Marine Biology Commons^™

Investigating Larval Spillover From Oyster Aquaculture Through Geospatial Habitat Suitability Index Modeling: A Damariscotta River Estuary Case Study, Daniel F. Delago

All Theses And Dissertations

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) supports the ecological function of estuarine ecosystems by creating biogenic reef habitat (Purchon, 2013), and positively influencing coastal biogeochemistry in intertidal, and subtidal environments (Humphries et al., 2016; Ray and Fulweiler, 2020). As anthropogenic impacts continue to influence the health of marine environments globally (Halpern et al., 2008), oyster reef restoration is gaining increased attention as a means of maintaining the function of estuarine systems (Beck et al, 2011). Shellfish aquaculture has gained increased attention, contributing 21% of all aquaculture production globally (FAO 2020). Shellfish aquaculture provides a suite of social-ecological benefits while …

Adding Value Through Sustainability: Incentivizing An Ecosystem Approach To Oyster Aquaculture In Maine, Samuel Feldman

All Theses And Dissertations

This study identified oyster farming practices that have the potential to increase the sustainability of Maine’s oyster industry while increasing its value. Practices aligned with the principles of the ecosystem approach to aquaculture were gleaned from semi-structured interviews and surveys of oyster farmers and their buyers. Themes from interview transcripts were developed using thematic analysis. Survey data was used to triangulate interview transcript data. As a result, sustainable oyster farming practices were identified that had direct and indirect connections to the value of Maine’s oysters. Practices with direct connections to increased oyster value included conducting and advertising actions of increased …

Synergy Between Behavioural Research On Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus Leucas) Conducted In Zoological And Wild Settings, Heather Manitzas Hill, Deirdre Yeater, Michael Noonan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Behavioural observations of captive beluga whales have complemented and extended much of what has been learnt about this species in the wild. Aquarium-based research has provided finer-scale specificity for many topics, including the seasonal breeding pattern that is characteristic of this species, as well as socio-sexual behaviour that appears to be an important part of the behavioural repertoire of this species. One example is a strong propensity for male–male social interactions that begin to develop at an early age. In addition, detailed behavioural milestones in calves have been documented in ways that extend that which have been collected from wild …

Dissolved Nitrogen Cycling In The Eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago From Stable Isotopic Data, Holly Westbrook

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is expected to drastically alter the input of inorganic nitrogen (N) sources in the Eastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago (ECAA) with increasing discharge from glacial meltwater and permafrost thawing. Since dissolved inorganic N is generally depleted in surface waters, dissolved organic N (DON) could represent a significant source of nutrients limiting primary production in Arctic ecosystems. Yet, few DON data for this region exist. We analyzed stable isotopes (δ¹⁵N and δ ¹⁸O of DON and NO₃-) to investigate dissolved nitrogen cycling in glacial rivers and marine surface samples collected in the ECAA during summer …

Caribbean Yellowtail Snapper Ocyurus Chrysurus: Filling In Critical Gaps In Research For Life History And Novel Ageing Validation Utilizing Δ14C, Sarah Zajovits

Theses and Dissertations

Yellowtail snapper Ocyurus chrysurus is an important fisheries species in the US Caribbean; in waters of Puerto Rico, it ranks second for reef fishes in terms of annual total commercial landings. However, a paucity of information exists concerning basic life history information for Caribbean yellowtail snapper populations. This study provides the first comprehensive documentation of age, growth, and reproductive biology of yellowtail snapper from the Caribbean and is the first to directly validate age estimation in this species. Sampling of 1731 yellowtail snapper occurred in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands during 2013-2021 from fisheries-dependent and –independent efforts. Fish …

The Potential Of Indian River Lagoon Muck To Act As A Reservoir For Emerging Organic Contaminants, Gregory David Belson

