Marine Biology Commons^™

Behavioural Salinity Preferences Of Juvenile Green Sturgeon Acipenser Medirostris Acclimated To Fresh Water And Full-Strength Salt Water, J. B. Poletto, D. E. Cocherell, A. P. Klimley, J. J. Cech Jr., N. A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

To quantify the salinity preference of juvenile green sturgeon Acipenser medirostris, two groups of A. medirostris [140 days post hatch (dph); total length (L_T) 38.0–52.5 cm] were acclimated to either near fresh water (mean ± S.E. salinity = 3.2 ± 0.6) or full-strength salt water (34.1 ± 1.2) over 8 weeks. Following acclimation, the two groups were divided into experimental and control groups, where experimental A. medirostris from both freshwater and saltwater acclimations were individually introduced (200–220 dph) into a rectangular salinity-preference flume (maximum salinity gradient: 5–33). Control A. medirostris were presented with only their acclimation …

Covariance Localization With The Diffusion-Based Correlation Models, Max Yaremchuk, Dmitry A. Nechaev

Faculty Publications

Improving the performance of ensemble filters applied to models with many state variables requires regularization of the covariance estimates by localizing the impact of observations on state variables. A covariance localization technique based on modeling of the sample covariance with polynomial functions of the diffusion operator (DL method) is presented. Performance of the technique is compared with the non-adaptive (NAL) and adaptive (AL) ensemble localization schemes in the framework of numerical experiments with synthetic covariance matrices in a realistically inhomogeneous setting. It is shown that the DL approach is comparable in accuracy with the AL method when the ensemble size …

Phase Ii Of Tidal Marsh Restoration At Steedman Woods Reserve At York, Maine, David M. Burdick, Chris Peter, Gregg Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

No abstract provided.

Gulf-Wide Decreases In The Size Of Large Coastal Sharks Documented By Generations Of Fishermen, Sean P. Powers, F. Joel Frodrie, Steven B. Scyphers, J. Marcus Drymon, Robert L. Shipp, Gregory W. Stunz

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Large sharks are top predators in most coastal and marine ecosystems throughout the world, and evidence of their reduced prominence in marine ecosystems has been a serious concern for fisheries and ecosystem management. Unfortunately, quantitative data to document the extent, timing, and consequences of changes in shark populations are scarce, thwarting examination of long-term (decadal, century) trends, and reconstructions based on incomplete data sets have been the subject of debate. Absence of quantitative descriptors of past ecological conditions is a generic problem facing many fields of science but is particularly troublesome for fisheries scientists who must develop specific targets for …

State Of Our Estuaries 2013, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

Every three years the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) produces this condition and environmental trends report in an effort to provide communities and citizens with an informed and comprehensive evaluation of what is being observed in our estuaries. This report presents our assessment of 22 key indicators of the health of our bays: 15 of which are classified as having cautionary or negative conditions or trends, while 7 show positive conditions or trends. The overall assessment shows that there is reason to be concerned about the health of our estuaries, and that increased efforts to study and restore our estuaries …

Ctizen: What You Can Do To Help Improve Our Estuaries, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

The need to keep our Seacoast rivers, lakes, marshes and Great Bay free of pollution is something we can all agree on. As the Community for Clean Water, PREP works to unite and encourage you, your friends and family to take simple steps to reduce water pollution caused by our every day actions. This guide has some tips, stories of those who are working on solutions and ways you can get involved. We’re not here to save the world, but together we’re confi dent that we can all do our part to keep the places we love around the Seacoast …

Characterization Of The Heart Transcriptome Of The White Shark (Carcharodon Carcharias), Vincent P. Richards, Haruo Suzuki, Michael J. Stanhope, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background: The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is a globally distributed, apex predator possessing physical, physiological, and behavioral traits that have garnered it significant public attention. In addition to interest in the genetic basis of its form and function, as a representative of the oldest extant jawed vertebrate lineage, white sharks are also of conservation concern due to their small population size and threat from overfishing. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the biology of white sharks, and genomic resources are unavailable. To address this deficit, we combined Roche-454 and Illumina sequencing technologies to characterize the first …

