarian species with a worldwide distribution. In this research, we use the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene to study the phylogeography of A. tonsa by analyzing sequences from specimens collected in the western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) along with all sequences from previous research. We reconstruct the phylogeny for the genus Acartia Dana, 1846 and highlight numerous potential misidentifications of Acartia species deposited in GenBank. The incorrect taxonomy assigned to some of these sequences results in apparently paraphyletic relationships. This study demonstrates that A. …

Antibiotic Resistance In Marine Microbial Communities Proximal To A Florida Sewage Outfall System, Dale W. Griffin, Kenneth Banks, Kurtis Gregg, Sarah Shedler, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Water samples were collected at several wastewater treatment plants in southeast Florida, and water and sediment samples were collected along and around one outfall pipe, as well as along several transects extending both north and south of the respective outfall outlet. Two sets of samples were collected to address potential seasonal differences, including 38 in the wet season (June 2018) and 42 in the dry season (March 2019). Samples were screened for the presence/absence of 15 select antibiotic resistance gene targets using the polymerase chain reaction. A contrast between seasons was found, with a higher frequency of detections occurring in …

Light Organ Photosensitivity In Deep-Sea Shrimp May Suggest A Novel Role In Counterillumination, Heather D. Bracken-Grissom, Danielle M. Deleo, Megan L. Porter, Tom Iwanicki, Jamie E. Sickles, Tamara Frank

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Extraocular photoreception, the ability to detect and respond to light outside of the eye, has not been previously described in deep-sea invertebrates. Here, we investigate photosensitivity in the bioluminescent light organs (photophores) of deep-sea shrimp, an autogenic system in which the organism possesses the substrates and enzymes to produce light. Through the integration of transcriptomics, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry we find evidence for the expression of opsins and phototransduction genes known to play a role in light detection in most animals. Subsequent shipboard light exposure experiments showed ultrastructural changes in the photophore similar to those seen in crustacean eyes, …