Theses and Dissertations

Pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personal care products are frequently found in sediments and waterways around the world. These chemicals, collectively known as Emerging Organic Contaminants (EOCs) can harm the environments in which they are deposited by killing or stressing the local flora and fauna. These EOCs also can be released back into the water column when these substrates are disturbed. Such sediments and their associated EOCs are particularly problematic in urbanized areas. However, the particular composition of urbanization-associated sediments as well as their potential to harbor EOCs needs to be evaluated in the context of their environment, to ensure proper mitigation …

Deep-Sea Biodiversity At The Extremes Of The Salas Y Gómez And Nazca Ridges With Implications For Conservation, Alan M. Friedlander, Whitney Goodell, Jonatha Giddens, Erin E. Easton, Daniel Wagner

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges are underwater mountain chains that stretch across 2,900 km in the southeastern Pacific and are recognized for their high biodiversity value and unique ecological characteristics. Explorations of deep-water ecosystems have been limited in this region, and elsewhere globally. To characterize community composition of mesophotic and deep-sea demersal fauna at seamounts in the region, we conducted expeditions to Rapa Nui (RN) and Salas y Gómez (SyG) islands in 2011 and Desventuradas Islands in 2013. Remote autonomous baited-cameras were used to conduct stationary video surveys between 150–1,850 m at RN/SyG (N = 20) and 75–2,363 …

Markedly Similar Growth And Longevity Of Green Jobfish Aprion Virescens Over An Expansive Geographic Range Between The Hawaiian Archipelago And The Eastern Indian Ocean, Joseph M. O'Malley, Corey B. Wakefield, Michael J. Kinney, Stephen J. Newman

Fisheries Research Articles

The Green Jobfish Aprion virescens supports important commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries throughout its Indo-Pacific range. Concerns with previous estimates of age and growth from fish in Hawaii, along with evidence of variability in these parameters from locations outside the Pacific Ocean, limits their reliability as input parameters for assessments of this species, particularly in Hawaii. Previously validated aging criterion were applied to fish collected from within the Hawaiian Archipelago (main Hawaiian Islands and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) and the eastern Indian Ocean to provide length-at-age, growth, and longevity information for stock assessment and management purposes as well as to further …

Splitting The Scatter: Distinguishing Marine Organisms From Oceanographic Structures Using Acoustic Monitoring, Zhen Lu, Daisuke Hasegawa, Takahiro Tanaka, David M. Spencer, Yuji Okazaki, Takeshi Okunishi

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In the northwest Pacific Ocean, off the Sanriku coast of Japan, convergence between the Tsugaru Warm Current (TWC) and the cold Oyashio Current (OC) results in the formation of highly dynamic oceanographic features that promote high biodiversity and generate hotspots for a range of commercially important fisheries. However, their effects on local biodiversity over much smaller spatiotemporal scales ( < 1 km) remains unclear. With the development of acoustic technology in recent years, echo-sounders are increasingly being used to conduct high-precision fishery resource assessments and detect small-scale variability in the oceanic thermohaline structure. In this study, we conducted a simultaneous hydrographic and dual-frequency echo-sounder survey to discriminate oceanographic features and marine organisms in the TWC-OC confluence zone. Echograms of acoustic backscatter measured at 38 kHz detected similar oceanographic features that were obtained from our hydrographic survey observations, but these features were less pronounced in the 120 kHz echograms. The dynamic oceanographic structure in the TWC-OC zone returned a large amount of backscatter, making it difficult to identify marine organisms from the scatter. The frequency differences of volume backscattering strength (SV) were, however, able to distinguish oceanographic structures from zooplankton detections. Outcomes from this study highlight the difficulty of distinguishing between hydrographic and biological detections in dynamic oceanographic environments. Further research into the acoustic frequency characteristics of heterogeneous hydrographic features will help better understand how species distributions are affected, so that the acoustic method can be used to provide more accurate estimates of species abundance.

