Marine Biology Commons^™

Restoring Native Oysters In Great Bay Estuary, Nh (2011), Ray Konisky, Raymond E. Grizzle, Krystin M. Ward

PREP Reports & Publications

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in New Hampshire’s Great Bay Estuary has declined in the past decades, with local populations at very low densities due primarily to disease, excessive siltation, and past over-harvest. The loss of filtering oysters results in diminished ecological benefits for water quality, nitrogen control, and other services that healthy oyster populations provide. In support of regional management objectives to restore millions of oysters to the estuary, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) piloted and scaled-up methods to successfully rebuild oyster reefs. Based on pilot results in 2009, we developed a technique …

Alternate Trophic Pathways Support Enhanced Bathypelagic Biomass Over A Mid-Ocean Ridge System, Tracey Sutton, Jeanna M. Hudson, Joel C. Hoffman, Tone Falkenhaug, Odd Aksel Bergstad, M. Heino

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

A classic paradigm of oceanic ecology is that pelagic animal biomass decreases exponentially with depth. Results of a muti-year study of the distribution and ecology of the pelagic fauna over the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), from Iceland to the Azores, revealed that water column biomass maxima can occur at deep meso- and bathypelagic depths (>750 m). Further, topographic association of the deep-pelagic fauna occurs at some locations. For example, bathypelagic fish abundance and biomass maxima were observed within the benthic boundary layer (<200 m above the bottom) during the 2004 G.O. Sars MAR-ECO expedition. Results of a pelagic food-web model over the MAR suggest that alternate trophic pathways contribute significantly to this deep biomass maxima. Consumption of decapod crustacea and gelatinous zooplankton represented major portions of the total consumption by pelagic fishes. Stable isotope analysis of 63 species, from zooplankton to large benthic predators, suggest short food chains and high trophic efficiency may account for enhanced deep-pelagic biomass.

Distribution And Trophic Ecology Of Bathylagus Euryops (Teleostei: Microstomatidae) Along The Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Christopher J. Sweetman, Tracey Sutton

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

The distribution and trophic ecology of many deepwater fishes in the North Atlantic are well documented, particularly for commercially important species. However, few studies based on large-scale latitudinal and vertical gradients have been performed. In June 2004, the MAR-ECO (Census of Marine Life) research expedition aboard the R/V G.O. Sars sampled the deep-pelagic fauna over the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge with the objective of quantitatively assessing the nekton associated with the ridge from Iceland to the Azores. Catch data revealed Bathylagus euryops to be the biomass dominant species and ranked 3rd in total abundance. Generally considered to be a relatively stable …

Vertical Distribution Of Deep-Pelagic (0-3000 M) Fishes Over The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone Region Of The Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, April B. Cook, Tracey Sutton, John K. Galbraith, M. Vecchione

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

Only a tiny fraction of the world’s largest volume of living space, the ocean’s midwater biome, has ever been sampled. As part of the International Census of Marine Life field project, MAR-ECO, a discrete-depth trawling survey was conducted in 2009 aboard the NOAA ship Henry B. Bigelow to examine pelagic assemblage structure and distribution over the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone of the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The bottom topography in this region ranges from 4500 m in the channel to 700-800 m on top of adjacent seamounts. Sampling was conducted at 11 stations from 0-3000 m using a Norwegian “Krill” trawl with …

Conservation Lands Audit And Online Inventory For Dover, Nh, Christopher Kane

PREP Reports & Publications

This project developed a functional inventory of the numerous conservation lands located throughout the City of Dover. The City’s inventory of conservation lands was disjointed and clearly in need of organization. A consultant was hired to conduct the research necessary to produce a complete, up to date and easily accessible “functional Inventory” that is readily accessible to municipal volunteers and the public through the City website.

Suppression Subtractive Hybridization Pcr Isolation Of Cdnas From A Caribbean Soft Coral, Jose V. Lopez, Angela Ledger, Lory Z. Santiago-Vázquez, Mihai Pop, Dan D. Sommer, Llanie K. Ranzer, Robert A. Feldman, Russell G. Kerr

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Transcriptomic studies of marine organisms are still in their infancy. A partial, subtracted expressed sequence tag (EST) library of the Caribbean octocoral Erythropodium caribaeorum and the sea fan Gorgonia ventalina has been analyzed in order to find novel genes or differences in gene expression related to potential secondary metabolite production or symbioses. This approach entails enrichment for potential non-"housekeeping" genes using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. More than 500 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were generated after cloning SSH products, which yielded at least 53 orthologous groups of proteins (COGs) and Pfam clusters, including transcription factors …

