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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology

Innovative Protection And Conservation Of Coral Reefs In Madagascar, Meghan Parker Apr 2020

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 …


Influence Of Stormwater Management On Oxygen Demand And Organic Matter Cycling In Urbanizing Headwater Catchments, Kelly Mccabe Apr 2020

Influence Of Stormwater Management On Oxygen Demand And Organic Matter Cycling In Urbanizing Headwater Catchments, Kelly Mccabe

Theses and Dissertations

Excessive organic matter (OM) is driving declining dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in coastal ecosystems, worldwide. The quantity, source, and composition of OM transported to coastal ecosystems via stormwater runoff has been altered by land use changes associated with urbanization and subsequent headwater alterations that accompany urban stormwater management. To understand the role of stormwater runoff in the decline of coastal DO, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was determined for samples collected during rain events from the outfalls of a variety of stormwater infrastructure with watersheds spanning a range of development. Measurements of particulate and dissolved carbon and nitrogen and chlorophyll-a concentrations …


Dynamics Of The Loop Current System And Its Effects On Surface And Subsurface Properties In The Gulf Of Mexico, Richard James Brokaw Apr 2020

Dynamics Of The Loop Current System And Its Effects On Surface And Subsurface Properties In The Gulf Of Mexico, Richard James Brokaw

Theses and Dissertations

Surface circulation in the Gulf of Mexico is dominated by the Loop Current System (LCS), including the Loop Current (LC) and its associated eddies. The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) also displays long-term surface gradients of temperature and salinity due to climatological features including the intrusion of warm, saline waters from the Caribbean Sea and the seasonal deposition of freshwater from the Mississippi River System caused by seasonal increases in snow melt and precipitation over the watershed. This research aims to increase the understanding of the LCS through the investigation of its relationship with these surface gradients. A classification system of …


Circulation Changes In The Arctic Ocean And Subarctic Seas And Their Connections To The Global Ocean And Climate, Rachel Elizabeth Nichols Apr 2020

Circulation Changes In The Arctic Ocean And Subarctic Seas And Their Connections To The Global Ocean And Climate, Rachel Elizabeth Nichols

Theses and Dissertations

Salinity and freshwater fluxes are important tools for monitoring the amount of freshwater entering and exiting the Arctic Ocean. Satellite-derived salinity provides a way to study surface advective freshwater fluxes; however, sea ice contamination, among others, remains an obstacle in the accuracy and reliability of these measurements. In this study, salinity and surface freshwater fluxes are calculated using NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and the ESA’s Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS), Argo, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast’s Ocean Reanalysis version 4 (ORAS4). ORAS4 compares well to Argo in the subarctic seas and is used for comparison …


New Approaches To Understanding Mjo Dynamics, Casey Shoup Apr 2020

New Approaches To Understanding Mjo Dynamics, Casey Shoup

Theses and Dissertations

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a highly air-sea coupled phenomenon and is the dominant mode of intraseasonal variability in the tropics. It is easily discernible in satellite-derived sea surface salinity (SSS), which varies as a direct result of MJO precipitation from the convectively active to suppressed phases. Negative (positive) SSS anomalies are associated with the active (suppressed) phase of the MJO. We find that all three available satellite salinity missions (ESA’s Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS); NASA’s Aquarius/SAC-D, and NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)) are capable of capturing the MJO SSS signal and that the near-equatorial SSS response is …


Diet Analysis Of Stranded Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In Virginia, Kristen Marie Volker Apr 2020

Diet Analysis Of Stranded Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In Virginia, Kristen Marie Volker

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

This study describes the diet of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) stranded in Virginia via stomach content analysis and considers factors such as proportion of numerical abundance and reconstructed mass, frequency of occurrence, average reconstructed prey size, prey diversity and quantity, and otolith degradation code. Fish size was estimated via regression equations established from local fish collected during the study that derive wet weight directly from otolith length or width. Squid size is estimated from previously published equations. Soniferous fishes dominated the diet, especially Atlantic croaker, spot, and seatrout spp., adding evidence to the theory that bottlenose dolphins passively …


Deepwater Horizon And The Rise Of The Omics, Joel E. Kostka, Samantha Joye, Rita Collwell Mar 2020

Deepwater Horizon And The Rise Of The Omics, Joel E. Kostka, Samantha Joye, Rita Collwell

C-IMAGE Publications

Microbial genomics techniques came of age following the Deepwater Horizon spill, offering researchers unparalleled insights into how ecosystems respond to such environmental disasters.