Fine-Scale Vertical Movements And Behavior Of Immature Skipjack Tuna (Katsuwonus Pelamis) Off Eastern Taiwan, Wei-Chuan Chiang, Takayuki Matsumoto, Shian-Jhong Lin, Qi-Xuan Chang, Michael K. Musyl, Yuan-Shing Ho, Fumio Ohta

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Skipjack tuna are globally distributed in tropical and temperate seas but little is known about their fine-scale diving patterns and how fish size and (or) maturity influences patterns off eastern Taiwan. A total of 211 immature skipjack (36 e 47 FL cm) in the study were caught by trolling near subsurface fish aggregating devices (FADs) near Green Island (southeastern Taiwan) and were tagged with Lotek LAT-2910 archival tags. The low rate of recovery (2.4%) suggests a high post-release mortality but this low rate could also be consistent with large population sizes, dispersal, tag loss or uncooperative fishers. Five individuals were …

Evaluating The Fish Aggregation Effect Of Wind Turbine Facilities By Using Scientific Echo Sounder In Nanlong Wind Farm Area, Western Taiwan, Ting-Chieh Huang, Hsueh-Jung Lu, Jia-Rong Lin, Shih-Hsuan Sun, Kou-Wei Yen, Jing-Yi Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

During the stages of construction and operation of the wind power facilities, fishery and fishery resources in the wind farm areas will certainly be changed greatly. One of the major concern is the aggregation effect of wind turbines facility. We use scientific echo sounder together with scuba diving to survey fish aggregations in the wind farm areas. In order to obtain echoes very near the facility, we use tilt beam angle instead of traditional vertical one. Variation of target strength varies while using tilted beam angle were discussed both by ex-situ and in-situ experiment. In ex-situ experiment, we measured TS …

Site Fidelity And Return Trips Of Visually And Olfactorily Inhibited Black Rockfish (Sebastes Schlegelii) Individuals Tracked By Acoustic Telemetry, Mitsuki Kuroda, Yoshinori Tatsu, Yuya Ueda, Hokuto Shirakawa, Kenji Minami, Kazushi Miyashita, Makoto Tomiyasu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

For fish of the genus Sebastes, which have strong site fidelity, understanding the characteristics of their return trips and how their sensory cues influence behavior will be useful for conservation and resource management. Here, we conducted a behavioral tracking study for the black rockfish Sebastes schlegelii using acoustic telemetry and sensory inhibition. We compared aspects of the return process for individuals in a control group (CNT), and fish in blind (BLD) and olfactory inhibition (OLF) conditions. Nine individuals were released 850 m from the fishing site, and all of them returned. However, the time taken to complete the return varied, …

Geospatial And Acoustic Application In An Artificial Reef Site Of South Korea, Myounghee Kang, Rina Fajaryanti, Kyounghoon Lee, Eun-A Yoon, Woo-Seok Oh, Eunbi Min, Young-Jae Shin, Yong-Suk Choi, Byung-Ho Yi, Hui Zhang, Doojin Hwang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Artificial reefs are important since they provide additional habitat leading to increasing abundance and biomass of marine biota. In a Bukchon artificial reef, Jeju Island, South Korea, environment data, artificial reef properties, and acoustic data in four seasons were integrated to visualize and examine their connections using a geographic information system (GIS). As a result, regarding the spatial and temporal distributions of fishes, January had the lowest Nautical Area Scattering Coefficient (NASC, m2/nm2) and June had the highest NASC, and relatively high NASC was observed from 5 to 30 m deep throughout seasons. The influential circle (effective distance from reef) …

Wrack Lines Volume 21, Number 1, Born Out Of Crises: Responses, Research And Reflections On A Better Future, Lynn Bonner, Robert J. Klee, Robert Pomeroy, Judy A. Benson

Wrack Lines

Articles in this issue explore various actions taken in response to different crises: lessons about the environment from the COVID-19 pandemic; how seafood sellers in the CT and Southeast Asia responded to the challenges of the pandemic; how the challenges of rising seas and developed coasts are being dealt with through managed retreat, buyouts and other actions in NC and CT; and research on the long-term effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on dolphins led by CTSG Director Sylvain De Guise.