Caribbean Acropora Restoration Guide: Best Practices For Propagation And Population Enhancement, Meaghan E. Johnson, Caitlin Lustic, Erich Bartels, Iliana B. Baums, David S. Gilliam, Elizabeth Anne Larson, Diego Lirman, Margaret W. Miller, Ken Nedimyer, S. Schopmeyer

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership Working To Keep Our Water Clean, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

Project Highlights and Future Plans

Functional Activation Of Cartilaginous Fish Melanocortin Receptors, Christina Lee Reinick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of the melanocortin receptor (MCR) gene family has been dictated by two genome duplication events (2R hypothesis). The gnathostomes are thus predicted to possess a minimum of four MCR genes. Previous studies on cartilaginous fish have shown evidence for the presence of only three MCRs. The purpose of this thesis is to functionally express the MC5R from the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and the putative MC2R and MC3R from the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii); these receptors have not yet been fully characterized. In this study, SacMC5R was able to be expressed in CHO cells …

Contemporary And Historical Separation Of Transequatorial Migration Between Genetically Distinct Seabird Populations, M J. Rayner, M E. Hauber, T E. Steeves, H A. Lawrence, D R. Thompson, P M. Sagar, S J. Bury, R A. Phillips, T J. Landers, L Ranjard, Scott A. Shaffer

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Pelagic seabirds are highly mobile, reducing the likelihood of allopatric speciation where disruption of gene flow between populations is caused by physically insurmountable, extrinsic barriers. Spatial segregation during the non-breeding season appears to provide an intrinsic barrier to gene flow among seabird populations that otherwise occupy nearby or overlapping regions during breeding, but how this is achieved remains unclear. Here we show that the two genetically distinct populations of Cook's petrel (Pterodroma cookii) exhibit transequatorial separation of non-breeding ranges at contemporary (ca. 2–3 yrs) and historical (ca. 100 yrs) time scales. Segregation during the non-breeding season per se appears as …

Sailfish Habitat Utilization And Vertical Movements In The Southern Gulf Of Mexico And Florida Straits, David W. Kerstetter, Shannon Michael Bayse, Jenny Fenton, John E. Graves

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on 19 sailfish Istiophorus platypterus captured in the southern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits between 2005 and 2007 on commercial pelagic longline gear (n = 18) and recreational rod-and-reel gear (n = 1). The data from three tags indicated mortality events and were excluded from subsequent analyses. All PSATs were programmed to collect pressure (depth), temperature, and light-level data for 10 d at approximately 90-s intervals. These transmitted point data subsequently allowed the reconstruction of vertical movement patterns. The remaining 16 PSAT data sets indicate that sailfish are primarily associated …

What Controls Toxic Phytoplankton Blooms In Long Island Sound?, Hans G. Dam Ph.D., Michael Finiguerra, Christina Senft-Batoh, Haley Flores

Wrack Lines

TIny phytoplankton organisms known as dinoflagellates can accumulate and cause toxic blooms that can kill fish and even make people ill. It's rare in Long Island Sound but can happen. What drives this phenomenon? Professor Hans G. Dam and his lab team explain in this easy-to-understand article.

Summer 2011, Nova Southeastern University

Currents

No abstract provided.

Ecological Design Of Marine Construction For Socio-Economic Benefits: Ecosystem Integration Of A Pipeline In Coral Reef Area, Sylvain Pioch, Philippe Saussola, Kirk Kilfoyle, Richard E. Spieler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

It is critical to understand that an ecosystem integration of construction requires a close Engineering/Biology partnership to meet socio-economic benefits in management goals. Biologists are not typically trained or licensed for the requisite engineering involved in construction. Likewise, non-biologists designing habitat often can lead to egregious results. For example, unintentionally constructing the wrong habitat, i.e., refuge for predators in a nursery area, or habitat that facilitates the spread of non-desirable species can increase, rather than ameliorate, the impact of construction. In recent years, Pioch and co-workers (unpublished) developed an alternative to the “classic” engineering approach to marine construction. This new …

Angler Survey Of The Connecticut River, Justin P. Davis

EEB Articles

The Connecticut River is the largest and most diverse inland fishery resource in the State of Connecticut. Significant improvements in water quality over the past 30 years have led to progressive increases in recreational use, presumably increasing fishing pressure on some species and possibly decreasing overall fishing quality. To address this concern, the Inland Fisheries Division (IFD) of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) conducted an angler survey on the entire portion of the Connecticut River within the state during March-October of 2008-09. The survey used a similar design as a smaller-scale survey of the river’s …

Cell Cycle Regulation In The Florida Red Tide Dinoflagellate, Karenia Brevis, Stephanie Alexandra Brunelle