Global Patterns In Marine Sediment Carbon Stocks, Trisha B. Atwood, Andrew W. Witt, Juan Mayorga, Edd Hammill, Enric Sala Mar 2020

Global Patterns In Marine Sediment Carbon Stocks, Trisha B. Atwood, Andrew W. Witt, Juan Mayorga, Edd Hammill, Enric Sala

Ecology Center Publications

To develop more accurate global carbon (C) budgets and to better inform management of human activities in the ocean, we need high-resolution estimates of marine C stocks. Here we quantify global marine sedimentary C stocks at a 1-km resolution, and find that marine sediments store ∼ 3117 (3006–3209) Pg C in the top 1 m (more than twice that of terrestrial soils). Sediments in abyss/basin zones account for 75% of the global marine sediment C stock, and 52% of that stock is within the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones of countries. Currently, only ∼2% of sediment C stocks are located in …


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 Mar 2020

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 Mar 2020

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 Mar 2020

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 Mar 2020

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, …


Natural Variation And Evolutionary Responses To Climate Change Stressors In Marine Invertebrates, Joanna Sarah Griffiths Mar 2020

Natural Variation And Evolutionary Responses To Climate Change Stressors In Marine Invertebrates, Joanna Sarah Griffiths

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Our rapidly changing climate is putting many species at risk of extinction and there is an urgent need to understand how species will respond to these changes. In this dissertation, I evaluate how three species of marine invertebrates (corals, oysters, and copepods) respond to stressful conditions in their current environments and how plasticity and evolutionary adaptation could alter their response to future climate change stressors. I first employed a space for time study to elucidate population differences in the response of cold-water corals, Balanophyllia elegans, to future ocean acidification. I found evidence that upwelling history (natural low pH exposure) influences …


Effects Of Freshwater Inflow On Nekton Assemblages And Blue Crab Populations In Southeastern Louisiana, Caleb Benjamin Taylor Mar 2020

Effects Of Freshwater Inflow On Nekton Assemblages And Blue Crab Populations In Southeastern Louisiana, Caleb Benjamin Taylor

LSU Master's Theses

Estuaries along the northern Gulf of Mexico represent some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, providing vital habitat for many recreationally and commercially valuable species, including the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. The mixing of fresh river and saline ocean water in coastal estuaries contribute to this productivity. Dominated by large river influences and consisting of multiple estuaries, Louisiana contributes the largest commercial fishery in the Gulf of Mexico, and remains, on average, the largest supplier of blue crabs in the nation. However, across southeast Louisiana, freshwater flow is largely dependent on Mississippi River discharge, which is highly …


Reproductive Ecology Of Dragonfishes (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae) In The Gulf Of Mexico, Alex Marks, David Kerstetter, David Wyanski, Tracey Sutton Mar 2020

Reproductive Ecology Of Dragonfishes (Stomiiformes: Stomiidae) In The Gulf Of Mexico, Alex Marks, David Kerstetter, David Wyanski, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The most abundant fishes on Earth live in the meso- and bathypelagic (deep-pelagic, collectively) zones of the open ocean, where they play a key role in deep-sea food webs by mediating energy flow from surface waters to great depth. Of these fishes, the most speciose taxon is the family Stomiidae (dragonfishes). Despite being the numerically dominant predators of the global mesopelagic zone, stomiid reproductive ecology is poorly known. Research surveys rarely catch larger adults, impeding reproductive ecology studies. Between 2010 and 2011, the Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis Program sampled the Gulf of Mexico using a research-sized, opening/closing trawl (10-m …


Evolutionary Traits That Enable Scleractinian Corals To Survive Mass Extinction Events, Gal Dishon, Michal Grossowicz, Michael Krom, Gilad Guy, David F. Gruber, Dan Tchernov Mar 2020

Evolutionary Traits That Enable Scleractinian Corals To Survive Mass Extinction Events, Gal Dishon, Michal Grossowicz, Michael Krom, Gilad Guy, David F. Gruber, Dan Tchernov