Rapid Warming Events In A Small Coastal Upwelling Embayment, Tatjana E. Ellis

Physics

Temperature variability in the nearshore coastal ocean influences various biological processes and can drive changes in biodiversity and habitat range. Despite recent progress, there are still significant gaps in the understanding of drivers of temperature variability in upwelling bays, particularly at higher frequencies. In this study, we analyzed a decade of nearshore temperature measurements both inside and outside a small coastal embayment located in central California [San Luis Obispo (SLO) bay], as well as temperature data from satellites, to characterize rapid warming events. We found that rapid warming events, defined using rates of temperature change across different thresholds, occurred more …

Phytoplankton Community Response To Changing Environmental Conditions Across Two Central California Sites, Nicholas Soares

Biological Sciences

Understanding the role that changing environmental conditions play in altering phytoplankton abundance and community composition, and in turn ecosystem structure and function, will be increasingly important for the sustainable use and management of ocean resources in a changing climate. Characterizing change in nearshore ecosystems requires long-term studies with a broad spatial extent, with most studies sacrificing spatial extent for temporal duration. However, phytoplankton and ecosystem response can vary substantially over small spatial scales due to local oceanographic forcing and anthropogenic influence, making the application of long-term data from one site to another in the same geographic vicinity potentially challenging. In …

Body And Tail Coordination In The Bluespot Salamander (Ambystoma Laterale) During Limb Regeneration, Cassandra M. Donatelli, Keegan Lutek, Keshav Gupta, Emily M. Standen

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Animals are incredibly good at adapting to changes in their environment, a trait envied by most roboticists. Many animals use different gaits to seamlessly transition between land and water and move through non-uniform terrains. In addition to adjusting to changes in their environment, animals can adjust their locomotion to deal with missing or regenerating limbs. Salamanders are an amphibious group of animals that can regenerate limbs, tails, and even parts of the spinal cord in some species. After the loss of a limb, the salamander successfully adjusts to constantly changing morphology as it regenerates the missing part. This quality is …

Comparison Of Fish Assemblages Aggregated By Artificial Reefs Using Scuba Diving And Acoustic Surveys, Hsueh-Jung Lu, Jia-Rong Lin, Ting-Chieh Huang, Sunarti Sinaga

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

To determine the aggregation effect of artificial reefs (ARs), we conducted surveys in 16 artificial reefs in Taiwan by using the scientific echo sounder, Simrad EY-60 (200 KHz), along with sighting by scuba divers. Scuba diving was conducted within the reef structures (r ¼ 20 m), whereas acoustic surveys were conducted over a wider range (r ¼ 100 m), with five repeating transects over the ARs. We compared the results obtained from the two methods among 16 artificial reefs in the coastal waters of Taiwan to determine the consistency of the quantitative information between the two methods and to investigate …

Study On The Behavior Of Peled (Coregonus Peled ) Around A Set Net By Ultrasonic Biotelemetry System In A Plateau Lake, China, Jing Liu, Keiichi Uchida, Leiming Yin, Yong Tang, Yoshinori Miyamoto, Binbin Xing

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Sayram Lake is a plateau cold-water lake located in northwestern China. Peled (Coregonus peled ) was introduced to Sayram Lake from Russia in 1998. The behavior characteristics of peled in Sayram Lake are important for fishery resource proliferation, effective fishing, and sustainable development. In this study, we used an ultrasonic biotelemetry system to track the fish around a large-scale set net in Sayram Lake. The purpose of this study is to study the behavior characteristics of the peled and to provide suggestions for the improvement of the set net. The results showed that the fish released in the playground of …

Penguins Past And Present: Trace Elements, Stable Isotopes, And Population Dynamics In Antarctic And Sub-Antarctic Penguins And Seals, Allyson K. Kristan

LSU Master's Theses

Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic are remote regions where the impacts from climate change and anthropogenic activities are increasingly apparent. Previous studies show that the Antarctic is warming and has been affected by anthropogenic contaminants. Marine predators such as penguins and seals are commonly used in these regions as sentinels of ecosystem health as predator tissues can be used as non-invasive proxies of diet, population trends, and contaminant exposure. This thesis includes two separate studies which investigate the influence of climate change and human activity on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic ecosystems. First, Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) eggshell samples were collected …