Multiscale Analysis Of Factors That Affect The Distribution Of Sharks Throughout The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, J. Marcus Drymon, Laure Carassou, Sean P. Powers, Mark Grace, John Dindo, Brian Dzwonkowski

University Faculty and Staff Publications

Identification of the spatial scale at which marine communities are organized is critical to proper management, yet this is particularly difficult to determine for highly migratory species like sharks. We used shark catch data collected during 2006–09 from fishery- independent bottom-longline surveys, as well as biotic and abiotic explanatory data to identify the factors that affect the distribution of coastal sharks at 2 spatial scales in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Centered principal component analyses (PCAs) were used to visualize the patterns that characterize shark distributions at small (Alabama and Mississippi coast) and large (northern Gulf of Mexico) spatial scales. …

Phytoplankton In Virginia Lakes And Reservoirs, Harold G. Marshall

Virginia Journal of Science

This study involves a phytoplankton summer/autumn survey in 46 Virginia lakes and reservoirs during 2010-2012. A total of 307 taxa were identified which included several filamentous and colonial cyanabacteria in bloom concentrations. With the exception of one natural lake, the other sites sampled represent impoundments created decades ago, with the majority presently classified as meso- or eutrophic. Among the cyanobacteria were 6 known toxin producers (Anabaena circinalis, Anabaena spiroides, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, Limnothrix redekei, and Microcystis aeruginosa). The study characterizes phytoplankton populations in these aging freshwater habitats taken from a large number …

Policy Guide For Municipal Leaders And Legislators, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

This Guide for Municipal Leaders and Legislators, is a companion to the full 2013 State of Our Estuaries Report, and focuses more specifically on what state and local leaders can do to improve environmental conditions in the estuaries. It provides a short list of priority policy options for decision-makers to consider, as well as model efforts from our own communities that can be replicated in support of our environmental health and economic vitality.

Impacts From Ditching Salt Marshes In The Mid-Atlantic And Northeastern United States, David J. Tonjes

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Tidal inundation extent and duration, and water drainage and retention by marsh peat – marsh hydrology – determine most physical and ecological characteristics of salt marsh systems. Ditching, installed across nearly all marshes on the US East Coast by 1940 to control mosquitoes, alters marsh hydrology. Two linchpin papers are used here as springboards to review the literature that describes the resulting effects, which clearly include reduced water table height for most marshes and changes in avian populations. Effects on invertebrate populations, including mosquitoes, are generally less, although to a smaller degree than is sometimes reported. Impacts on nekton are …

Fall 2013, Nova Southeastern University

Currents

No abstract provided.

A New List Of Cuban Crinoids (Echinodermata: Crinoidea), Ruber Rodriguez-Barreras, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

This review is based on the most recent taxonomic classification of extant Cuban Crinoidea. Existing material in natural history collections in Cuba was analyzed in detail and accurately reflects species presence. The crinoid literature was also reviewed. Several previously unpublished observations of species found in waters off Cuba have also been included. This paper provides the most up to date description of the Cuban crinoid fauna. Habitat, distribution, depth range and localities in Cuba are reported for each species. Collection codes for available specimens are included when known. The work describes a total of 33 species (plus two subspecies) in …

Habitat Characterization, Distribution, And Areal Extent Of Deep-Sea Coral Ecosystems Off Florida, Southeastern U.S.A., John K. Reed, Charles G. Messing, Brian K. Walker, Sandra Brooke, Thiago B.S. Correa, Myra Brouwer, Tina Udouj, Stephanie Farrington

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The deep-sea (200-1000 m) seafloor off the southeastern U.S. has a variety of extensive deep-sea coral ecosystem (DSCE) habitats including: deep-water coral mounds; various hard-bottom habitats off Florida including the Miami Terrace, Pourtales Terrace, and deep-water canyons (Agassiz and Tortugas Valleys); and deep island slopes off western Bahamas and northern Cuba. The dominant structure-forming scleractinian corals are Lophelia pertusa and Enallopsammia profunda; other structure-forming taxa include stylasterid corals, gorgonians, black corals, and sponges. This biota is associated with hard-bottom seafloor of variable high-relief topography which can be remotely identified from bathymetric data. NOAA bathymetric contour maps and digital elevation …