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, produces harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico that cause extensive marine animal mortalities and human illness nearly annually. The molecular mechanisms controlling cell cycle entry in this dinoflagellate are important because bloom development occurs through asexual cell division. The cell cycle of K. brevis is phased to the diel cycle such that any cells entering the cell cycle on a given day do so synchronously. However, a microarray study of gene expression over a diel/cell cycle found no change in cell cycle transcript levels in actively dividing populations, including genes that code for replication …

Sampling Methods For Acropora Corals, Other Benthic Coral Reef Organisms, And Marine Debris In The Florida Keys: Field Protocol Manual For 2011-2012 Assessments, Steven Miller, Leanne M. Rutten, Mark Chiappone

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

The 2011-2012 sampling of Acropora corals, other coral reef benthic invertebrates, and marine debris in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) is being undertaken as a spatially intensive effort to provide updated population distribution and abundance information. The particular focus of surveys in the Florida Keys, as well as in the U.S. Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the U.S.V.I.), concerns the habitat distribution, colony density, size, condition, and population abundance of Acropora corals. Surveys in the Florida Keys also include assessments of urchins, mollusks, anemones, corallimorpharians, and marine debris. These additional assessments are relatively fast and easy to perform. Annual …

Testing Of Great Bay Oysters For Two Protozoan Pathogens, New Hampshire Fish And Game Department, Douglas E. Grout

PREP Reports & Publications

Two protozoan pathogens, Haplosporidium nelsoni (MSX) and Perkinsus marinus (Dermo), are known to be present in Great Bay oysters. With funds provided by the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership ( PREP ), the Marine Fisheries Division of the New Ham pshire Fish and Game Department (NHF&G) continues to assess the presence and intensity of both of these disease conditions in oysters from the major beds within the Great Bay estuarine system. Histological examination s of Great Bay oysters have also revea led other endoparasites.

Ontogenetic Changes In The Bell Morphology And Kinematics And Swimming Behavior Of Rowing Medusae: The Special Case Of The Limnomedusa Liriope Tetraphylla, Tasia Blough, Sean Colin, John H. Costello, Antonio C. Marques

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Swimming animals may experience significant changes in the Reynolds number (Re) of their surrounding fluid flows throughout ontogeny. Many medusae experience Re environments with significant viscous forces as small juveniles but inertially dominated Re environments as adults. These different environments may affect their propulsive strategies. In particular, rowing, a propulsive strategy with ecological advantages for large adults, may be constrained by viscosity for small juvenile medusae. We examined changes in the bell morphology and swimming kinematics of the limnomedusa Liriope tetraphylla at different stages of development. L. tetraphylla maintained an oblate bell (fineness ratio _ 0.5–0.6), large velar …

Characterization Of Heterogeneities And Domains In Aquatic And Sedimentary Organic Matter By 1 H Spin Diffusion: Potential For Elucidating The Formation Mechanisms, Jingdong Mao, Xiaoyan Cao

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Although the information on domains and heterogeneities of natural organic matter (NOM) can provide insights into its formation mechanisms, the appropriate solid-state NMR technique for measuring them is still lacking. The traditional technique requires mobility differences in NOM whereas NOM components are primarily rigid. We introduced a new ¹H spin diffusion technique, ¹H-¹³C two-dimensional heteronuclear correlation (2D HETCOR) NMR with ¹H spin diffusion, for characterization of domains and heterogeneities in aquatic and sedimentary organic matter. It was achieved by collecting a series of 2D HETCOR spectra with a variable mixing time, t_m', and …

Direct And Indirect Effects Of An Invasive Planktonic Predator On Pelagic Food Webs, Angela L. Strecker, Beatrix E. Beisner, Shelley E. Arnott, Andrew M. Paterson, Jennifer G. Winter, Ora E. Johannsson, Norman D. Yan

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The relative importance of top-down invader effects relative to environmental drivers was determined by sampling crustacean zooplankton, rotifer, and phytoplankton communities in a set of invaded and noninvaded reference lakes. The non-native invertebrate predator Bythotrephes had significant effects on zooplankton community size structure, rotifers, and phytoplankton taxonomic composition, but no significant effects on crustacean zooplankton taxonomic and functional group composition. Part of the variation in phytoplankton communities was explained by the presence of the invader. Because Bythotrephes is generally known to be a carnivore and to not consume phytoplankton, this effect is likely mediated by the zooplankton community’s response to …

Spring 2011, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Biology Department Newsletter, No.1, Sacred Heart University

Biology Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Wetland Assessment Methods, Kerstin Green

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

After many decades of being considered useless and often destroyed wetlands have become valued for the many functions they provide. To make informed wetland management decisions biologists have to develop practical, rapid, and inexpensive ways to assess biological conditions and functions. Ideally these assessment methods have to measure more than one attribute of the wetland to represent the overall condition of the biological community. For this project I conducted field assessments at mitigation sites in Pembroke Pines, Florida, to see how the newest method used in the State of Florida, the Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM), compared to the older …

Phylogeny And Adaptive Evolution Of The Brain-Development Gene Microcephalin (Mcph1) In Cetaceans, Michael R. Mcgowen, Stephen H. Montgomery, Clay Clark, John Gatesy

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Representatives of Cetacea have the greatest absolute brain size among animals, and the largest relative brain size aside from humans. Despite this, genes implicated in the evolution of large brain size in primates have yet to be surveyed in cetaceans.