Publications and Research

Scleractinian “stony” corals are major habitat engineers, whose skeletons form the framework for the highly diverse, yet increasingly threatened, coral reef ecosystem. Fossil coral skeletons also present a rich record that enables paleontological analysis of coral origins, tracing them back to the Triassic (~241 Myr). While numerous invertebrate lineages were eradicated at the last major mass extinction boundary, the Cretaceous-Tertiary/K-T (66 Myr), a number of Scleractinian corals survived. We review this history and assess traits correlated with K-T mass extinction survival. Disaster-related “survival” traits that emerged from our analysis are: (1) deep water residing (>100 m); (2) cosmopolitan distributions, …


Spatial Contrasts In Hepatic And Biliary Pahs In Tilefish (Lopholatilus Chamaeleonticeps) Throughout The Gulf Of Mexico, With Comparison To The Northwest Atlantic, Susan M. Snyder, Jill A. Olin, Erin Pulster, Steven Murawski Mar 2020

Spatial Contrasts In Hepatic And Biliary Pahs In Tilefish (Lopholatilus Chamaeleonticeps) Throughout The Gulf Of Mexico, With Comparison To The Northwest Atlantic, Susan M. Snyder, Jill A. Olin, Erin Pulster, Steven Murawski

C-IMAGE Publications

A multinational demersal longline survey was conducted on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf over the years 2015 and 2016 to generate a Gulf-wide baseline of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in demersal fishes. Tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) were sampled in all regions of the Gulf of Mexico for biometrics, bile, and liver. Tilefish liver was also obtained from surveys in the northwest Atlantic Ocean for comparison. Liver tissues (n = 305) were analyzed for PAHs and select alkylated homologs using QuEChERS extractions and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Bile samples (n = 225) were analyzed for …


Application Of Acoustical Remote Sensing Techniques For Ecosystem Monitoring Of A Seagrass Meadow, Megan S. Ballard, Kevin M. Lee, Jason D. Sagers, Gabriel R. Venegas, Andrew R. Mcneese, Preston S. Wilson, Abdullah Rahman Mar 2020

Application Of Acoustical Remote Sensing Techniques For Ecosystem Monitoring Of A Seagrass Meadow, Megan S. Ballard, Kevin M. Lee, Jason D. Sagers, Gabriel R. Venegas, Andrew R. Mcneese, Preston S. Wilson, Abdullah Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Seagrasses provide a multitude of ecosystem services and serve as important organic carbon stores. However, seagrass habitats are declining worldwide, threatened by global climate change and regional shifts in water quality. Acoustical methods have been applied to assess changes in oxygen production of seagrass meadows since sound propagation is sensitive to the presence of bubbles, which exist both within the plant tissue and freely floating the water as byproducts of photosynthesis. This work applies acoustic remote sensing techniques to characterize two different regions of a seagrass meadow: a densely vegetated meadow of Thalassia testudinum and a sandy region sparsely populated …


Subsea 2019 Expedition To The Gorda Ridge, Darlene S. S. Lim, Nicole A. Raineault, John A. Breier, Eric W. Chan, Josh Chernov, Tamar Cohen, Matthew Deans, Angela Garcia, Christopher R. German, Michelle Hauer Mar 2020

Subsea 2019 Expedition To The Gorda Ridge, Darlene S. S. Lim, Nicole A. Raineault, John A. Breier, Eric W. Chan, Josh Chernov, Tamar Cohen, Matthew Deans, Angela Garcia, Christopher R. German, Michelle Hauer

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The SUBSEA (Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog) program blends ocean exploration with “ocean worlds” research, along with NASA analog and work studies research, to address science, science operations, and technology knowledge gaps related to the exploration of our solar system. The science group researches venting fluids at isolated seamounts and spreading ridges in the Pacific Ocean as analog environments to putative volcanically hosted hydrothermal systems on other “ocean worlds” (defined as places in the outer solar system that could possess subsurface oceans). The science operations research group studies E/V Nautilus architecture, distributed teams, communication, and lowlatency telerobotics. The …


Patterns In Size Distribution And Catch Of Rockfish (Sebastes Spp.) In Fisheries-Independent And Fisheries- Dependent Hook-And-Line Surveys On The Central Coast Of California, Rose Elizabeth Dodgen Mar 2020

Patterns In Size Distribution And Catch Of Rockfish (Sebastes Spp.) In Fisheries-Independent And Fisheries- Dependent Hook-And-Line Surveys On The Central Coast Of California, Rose Elizabeth Dodgen