The Yellow Stingray, Urobatis Jamaicensis (Chondrichthyes Urotrygonidae): A Synoptic Review, Richard E. Spieler, Daniel P. Fahy, Robin L. Sherman, James Sulikowski, T. Patrick Quinn

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The yellow stingray, Urobatis jamaicensis (Cuvier) has been the subject of a multitude of diverse studies on its natural history, morphology, and physiology. We have attempted here to briefly review all the studies on U. jamaicensis both published and unpublished with the goal of providing comparative information for researchers working on related species as well as to highlight areas of research requiring further investigation in this one.

Reconstruction Of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships Within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes, Malcolm S. Hill, April L. Hill, Jose V. Lopez, Kevin J. Peterson, Shirley Pomponi, Maria C. Diaz, Robert W. Thacker, Maja Adamska, Nicole Boury-Esnault, Paco Cárdenas, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, Elizabeth Danka, Bre-Onna De Laine, Dawn Formica, Eduardo Hajdu, Gisele Lobo-Hajdu, Sarah Klontz, Christine C. Morrow, Jignasa Patel, Bernard Picton, Davide Pisani, Deborah Pohlmann, Niamh E. Redmond, John Reed, Stacy Richey, Ana Riesgo, Ewelina Rubin, Zach Russell, Klaus Rützler, Erik A. Sperling, Michael Di Stefano, James E. Tarver, Allen G. Collins

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.e., Calcarea, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha), but focused on family-level relationships within demosponges. With data for 21 newly sampled families, our Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian-based approaches recovered previously phylogenetically defined taxa: Keratosa^p, …

Evaluating Acropora Cervicornis Growth And Survivorship In A Line Nursery, Zachary Ostroff

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata were once dominant, reef-building corals of Caribbean reefs. Over the last several decades, population declines of Caribbean Acropora have been dramatic, and both species are now listed as “Threatened” under the United States Endangered Species Act. Numerous restoration efforts now utilize coral gardening techniques to cultivate these species for transplantation, in which A. cervicornis is primarily cultivated both on fixed structures and in line nurseries. This study evaluates growth and survivorship of multiple A. cervicornis genotypes grown via two line nursery techniques, and compares the efficacy of each against the conventional method of fixed nursery …

Phylogeography Of The Christmas Tree Worm Spirobranchus Corniculatus (Annelida, Serpulidae) From The Coral Triangle, Australia, And Fiji, Abril Iñiguez, Craig J. Starger, Elena Kupriyanova, Demian Willette, Tristan Varman, Joshua A. Drew, Abdul Hamid Toha, Benedict Maralit, Kent E. Carpenter, Paul H. Barber

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Christmas Tree Woms is a common name given to a group of large and colourful serpulid polychaetes of the genus Spirobranchus that are obligate symbionts of hermatypic corals commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions world-wide. While current taxonomic species delimitations of these worms are based almost exclusively on the morphology of opercular structures, particularly the number and shape of calcareous opercular horns, high levels of intraspecific variation in this morphological feature have made species boundaries within the genus difficult to resolve. Molecular work to differentiate serpulid worms has long been hampered by the availability of informative markers. Recent work …

Notes On The Biology Of Invasive Lionfish (Pterois Sp.) From The Northcentral Gulf Of Mexico, Nancy J. Brown-Peterson, J. Read Hendon

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The first confirmed sightings of lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico occurred in 2010 (Schofield 2010), where they were reported in the southern GOM off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (Aguilar-Perera and Tuz-Sulub 2010); in 2012 more than 1,500 lionfish were collected from northern GOM locations ranging from Florida to Texas (Fogg et al. 2013). However, other than visual observations (mostly from recreational divers), there is relatively little information on the biology and ecology of lionfish in the northern GOM. The life history of invasive species can vary as they colonize new habitats and areas (Bøhn et al. 2004); thus, biological …

Systematic Ichthyofaunal Surveys In Urban And Non-Urban Watersheds, Eugene G. Maurakis, David V. Grimes, Amanda Schutt, Suzy Short