Results

We sequenced ~1240 basepairs of the brain development gene microcephalin (MCPH1) in 38 cetacean species. Alignments of these data and a published complete sequence from Tursiops truncatus with primate MCPH1 were utilized in phylogenetic analyses and to estimate ω (rate of nonsynonymous substitution/rate of synonymous substitution) using site and branch models of molecular evolution. We also tested …

A Supermatrix Analysis Of Genomic, Morphological, And Paleontological Data From Crown Cetacea, Jonathan H. Geisler, Michael R. Mcgowen, Guang Yang, John Gatesy

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Cetacea (dolphins, porpoises, and whales) is a clade of aquatic species that includes the most massive, deepest diving, and largest brained mammals. Understanding the temporal pattern of diversification in the group as well as the evolution of cetacean anatomy and behavior requires a robust and well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis. Although a large body of molecular data has accumulated over the past 20 years, DNA sequences of cetaceans have not been directly integrated with the rich, cetacean fossil record to reconcile discrepancies among molecular and morphological characters.

Results

We combined new nuclear DNA sequences, including segments of six genes (~2800 …

Distribution And Abundance Of The Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus Brevirostris In Selected Areas Of Southeastern Alaska, Michelle L. Kissling, Paul M. Lukacs, Stephen B. Lewis, Scott M. Gende, Katherine J. Kuletz, Nicholas R. Hatch, Sarah K. Schoen, Susan Oehlers

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

We conducted boat-based surveys for the Kittlitz’s Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris during the breeding season in southeastern Alaska from 2002 to 2009. We completed a single survey in seven areas and multiple annual surveys in three areas. Although surveys spanned a broad geographic area, from LeConte Bay in the south to the Lost Coast in the north (~655 km linear distance), roughly 79% of the regional population of Kittlitz’s Murrelet was found in and between Icy and Yakutat bays (~95 km linear distance). The congeneric Marbled Murrelet B. marmoratus outnumbered the Kittlitz’s Murrelet in all areas surveyed except Icy Bay; in …

Trade-Offs Between Gear Selectivity And Logistics When Sampling Nekton From Shallow Open Water Habitats: A Gear Comparison Study, Ronald Baker, Thomas J. Minello

Gulf and Caribbean Research

We compared logistical issues and the catch composition, density, and size structure of nekton samples collected with a drop sampler, benthic sled, and a fine mesh cast net in shallow non-vegetated habitats of Galveston Bay, Texas. Approximately 16 cast net replicates were collected and sorted for every one drop or benthic sled sample. The drop sampler collected the greatest number of species and provided the highest density estimates for the majority of crustaceans and small demersal fishes; the sled provided comparable density estimates for penaeids and small demersal nekton, while under-representing more mobile fishes. Densities of small benthic nekton were …

Odd Association And Range Extension Of Caligus Rufimaculatus Wilson, 1905; Caligidae, Siphonostomatoida, Copepoda, G.W. Benz, E.C. Greiner, S.R. Bowen, L. Goetz, N. Evou

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The Caligidae (Siphonostomatoida, Copepoda) comprises more than 465 parasitic species, over 250 of which belong to Caligus Müller, 1785 (Boxshall and Halsey 2004). Caligus spp. are primarily marine; but some representatives routinely inhabit brackish or fresh water (Margolis et al. 1975). Some Caligus spp. have been widely reported from several oceans, others have been documented from a single location, and a few have only been collected as free-swimming individuals not associated with a host (Margolis et al. 1975). Caligus spp. range from being stenoxenous to euryxenous, with most species infecting actinopterygians (Actinopterygii), a much smaller group exclusively or non-exclusively infecting …

Observations At A Multispecies Parrotfish (Scaridae) Spawning Aggregation Site At Bermuda With Notes On The Predation Behavior Of Black Grouper (Mycteroperca Bonaci), Brian E. Luckhurst

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The objective of the present study was to describe the spawning behavior of three different species of parrotfishes at the same spawning aggregation site with detailed timing sequences. In addition, observations of other species known to form resident spawning aggregations (i.e., surgeonfishes) and the predatory behavior of black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) at this aggregation site are included.