Master's Theses

Stock assessments are statistical models which characterize the state of a population of fish. Data for stock assessment models of West Coast nearshore groundfish come largely from fisheries-dependent sources. Incorporating fisheries-independent data would increase data availability. A potential source of fisheries-independent data which is comparable to existing fisheries-dependent data is the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP), a Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring study. We are interested in understanding the context in which CCFRP could be implemented into assessments of nearshore groundfish, specifically rockfish. To investigate this, we used management-relevant metrics to examine three questions concerning the implementation of CCFRP …


Aquaculture And Fisheries Internship Afs 399, Michael Cerbo Feb 2020

Aquaculture And Fisheries Internship Afs 399, Michael Cerbo

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.


The Vertical And Horizontal Distribution Of Deep-Sea Crustaceans In The Order Euphausiacea In The Vicinity Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Tamara Frank, Charles Douglas Fine, Eric A. Burdett, April Cook, Tracey Sutton Feb 2020

The Vertical And Horizontal Distribution Of Deep-Sea Crustaceans In The Order Euphausiacea In The Vicinity Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Tamara Frank, Charles Douglas Fine, Eric A. Burdett, April Cook, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The vertical and horizontal distributions of Euphausiacea in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), including the location of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, were analyzed from 340 trawl samples collected between April and June 2011. This study is the first comprehensive survey of euphausiid distributions from depths deeper than 1000 m in the GOM and includes stratified sampling from five discrete depth ranges (0–200 m, 200–600 m, 600–1000 m, 1000–1200 m, and 1200–1500 m), and expands the depth ranges of 30 species. In addition, this study demonstrates significantly higher abundance and biomass of the euphausiid assemblage from slope vs. offshore …


Model Sensitivity To Topographic Uncertainty In Meso- And Microtidal Marshes, Karim Alizad, Stephen C. Medeiros, Madeline R. Foster-Martinez, Scott C. Hagen Feb 2020

Model Sensitivity To Topographic Uncertainty In Meso- And Microtidal Marshes, Karim Alizad, Stephen C. Medeiros, Madeline R. Foster-Martinez, Scott C. Hagen

Faculty Publications

Light detection and ranging (Lidar) derived digital elevation models are widely used in modeling coastal marsh systems. However, the topographic error in these models can affect simulations of marsh coverage and characteristics. We investigated the relevance and impact of this error in micro- and mesotidal systems. Lidar-derived and RTK-adjusted topography were each used in a dynamic marsh model, and the resulting marsh coverages were examined. For two microtidal sites (Apalachicola, FL, USA, and Grand Bay, MS, USA) using solely lidar-derived topography, the model produced Cohen Kappa values of 0.1 for both estuaries when compared with National Wetland Inventory data indicating …


The Role Of Dislodgement In The Territorial Ecology Of The Owl Limpet, Lottia Gigantea, Ryan T. Kabala, Natalie Swinford, Maria J. Mason, William G. Wright Feb 2020

The Role Of Dislodgement In The Territorial Ecology Of The Owl Limpet, Lottia Gigantea, Ryan T. Kabala, Natalie Swinford, Maria J. Mason, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Ascertaining the risks and benefits of different behaviors is a central goal of research on territoriality. Although most territorial behavior is ritualized, with concomitant reduced risks for both residents and intruders, this ritualization is generally found to be underpinned by rare, highly consequential, interactions. The agonistic behavior of the intertidal owl limpet, Lottia gigantea, involves defense of a feeding territory, and includes a relatively explosive thrusting response by territory holders against intruding conspecifics. We here ask whether this thrusting behavior is capable of entirely dislodging intruders from their rocky wave-swept substratum, thereby ridding the resident of future challenges by …


Dispersion Overrides Environmental Variability As A Primary Driver Of The Horizontal Assemblage Structure Of The Mesopelagic Fish Family Myctophidae In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Rosanna Milligan, Tracey Sutton Feb 2020

Dispersion Overrides Environmental Variability As A Primary Driver Of The Horizontal Assemblage Structure Of The Mesopelagic Fish Family Myctophidae In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Rosanna Milligan, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The lanternfishes (Myctophidae) are a highly speciose, globally-distributed family of fishes that constitute a dominant component of the global pelagic fauna. As a vertically-migrating taxon of oceanic micronekton, myctophids play vital ecological roles in the biological carbon pump and as an important prey group for several commercially-important species. However, our knowledge of the ecology of this taxon remains incomplete, and as anthropogenic impacts continue to develop and extend into deeper waters, there is a clear need for a better understanding of its ecological role and assemblage dynamics. The aim of the present study was to examine the distribution patterns of …