In-Depth Analysis Of N2o Fluxes In Tropical Forest Soils Of The Congo Basin Combining Isotope And Functional Gene Analysis, Nora Gallarotti, Matti Barthel, Elizabeth Verhoeven, Engil Isadora Pujol Pereira, Marijn Bauters, Simon Baumgartner, Travis W. Drake, Pascal Boeckx, Joachim Mohn, Manon Longepierre

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Primary tropical forests generally exhibit large gaseous nitrogen (N) losses, occurring as nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O) or elemental nitrogen (N2). The release of N2O is of particular concern due to its high global warming potential and destruction of stratospheric ozone. Tropical forest soils are predicted to be among the largest natural sources of N2O; however, despite being the world’s second-largest rainforest, measurements of gaseous N-losses from forest soils of the Congo Basin are scarce. In addition, long-term studies investigating N2O fluxes from different forest ecosystem types (lowland and montane forests) are scarce. In this study we show that …

Seasonal Dynamics In Fish Distribution And Abundance Revealed By An Acoustic Survey In Coastal Waters Of The Suzu Area, Kochi Prefecture, Japan, Yanhui Zhu, Kenji Minami, Yuka Iwahara, Kentaro Oda, Koichi Hidaka, Osamu Hoson, Koji Morishita, Sentaro Tsuru, Masahito Hirota, Hokuto Shirakawa, Kazushi Miyashita

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

For Japan's fishery, it is essential to conduct sustainable and efficient fishery owing to the decline in fish catch as well as the fisher population. To obtain information that contributes to sustainable and efficient fishery, we researched appropriate set-net locations with regard to fish distribution, abundance, and environmental characteristics. We conducted surveys from 2017/5 to 2018/2 in the Suzu coastal area, Kochi Prefecture, where the only main industry is set-net fishery. We investigated the seasonal relationships between fish school characteristics, including distribution and size, and marine environmental conditions in the Suzu coastal area, using a quantitative echo sounder (KSE300 SONIC, …

Development Of A Biomass Assessment Method Using Fisheries Echo Sounder For Monitoring Whitebait Fishery In Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, Kenichi Kobayashi, Yanhui Zhu, Daichi Oshiyama, Kenji Minami, Hokuto Shirakawa, Kazushi Miyashita

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Coastal fisheries constitute the second most important sector in fishery production in Japan, following offshore fisheries. Thus, spatial evaluation of coastal fishing grounds and understanding of the changes in biomass are important for the sustainable use of fishing resources. For the assessment of spatial fish biomass, a quantitative echo sounder is used, but such a device is not mass produced and involves a high cost. In the present study, we examined the feasibility of biomass assessment using typical commercial fisheries echo sounders that are widely used and cheaper than quantitative echo sounders. Therefore, we aimed to verify the validity of …

Acoustic Survey For Estimating Density Of Anchovy Schools In The South Sea Of Korea, Eunbi Min, Eun-A Yoon, Sung-Tae Kim, Seong Yong Moon, Hyun Woo Kim, Shelly Salim, Taejong Kang, Doo-Jin Hwang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

No abstract provided.

Estimating The Sampling Efficiencies Of A Framed Midwater Trawl And Ring Net For Zooplankton Using An Acoustic Method, Zhen Lu, Tohru Mukai, Yasuzumi Fujimori, Kohji Iida

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

It is well known that there is bias using different sampling gear, such as a framed midwater trawl (FMT) and a ring net, when measuring the density and length distribution of target species. This limit is characterized by the sampling efficiency of the gear. Acoustic monitoring can be used to determine the sampling efficiencies of this gear, as its noninvasive, wide-range sweeps provide more reliable estimates of absolute abundance of the target species. The density measured by the gear can then be standardized by multiplying the initial density measurement by the derived sampling efficiency. In this study, we compared the …

