Marine Biology Commons^™

Exposure To Oil And Hypoxia Results In Alterations Of Immune Transcriptional Patterns In Developing Sheepshead Minnows (Cyprinodon Variegatus), Maria L. Rodgers, Danielle Simning, Maria S. Sepúlveda, Sylvain De Guise, Thijs Bosker, Robert J. Griffitt

Faculty Publications

The area and timing of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill highlight the need to study oil and hypoxia exposure in early life stage fishes. Though critical to health, little research has targeted the effect of oil and hypoxia exposure on developing immune systems. To this end, we exposed sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus) at three early life stages: embryonic; post-hatch; and post-larval, to a high energy water accommodated fraction (HEWAF) of oil, hypoxia, or both for 48 hours. We performed RNAseq to understand how exposures alter expression of immune transcripts and pathways. Under control conditions, the embryonic to post-hatch …

Town Of Eastham Harbor & Waterways Management Plan, Kristin Uiterwyk, Kimberly Starbuck, Allison Novelly

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

UHI was hired by the Town of Eastham, MA to assist with developing their first ever municipal waterways management plan, which will also include an engineering study conducted by the Woods Hole Group. Funding for this plan was provided by the Seaport Economic Council.

Using Genetics To Inform Restoration And Predict Resilience In Declining Populations Of A Keystone Marine Sponge, Sarah M. Griffiths, Evelyn D. Taylor-Cox, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, Richard F. Preziosi

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Genetic tools can have a key role in informing conservation management of declining populations. Genetic diversity is an important determinant of population fitness and resilience, and can require careful management to ensure sufficient variation is present. In addition, population genetics data reveal patterns of connectivity and gene flow between locations, enabling mangers to predict recovery and resilience, identify areas of local adaptation, and generate restoration plans. Here, we demonstrate a conservation genetics approach to inform restoration and management of the loggerhead sponge (Spheciospongia vesparium) in the Florida Keys, USA. This species is a dominant, habitat-forming component of marine ecosystems in …

Host Population Genetics And Biogeography Structure The Microbiome Of The Sponge Cliona Delitrix, Cole Easson, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, Robert W. Thacker, Jose Lopez

Biology Faculty Articles

Sponges occur across diverse marine biomes and host internal microbial communities that can provide critical ecological functions. While strong patterns of host specificity have been observed consistently in sponge microbiomes, the precise ecological relationships between hosts and their symbiotic microbial communities remain to be fully delineated. In the current study, we investigate the relative roles of host population genetics and biogeography in structuring the microbial communities hosted by the excavating sponge Cliona delitrix. A total of 53 samples, previously used to demarcate the population genetic structure of C. delitrix, were selected from two locations in the Caribbean Sea and …

Impacts Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On Reproduction And Ontogeny Of Gulf Killifish (Fundulus Grandis), Charles Alexander Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released an estimated 779 million liters of Macondo-252 crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest marine oil spill in history. Over a thousand kilometers of marshland that many species of fish use as a spawning grounds and nurseries was oiled, exposing breeding adult fish and their offspring to oil. My dissertation investigates the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and associated remediation efforts on the reproduction and ontogeny of a sentinel ecotoxicological species, the Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis). Concerns were raised regarding use of …

A Revised Holocene Coral Sea-Level Database From The Florida Reef Tract, Usa, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Bernhard Riegl, Lauren T. Toth

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The coral reefs and mangrove habitats of the south Florida region have long been used in sea-level studies for the western Atlantic because of their broad geographic extent and composition of sea-level tracking biota. The data from this region have been used to support several very different Holocene sea-level reconstructions (SLRs) over the years. However, many of these SLRs did not incorporate all available coral-based data, in part because detailed characterizations necessary for inclusion into sea-level databases were lacking. Here, we present an updated database comprised of 303 coral samples from published sources that we extensively characterized for the first …

Analysis Of Surfactant-Associated Bacteria In The Sea Surface Microlayer Using Deoxyribonucleic Acid Sequencing And Synthetic Aperture Radar, Georgia Parks, Cayla W. Dean, John Alexander Kluge, Alexander Soloviev, Mahmood S. Shivji, Aurelien Tartar, Kathryn L. Howe, Susanne Lehner, Egbert Schwarz, Hui Shen, William Perrie, Paul Schuler

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The sea surface microlayer (SML) is the upper 1 mm of the ocean, where Earth’s biogeochemical processes occur between the ocean and atmosphere. It is physicochemically distinct from the water below and highly variable in space and time due to changing physical conditions. Some microorganisms influence the composition of the SML by producing surfactants for biological functions that accumulate on the surface, decrease surface tension, and create slicks. Slicks can be visible to the eye and in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery. This study focuses on surfactant-associated bacteria in the near-surface layer and their role in slick formation where …

Discovery Of Bilaterian-Type Through-Guts In Cloudinomorphs From The Terminal Ediacaran Period, J. D. Schiffbauer, T. Selly, S. M. Jacquet, Rachel Merz, L. L. Nelson, M. A. Strange, Y. Cai, E. F. Smith