Respiration By The Opportunistic Spionid Polychaete Streblospio Gynobranchiata During Adjustment To And Recovery From Moderate Hypoxia, Alyssa D. Bennett, Chet F. Rakocinski Feb 2020

Respiration By The Opportunistic Spionid Polychaete Streblospio Gynobranchiata During Adjustment To And Recovery From Moderate Hypoxia, Alyssa D. Bennett, Chet F. Rakocinski

Faculty Publications

Understanding the capacity of estuarine organisms to acclimate to stressful conditions provides insights into how communities cope within fluctuating environments. The opportunistic spionid polychaete, Streblospio gynobranchiata Rice and Levin, 1998, regularly experiences intermittent moderate hypoxia within shallow sedimentary habitats. To better understand fine-scale adjustments by this opportunistic species to short-term moderate hypoxia, the aerobic respiration response of three size classes was examined over a 12 h period and after 24 h of exposure to moderate hypoxia (i.e., 20% air saturation) at 25 °C. In addition, the capacity to resume standard respiration was examined over a 12 h period following a …


'How To' Guide For Synthesizing Nerrs Marsh Monitoring Data, David M. Burdick Feb 2020

'How To' Guide For Synthesizing Nerrs Marsh Monitoring Data, David M. Burdick

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

The purpose of this guide is to provide a user-friendly and informative guide on ‘How to’ synthesize salt marsh data from theNational Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRs). In this guide, we outline and detail the steps taken from requesting/cataloguing data to summarizing these data through visual and statistical analysis. These methods can be used at a single or multiple site(s) as well as over multiple years. Though this guide is specific to NERRs and focuses on plant community data, it may also be useful for other monitoring parameters and programs to guide protocol design and analyses. Here, we conduct a …


Chronic Pah Exposures And Associated Declines In Fish Health Indices Observed For Ten Grouper Species In The Gulf Of Mexico, Erin Pulster, Adolfo Gracia, Maickel Armenteros, Brigid Carr, Justin Mrowicki, Steven Murawski Feb 2020

Chronic Pah Exposures And Associated Declines In Fish Health Indices Observed For Ten Grouper Species In The Gulf Of Mexico, Erin Pulster, Adolfo Gracia, Maickel Armenteros, Brigid Carr, Justin Mrowicki, Steven Murawski

C-IMAGE Publications

Ten grouper species grouper (n = 584) were collected throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) from 2011 through 2017 to provide information on hepatobiliary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Liver and bile samples were analyzed for PAHs and their metabolites using triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-F), respectively. Data were compared among species and sub-regions of the GoM to understand spatiotemporal exposure dynamics in these economically and ecologically important species. Significant differences in the composition and concentrations of PAHs were detected spatially, …


Urgent Need For Coral Demography In A World Where Corals Are Disappearing, Peter J. Edmunds, Bernhard Riegl Feb 2020

Urgent Need For Coral Demography In A World Where Corals Are Disappearing, Peter J. Edmunds, Bernhard Riegl

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Coral reefs have long attracted attention because of their biological and economic importance, but this interest now has turned to examining the possibility of functional extirpation. Widespread declines in coral abundances have fueled the shift in motivation for studying reefs and catalyzed the proliferation of monitoring to record the changes underway. Despite appreciation of monitoring as a scientific endeavor, its primary use has continued to be the quantification of cover of coral, macroalgae, and a few other space holders. The limitations of coral cover in evaluating the consequences of changing coral abundance were highlighted decades ago. Yet neglect of the …


A Guide To Integrate Plant Cover Data From Two Different Methods, David M. Burdick, Chris R. Peter Feb 2020

A Guide To Integrate Plant Cover Data From Two Different Methods, David M. Burdick, Chris R. Peter

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

There is a lack of consensus on how to monitor (measure) plant cover in tidal marshes. Multiple methods exist to estimate plant cover, which can confound interpretation when making comparisons across methods. Here, we provide a novel and more accurate approach, building off of traditional data transformations designed to integrate the two most common methods: Point Intercept and Ocular Cover.