Marine Biology Commons^™

Broadband Sound Propagation In A Seagrass Meadow Throughout A Diurnal Cycle, Kevin M. Lee, Megan S. Ballard, Gabriel R. Venegas, Jason D. Sagers, Andrew R. Mcneese, Jay R. Johnson, Preston S. Wilson, Abdullah Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Acoustic propagation measurements were conducted in a Thalassia testudinum meadow in the Lower Laguna Madre, a shallow bay on the Texas Gulf of Mexico coast. A piezoelectric source transmitted frequency-modulated chirps (0.1 to 100 kHz) over a 24-h period during which oceanographic probes measured environmental parameters including dissolved oxygen and solar irradiance. Compared to a nearby less vegetated area, the received level was lower by as much as 30 dB during the early morning hours. At the peak of photosynthesis-driven bubble production in the late afternoon, an additional decrease in level of 11 dB was observed.

Best Practice Recommendations For The Use Of External Telemetry Devices On Pinnipeds, Markus Horning, Russel D. Andrews, Amanda M. Bishop, Peter L. Boveng, Daniel P. Costa, Daniel E. Crocker, Martin Haulena, Mark Hindell, Allyson G. Hindle, Rachel R. Holser, Sascha K. Hooker, Luis A. Hückstädt, Shawn Johnson, Mary-Anne Lea, Birgitte I. Mcdonald, Clive R. Mcmahon, Patrick W. Robinson, Renae L. Sattler, Courtney R. Shuert, Sheanna M. Steingass, Dave Thompson, Pamela A. Tuomi, Cassondra L. Williams, Jamie N. Womble

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Pinnipeds spend large portions of their lives at sea, submerged, or hauled-out on land, often on remote off-shore islands. This fundamentally limits access by researchers to critical parts of pinniped life history and has spurred the development and implementation of a variety of externally attached telemetry devices (ETDs) to collect information about movement patterns, physiology and ecology of marine animals when they cannot be directly observed. ETDs are less invasive and easier to apply than implanted internal devices, making them more widely used. However, ETDs have limited retention times and their use may result in negative short- and long-term consequences …

Measuring Light Scattering And Absorption In Corals With Inverse Spectroscopic Optical Coherence Tomography (Isoct): A New Tool For Non-Invasive Monitoring, G. L. C. Spicer, A. Eid, D. Wangpraseurt, Timothy D. Swain, J. A. Winkelmann, J. Yi, M. Kuhl, L. A. Marcelino, V. Backman

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The success of reef-building corals for >200 million years has been dependent on the mutualistic interaction between the coral host and its photosynthetic endosymbiont dinoflagellates (family Symbiodiniaceae) that supply the coral host with nutrients and energy for growth and calcification. While multiple light scattering in coral tissue and skeleton significantly enhance the light microenvironment for Symbiodiniaceae, the mechanisms of light propagation in tissue and skeleton remain largely unknown due to a lack of technologies to measure the intrinsic optical properties of both compartments in live corals. Here we introduce ISOCT (inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography), a non-invasive approach to measure …

Hypoxia In Mangroves: Occurrence And Impact On Valuable Tropical Fish Habitat, Alexia Dubuc, Ronald Baker, Cyril Marchand, Nathan Waltham, Marcus Sheaves

School of Marine and Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Intertidal mangrove forests are harsh environments that can naturally experience hypoxia in association with low tide. However, we know relatively little about dissolved oxygen (DO) fluctuations and DO-induced responses by fish, although DO is a fundamental water quality parameter. This study examines DO as a potential factor regulating the utilization of intertidal mangrove forests by fish and consequently their widely recognized feeding, refuge and nursery values. We deployed underwater video cameras, coupled with DO and depth loggers, in a mangrove forest to record changes in fish assemblages in response to tidal variations in DO and other associated environmental parameters. Our …

The Influence Of Location, Positioning, And Seasonality On Feeding Behavior Of The Sydney Oyster (Saccostrea Glomerata) In New South Wales, Australia, Nathaniel Hess

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Oysters are hard shelled bivalves that aggregate over time to create structures in estuarine systems, known as oyster reefs. These reefs are important for the promotion of estuarine biodiversity by supporting many species of fish, invertebrates, and plants. They also act as a key contributor to water health by using active suspension feeding mechanisms and selective feeding to remove nutrients and water borne pollutants from estuarine systems. They have been touted as possible bio-remediators. They also effect rates of sedimentation in estuaries.

Oyster reefs have historically been threatened by anthropogenic influences such as overharvesting, destructive fishing practices, water pollution, CO2 …

Red Drum (Sciaenops Ocellatus), Alois Romanowski, David Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) collected as-is on the beach of Anclote Key, Florida in 1999.

