Marine Biology Commons^™

Life History, Sexual Dimorphism And 'Ornamental' Feathers In The Mesozoic Bird Confuciusornis Sanctus., Winfried S. Peters, Dieter Stefan Peters

Winfried S. Peters

The Value Of A Net‐Cage As A Fish Aggregating Device In Southern California, Daniel Pondella

Daniel Pondella

There is an urgent need for primary data that can be used to quantify the value of marine aquaculture facilities that also describe influences on the surrounding natural ecosystem and its wild fish communities. Divers completed 360 transect replicates below a net-cage and at nearby and distant rocky reefs off Catalina Island, California, estimating the species abundance and size class of all conspicuous fishes in the water column. We observed 10,234 fishes aggregating below the net-cage with a mean annual density of 142 (SE ± 30) per 100 m2 and diversity H′ 2.29. At the adjacent reference reef, we counted …

Bringing Home The Trash: Do Differences In Foraging Lead To Increased Plastic Ingestion In Laysan Albatrosses?, L C. Young, C Vanderlip, D C. Duffy, V Afanasyev, Scott A. Shaffer

Scott A. Shaffer

When searching for prey, animals should maximize energetic gain, while minimizing energy expenditure by altering their movements relative to prey availability. However, with increasing amounts of marine debris, what once may have been ‘optimal’ foraging strategies for top marine predators, are leading to sub-optimal diets comprised in large part of plastic. Indeed, the highly vagile Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) which forages throughout the North Pacific, are well known for their tendency to ingest plastic. Here we examine whether Laysan albatrosses nesting on Kure Atoll and Oahu Island, 2,150 km apart, experience different levels of plastic ingestion. Twenty two geolocators were …