Biology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Two Methods For Measuring Sea Surface Temperature When Surfing, Robert J. W. Brewin, Tyler Cyronak, Philip Bresnahan, Andreas J. Andersson, Jon Richard, Katherine Hammond, Oliver Billson, Lee De Mora, Thomas Jackson, Dan Smale, Giorgio Dall'olmo

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Nearshore coastal waters are among the most dynamic regions on the planet and difficult to sample from conventional oceanographic platforms. It has been suggested that environmental sampling of the nearshore could be improved by mobilising vast numbers of citizens who partake in marine recreational sports, like surfing. In this paper, we compared two approaches for measuring sea surface temperature (SST), an Essential Climate Variable, when surfing. One technique involved attaching a commercially-available miniature temperature logger (Onset UTBI-001 TidbiT v2) to the leash of the surfboard (tether connecting surfer and surfboard) and the second, attaching a surfboard fin (Smartfin) that contained …

Implications Of Different Nitrogen Input Sources For Potential Production And Carbon Flux Estimates In The Coastal Gulf Of Mexico (Gom) And Korean Peninsula Coastal Waters, Jongsun Kim, Piers Chapman, Gilbert Rowe, Steven F. Dimarco, Daniel C. O. Thornton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The coastal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and coastal sea off the Korean Peninsula (CSK) both suffer from human-induced eutrophication. We used a nitrogen (N) mass balance model in two different regions with different nitrogen input sources to estimate organic carbon fluxes and predict future carbon fluxes under different model scenarios. The coastal GOM receives nitrogen predominantly from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers and atmospheric nitrogen deposition is only a minor component in this region. In the CSK, groundwater and atmospheric nitrogen deposition are more important controlling factors. Our model includes the fluxes of nitrogen to the ocean from the atmosphere, …

Reproductive Biology And Trophic Niche Of Hardhead Catfish In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Lucas G. Pensinger

LSU Master's Theses

Generally, marine fishes have very high fecundity with each female producing many small eggs which hatch into small larvae. However, Ariopsis felis, a species of marine catfish common to coastal Louisiana, has low fecundity and produces the largest eggs of the teleost fishes. Despite wide range and generally high abundance, we know very little of A. felis biology and population. The few existing studies of A. felis are older and often have questionable or unclear methodology.

I examined four aspects of A. felis reproductive biology: 1) reproductive timing,

2) fecundity, 3) length at first maturity, and 4) mouth brooding. …

The Whelming Sea, Sean Hanley

Theses and Dissertations

The Whelming Sea is a thirty-minute experimental documentary that reveals the moments of entanglement between three animals living along the Mid-Atlantic shoreline; curious humans, spawning horseshoe crabs, and migratory shorebirds. Working from the realm of multispecies ethnography, the film shifts the subjective positioning of the viewer between the human and nonhuman to suggest the complexity of our enmeshed experience. In the face of this current era of mass extinction, the film explores the limitations and poetic possibilities of scientific encounters with the lives of others.

Correlation Between Ocean Acidification And Zooplankton In The South Pacific Gyre, Samuel Noonan, Rachel Scudder

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

The South Pacific Gyre is a naturally occurring carbon sink, meaning that it absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide by dissolving it into the moving surface water. The dissolution of CO2 level will dictate the water’s acidic levels a larger the concentration of dissolved CO2 is known to increase the salt water’s acidity. A great amount of the ocean’s biomass is composed of calcifying organisms, which produce tests or shells made from calcium carbonate CaCO3.The goal of our project is to determine if there is a correlation between the water acidity across various locations, as we sailed through the South Pacific gyre …

Feeding Behavior Fundamentally Affects Micro-Particle Intake In Mangrove Crabs, Rola Alsharif

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Human Vs. Bear: Who Needs Salmon More?, Brittany N. Savercool

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

How Corals Avoid Mating Between Different Species, Amanda Kempton

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Microplastics Invade Manta Ray Feeding Grounds Giving Rise To The Effects Of Global Plastic Pollution, Meghan Ulmer

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Battle For The Top: Killer Whales Vs. White Sharks, Michael P. Mcdonough

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Can Ocean Modeling Help Predict Where Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles Wash Up?, Mikayla L. Twiss

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

White Sharks As A Novel Threat To Sea Otter Populations In California, Kimberly S. Schmutz

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Feeding Ecology Of Invasive Lionfish In Southeast Florida, Ruchao Qian

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Endangered Whale Species In A Pristine Environment: Pollutant Concentrations Indicative Of A Problem?, Briana R. Coulter

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

No Evidence Of Fine Scale Thermal Adaption In Green Turtles, Taylor Apter

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

New Intervention Method For Halting Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, Samantha Buckley

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning Provides A Much-Needed Solution For Marine Mammal Protection, Shaman Patel

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Ghost Fishing In Coral Reef Ecosystems, Katherine E. Meurer

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Could Impact Narwhal Consumption By Killer Whales, Mykenzee L. Munaco

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Fishing Industry And Misidentification Leading To Angel Sharks Decline, Gretchen M. Spencer

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish: Camouflage Tactics And Colorful Behavior, Shaquilla M. Hamlett

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Distribution Of Polar Bear Dens In The Canadian Arctic, Brice Schrenkel

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.