Diverse Deep-Sea Anglerfishes Share A Genetically Reduced Luminous Symbiont That Is Acquired From The Environment, Lydia Baker, Lindsay L. Freed, Cole Easson, Jose Lopez, Dante Fenolio, Tracey Sutton, Spencer Nyholm, Tory Hendry

Biology Faculty Articles

Deep-sea anglerfishes are relatively abundant and diverse, but their luminescent bacterial symbionts remain enigmatic. The genomes of two symbiont species have qualities common to vertically transmitted, host-dependent bacteria. However, a number of traits suggest that these symbionts may be environmentally acquired. To determine how anglerfish symbionts are transmitted, we analyzed bacteria-host codivergence across six diverse anglerfish genera. Most of the anglerfish species surveyed shared a common species of symbiont. Only one other symbiont species was found, which had a specific relationship with one anglerfish species, Cryptopsaras couesii. Host and symbiont phylogenies lacked congruence, and there was no statistical support …

Salt Marsh Health And Biomass Responses To A Changing Environment, Gwen Joelle Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Coastal salt marshes are important ecosystems not only for their aesthetic beauty but also for their ecosystem services that they provide including improving water quality, providing protection from storm surges and hurricanes, and carbon sequestration. With climate change, including drought, warmer temperatures and sea-level rise, these systems are going to be impacted. Understanding how salt marshes will respond, or already have responded, to climate change will help us be better prepared for the future. By scripting a model to project how marshes may migrate with sea-level rise, I discover that salt marshes within Beaufort and Jasper counties, South Carolina will …

Larval Fish Mortality And Vertical Chlorophyll Structures: Reexamination Of The Stable Ocean Hypothesis In The Southern California Current, Brendan D. Turley

Theses and Dissertations

The natural mortality of fishes is an important component for understanding population dynamics. The larval stages of pelagic fishes living in the open ocean are particularly vulnerable to high rates of mortality, and fluctuations in these rates are thought to exert a large influence on the number of fish maturing into the spawning population. Early stage larval fishes are thought to undergo a critical period after hatching when they must find food or succumb to starvation. While the availability of suitable food for larval fishes is, on average, too low in the open ocean to support survival, patchy distributions of …

Hepatic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) Concentrations In Red Hind (Epinephelus Guttatus) Collected Aboard Multiple R/V Weatherbird Ii Cruises In The Southern Gulf Of Mexico (Mexico And Cuba) From 2015-09-18 To 2017-05-23, Erin Pulster, Steven A. Murawski

C-IMAGE data

This dataset contains hepatic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations in Red Hind (Epinephelus guttatus) collected aboard R/V Weatherbird II cruises (WB1603, WB1701, WB1731) in the southern Gulf of Mexico (Mexico and Cuba) from 2015-09-18 to 2017-05-23. The dataset includes the location, date, concentrations of various PAHs in liver tissue (ng/g w.w.), and the total or sum of the low and high molecular weight PAHs (ng/g w.w.). PAHs were extracted from homogenized liver tissues using QuEChERS EMR (Agilent Technologies, Bond Elut). Individual PAHs were confirmed and quantified using an Agilent’s 7890B gas chromatograph (GC) coupled to a 7010 tandem mass spectrometer …

Development Of A Dna Mini-Barcoding Protocol Targeting Coi For The Identification Of Elasmobranch Species In Shark Cartilage Pills, Rowena J. Zahn, Anthony J. Silva, Rosalee S. Hellberg

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

Many elasmobranch (shark and ray) species are considered threatened and their identification in processed products is important for conservation and authentication purposes. However, identification of elasmobranch species in shark cartilage pills has proven difficult using existing methodologies. The objective of this study was to develop a DNA mini-barcoding protocol using a ~130 bp region of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene for species identification in shark cartilage pills. A total of 22 shark cartilage products underwent DNA extraction in duplicate using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen). The effectiveness of a clean-up step following DNA extraction was …

Wildlife In Parks And Communities: Institutionalizing Wildlife Conservation In Park Systems Through Municipal-Wide Planning Efforts, John J. Pipoly Iii, Lajuan Tucker, Patrick Fitzgerald, Scott Gilmore

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

Wildlife populations are declining in the United States. As development increases, local parks and natural areas often become safe-havens for wildlife, including birds, pollinators and small mammals. Creeks, rights-of-way, roadsides and even private, commercial and public landscapes can create corridors for wildlife in urban and suburban areas, helping wildlife survive and minimizing human-wildlife conflicts. While many park departments and municipalities have some nature or wildlife programs at nature centers and public parks or manage some properties as natural areas, most do not integrate best practices for managing wildlife into park and recreation master plans or municipalwide sustainability, green infrastructure or …

A Toolkit For Managing The Ee (Environmental Education) And Esd (Education For Sustainable Development) Continuum, Attiyya Atkins, John J. Pipoly Iii

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

Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) represent extremes of a global continuum. EE stresses awareness of process about, from and for the environment (Vrasidas 2007). ESD is defined as education empowering communities to acquire best management practices engendering human, social, economic and natural sustainability (UNESCO 2012) and developing their resilience despite environmental changes (Fastenrath et al. 2019). ESD is a critical component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2012), which grew from the Millennium Development Goals (UN 2000). Each park agency should develop research-based educational programs that address both EE and ESD. The ESD must promote …