Virginia Journal of Science

Objectives were to model fish species richness relative to natural and anthropogenic variables in Quantico Creek, a forested undisturbed stream environment, and Cameron Run, a highly disturbed urban stream environment in the lower Piedmont-Fall Line region of the Potomac River watershed. Species richness in all stream orders (e.g. avg. range=2.5-9.65 in 1st-3rd orders) of Quantico Creek were significantly higher than those (e.g. avg. range=2.1- 7.6 in 1st -4th orders) of Cameron Run. Fish species richness in Quantico Creek watershed can be modeled by eight factors: season, stream order, elevation, river km, stream width and depth, watershed size, and percent of …

Sand Bottom Microalgal Production And Benthic Nutrient Fluxes On The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico Nearshore Shelf, Jeffrey G. Allison, M.E. Wagner, M. Mcallister, A.K.J. Ren, R.A. Snyder

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Benthic microalgal production on the continental shelves may be an important contributor to the overall productivity of offshore ecosystems. We used light and dark benthic chambers to measure in situ production, respiration, and benthic nutrient flux on the nearshore quartzite sands of the northeast Gulf of Mexico shelf. Net exchange of O₂, NH₄⁺, NO₃^- + NO₂^-, PO₄^-3, and SiO₂ was measured in samples taken from chambers at depths of 15 to 16 m offshore of Pensacola, FL. Phytoplankton production and respiration in near-bottom water was determined …

Optical Contrast Of Oil Dispersed In Seawater Under Windy Conditions, Z. Otremba, O. Zielinski, Chuanmin Hu

C-IMAGE Publications

Oil pollution of natural waters represents a serious threat for aquatic ecosystems, and the assessment of the degree of pollution requiresmeasurement strategies including remote sensing and modeling. While surface oil pollution is relatively easy to detect with radar or opticalremote sensing, underwater oil emulsions can only be detected using visible light as an information carrier. Here the Michelson contrast ofsea area polluted by an oil-in-water emulsion under various wind conditions is simulated through Monte-Carlo modeling. The results showthe premise for optimal direction of observations in which the possibility of detecting the emulsified oil is maximized.

Phosphorus Cycling In The Sargasso Sea: Investigation Using The Oxygen Isotopic Composition Of Phosphate, Enzyme-Labeled Fluorescence, And Turnover Times, Karen Mclaughlin, Jill A. Sohm, Gregory A. Cutter, Michael W. Lomas, Adina Paytan

OES Faculty Publications

Dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations in surface water of vast areas of the ocean are extremely low (<10 nM) and phosphorus (P) availability could limit primary productivity in these regions. We explore the use of oxygen isotopic signature of dissolved phosphate (δ¹⁸O_PO4) to investigate biogeochemical cycling of P in the Sargasso Sea, Atlantic Ocean. Additional techniques for studying P dynamics including ³³P-based DIP turnover time estimates and percent of cells expressing alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity as measured by enzyme-labeling fluorescence are also used. In surface waters, δ¹⁸O_PO4 values were lower than equilibrium by 3–6%, indicative of dissolved organic phosphorous (DOP) remineralization by extracellular enzymes. An isotope mass balance model using a variety of possible combinations of …

Using Ammonium Pore Water Profiles To Assess Stoichiometry Of Deep Remineralization Processes In Methanogenic Continental Margin Sediments, David J. Burdige, Tomoko Komada

OES Faculty Publications

In many continental margin Sediments, a deep reaction zone exists which is separated from remineralization processes near the sediment surface. Here, methane diffuses upward to a depth where it is oxidized by downwardly diffusing sulfate. However, the methane sources that drive this anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in the sulfate-methane transition zone (SMT) may vary among sites. In particular, these sources can be thought of as either (i) "internal" sources from in situ methanogenesis (regardless of where it occurs in the sediment column) that are ultimately coupled to organic matter deposition and burial, or (ii) "external" sources such as hydrocarbon …

Diatom Proteomics Reveals Unique Acclimation Strategies To Mitigate Fe Limitation, Brook L. Nunn, Jessica F. Faux, Anna A. Hippman, Maria T. Maldonado, H. Rodger Harvey, David R. Goodlett, Philip W. Boyd, Robert F. Strzepek