In Situ Broadband Acoustic Measurements Of Age-0 Walleye Pollock And Pointhead Flounder In Funka Bay, Hokkaido, Japan, Kohei Hasegawa, Naizheng Yan, Tohru Mukai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Measurements of the broadband acoustic backscattering from fish should improve acoustic discrimination between species. The pulse compression processing of broadband systems can be used to measure acoustic backscattering with high range resolution and improve signal-to-noise ratio. This may increase opportunities for in situ target strength (TS) measurements, the preferred method of collecting TS data. To evaluate the availability of TS spectra for acoustic discrimination, three Simrad EK80 wideband transceivers and split-beam transducers of 70, 120, and 200 kHz were used to collect in situ frequency responses of TS from age-0 juvenile walleye pollock and pointhead flounder, a swimbladderless flat-fish, distributed …

Volume Scattering And Echo Integration In Fisheries Acoustics Revisited, Masahiko Furusawa

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Echo integration is the most important method in fisheries acoustics. The basis of the method is volume scattering theory, and the theory assumes that many fish are randomly and homogeneously distributed broader than a beam spread. In actual acoustic surveys, however, we encounter various distributions for which these assumptions do not hold. It is the echo integration method that hypothetically fulfills these assumptions. In this paper, we review the volume scattering theory and the echo integration method historically and theoretically and confirm their bases. We then point out some misunderstandings affected by historical constraints such as the persistence of time …

Construction Of Dichotomous Taxonomic Keys For San Francisco Bay Planktonic Diatoms, Ria Angelica Laxa

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Planktonic diatoms exhibit high biodiversity in marine systems and make a significant contribution to water column primary productivity. This makes research on planktonic diatoms particularly important in measuring the health of coastal marine ecosystems. At the University of San Francisco (USF), undergraduate research has been conducted since September 2015 to study planktonic diatoms in San Francisco Bay. A previous study by Keith (2018), Planktonic Diatom Species Succession in San Francisco Bay, documented changes in species diversity over time, observing seasonal patterns in species richness as well as the effect of environmental factors such as salinity, temperature, and rainfall on species …

Increased Connectivity And Depth Improve The Effectiveness Of Marine Reserves, Jordan Goetze, Shaun K. Wilson, Ben Radford, Rebecca Fisher, Tim Langlois, Jacquomo Monk, Nathan A. Knott, Hamish A. Malcolm, Leanne M. Currey-Randall, Daniel Ierodiaconou, David Harasti, Neville Barrett, Russell C. Babcock, Nestor E. Bosch, Danny Brock, Joachim Claudet, David Fairclough, Stephen J. Newman, Michael J. Travers, Corey Wakefield

Fisheries Research Articles

Marine reserves are a key tool for the conservation of marine biodiversity, yet only ~2.5% of the world's oceans are protected. The integration of marine reserves into connected networks representing all habitats has been encouraged by international agreements, yet the benefits of this design has not been tested empirically. Australia has one of the largest systems of marine reserves, providing a rare opportunity to assess how connectivity influences conservation success. An Australia-wide dataset was collected using baited remote underwater video systems deployed across a depth range from 0 to 100 m to assess the effectiveness of marine reserves for protecting …

Incorporating Life Into Living Shorelines: Can Gulf Ribbed Mussels Reduce Shoreline Erosion And Enhance Restoration Practices?, Jordan Logarbo

LSU Master's Theses

The gulf ribbed mussel (Geukensia granosissima) exists throughout the Gulf of Mexico and influences biotic and abiotic environmental attributes as an ecosystem engineer. Ribbed mussels are an important component of marsh ecosystems providing services including filtering particulate matter, depositing and transforming nutrients in the system, increasing soil strength via byssal threads and providing structure via their shells.

The spatial distribution of mussels along the marsh edge of Sister Lake, LA was investigated via a broad survey of 150 sites, in relation to elevation, exposure and vegetation percent cover. This survey was followed by a second survey at a …