OES Faculty Publications

Phytoplankton growth rates are limited by the supply of iron (Fe) in approximately one third of the open ocean, with major implications for carbon dioxide sequestration and carbon (C) biogeochemistry. To date, understanding how alteration of Fe supply changes phytoplankton physiology has focused on traditional metrics such as growth rate, elemental composition, and biophysical measurements such as photosynthetic competence (Fv/Fm). Researchers have subsequently employed transcriptomics to probe relationships between changes in Fe supply and phytoplankton physiology. Recently, studies have investigated longer-term (i.e. following acclimation) responses of phytoplankton to various Fe conditions. In the present study, the coastal diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana, …

Effect Of Laser Ablation Depth In Otolith Life History Scans, Renée R. Hoover, Cynthia M. Jones

OES Faculty Publications

Life history scans of fish otoliths are bringing new insight into the structure, connectivity, and movement of fish populations. Data obtained from such scans, however, possess in-herent limitations that have not yet been fully addressed or understood. For example, several investigators have noted delays in otolith elemental uptake that do not appear to reflect habitat exposure. We hypothesized that the 3-dimensional structure of otoliths may produce sampling artifacts in the results obtained from laser ablation scans. To test this hypothesis, we sampled sagittal otoliths from juvenile Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to obtain …

Wintering Eiders Acquire Exceptional Se And Cd Burdens In The Bering Sea: Physiological And Oceanographic Factors, James R. Lovvorn, Merl F. Raisbeck, Lee W. Cooper, Gregory A. Cutter, Micah W. Miller, Marjorie L. Brooks, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Angela C. Matz, Cortney M. Schaefer

OES Faculty Publications

During late winter (March) in the Bering Sea, levels of Se in livers and Cd in kidneys of spectacled eiders Somateria fischeri were exceptionally high (up to 489 and 312 µg g⁻¹ dry mass, respectively). Comparison of organ and blood samples during late winter, early spring migration, and breeding suggests that the eiders’ high Se and Cd burdens were accumulated at sea, with highest exposure during winter. High exposure may have resulted from high metabolic demands and food intake, as well as concentrations in food. In the eiders’ remote wintering area, their bivalve prey contained comparable Se levels and …

Combined Effects Of Co2 And Light On Large And Small Isolates Of The Unicellular N2-Fixing Cyanobacterium Crocosphaera Watsonii From The Western Tropical Atlantic Ocean, Nathan S. Garcia, Fei-Xue Fu, Cynthia L. Breene, Elizabeth K. Yu, Peter W. Bernhardt, Margaret R. Mulholland, David A. Hutchins

OES Faculty Publications

We examined the combined effects of light and pCO₂ on growth, CO₂-fixation and N₂-fixation rates by strains of the unicellular marine N₂-fixing cyanobacterium Crocosphaera watsonii with small (WH0401) and large (WH0402) cells that were isolated from the western tropical Atlantic Ocean. In low-pCO₂-acclimated cultures (190ppm) of WH0401, growth, CO₂-fixation and N₂-fixation rates were significantly lower than those in cultures acclimated to higher (present-day approximate to 385ppm, or future approximate to 750ppm) pCO² treatments. Growth rates were not significantly different, however, in low-pCO₂-acclimated cultures of …

Bacterial Colonization And Extinction On Marine Aggregates: Stochastic Model Of Species Presence And Abundance, Andrew M. Kramer, M. Maille Lyons, Fred C. Dobbs, John M. Drake

OES Faculty Publications

Organic aggregates provide a favorable habitat for aquatic microbes, are efficiently filtered by shellfish, and may play a major role in the dynamics of aquatic pathogens. Quantifying this role requires understanding how pathogen abundance in the water and aggregate size interact to determine the presence and abundance of pathogen cells on individual aggregates. We build upon current understanding of the dynamics of bacteria and bacterial grazers on aggregates to develop a model for the dynamics of a bacterial pathogen species. The model accounts for the importance of stochasticity and the balance between colonization and extinction. Simulation results suggest that while …

Front Matter

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

No abstract provided.