Plasticity Of Foot Muscle And Cardiac Thermal Limits In The Limpet Lottia Limatula From Locations With Differing Temperatures, Terrance Wang, Richelle L. Tanner, Eric J. Armstrong, David R. Lindberg, Jonathon H. Stillman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Species distributions are shifting in response to increased habitat temperatures as a result of ongoing climate change. Understanding variation in physiological plasticity among species and populations is important for predicting these distribution shifts. Interspecific variation in intertidal ectotherms’ short-term thermal plasticity has been well established. However, intraspecific variation among populations from differing thermal habitats remains a question pertinent to understanding the effects of climate change on species’ ranges. In this study, we explored upper thermal tolerance limits and plasticity of those limits using a foot muscle metric and 2 cardiac metrics (Arrhenius breakpoint temperature, ABT, and flatline temperature, FLT) in …

Characterization Of The Microbiome And Bioluminescent Symbionts Across Life Stages Of Ceratioid Anglerfishes Of The Gulf Of Mexico, Lindsay L. Freed, Cole Easson, Lydia Baker, D. Fenolio, Tracey Sutton, Yasmin Khan, Patricia Blackwelder, Tory Hendry, Jose Lopez

Biology Faculty Articles

The interdependence of diverse organisms through symbiosis reaches even the deepest parts of the oceans. As part of the DEEPEND project (deependconsortium.org) research on deep Gulf of Mexico biodiversity, we profiled the bacterial communities (‘microbiomes’) and luminous symbionts of 36 specimens of adult and larval deep-sea anglerfishes of the suborder Ceratioidei using 16S rDNA. Transmission Electron Microscopy was used to characterize the location of symbionts in adult light organs (esca). Whole larval microbiomes, and adult skin and gut microbiomes, were dominated by bacteria in the genera Moritella and Pseudoalteromonas genera. 16S rDNA sequencing results from adult fishes corroborate …

Resolving The Dilemma Of Dispersant Use For Deep Oil Spill Response, Steven Murawski, Michael Schlüter, Claire B. Paris-Limouzy, Zachary M. Aman

C-IMAGE Publications

No abstract provided.

Hepatobiliary Analyses Suggest Chronic Pah Exposurein Hakes (Urophycis Spp.) Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Rachel Struch, Erin Pulster, Andrea D. Schreier, Steven Murawski

C-IMAGE Publications

Prior to theDeepwater Horizon oil spill, we lacked a comprehensive baseline of oil contamination in the Gulf of Mexico’s sediments, water column, and biota. Gaps in prespill knowledge limit our ability to determine the aftereffects of the Deepwater Horizon blowout or prepare to mitigate similar impacts during future oil spill disasters. We examined spatio temporal differences in exposure to and metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 2 hake species (Urophycis spp.)to establish a current baseline for these ecologically important, abundant, and at‐risk demersal fishes. Gulf hake (Urophycis cirrata) and southern hake (Urophycis floridana) were …

Potential Influence Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On Phytoplankton Primary Productivity In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Yao Li, Chuanmin Hu, Antonietta Quigg, Huilin Gao

C-IMAGE Publications

Nine years after the Deepwater Horizon (DwH) oil spill (20 April–15 July 2010), the recovery of primary productivity at the ocean surface remains to be investigated. Here, we used the normalized fluorescence line height (nFLH) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer as an indicator of chlorophyll a concentration (Chl a). First, from the spatiotemporal variations of nFLH between 2001 and 2017, a reduction of nFLH after the DwH oil spill was observed (for a relatively long period, from 2011 to 2014). Second, a stepwise multiple regression model was used to examine which of the following environmental factors could explain …

Crevalle Jack (Caranx Hippos), Alois Romanowski, David Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Crevalle Jack (Caranx hippos) collected from Broward County, Florida and prepped by David Kerstetter in 2016.

Elevated Temperature Attenuates Ovarian Functions And Induces Apoptosis And Oxidative Stress In The American Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: Potential Mechanisms And Signaling Pathways, Sarah Nash, Jackson Johnston, Md Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Global climate change is predicted to intensify thermal stress in marine and coastal organisms, affecting their development, growth, and reproductive functions. In this study, we performed histological observations on ovarian development, immunohistochemical analyses of ovarian heat shock protein-70 (HSP70), nitrotyrosine protein (NTP, an indicator of reactive nitrogen species (RNS)), and dinitrophenyl protein (DNP, an indicator of protein oxidation) expressions, in situ TUNEL assay for cellular apoptosis, biochemical analyses of ovarian caspase-3/7 activity and protein carbonyl (PC, a measure of reactive oxygen species (ROS)) contents, nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels, and extrapallial fluid (EPF, an important body fluid) pH in the American oyster, …

Elevated Temperature Attenuates Ovarian Functions And Induces Apoptosis And Oxidative Stress In The American Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica: Potential Mechanisms And Signaling Pathways, Sarah Nash, Jackson Johnstone, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Global climate change is predicted to intensify thermal stress in marine and coastal organisms, affecting their development, growth, and reproductive functions. In this study, we performed histological observations on ovarian development, immunohistochemical analyses of ovarian heat shock protein-70 (HSP70), nitrotyrosine protein (NTP, an indicator of reactive nitrogen species (RNS)), and dinitrophenyl protein (DNP, an indicator of protein oxidation) expressions, in situ TUNEL assay for cellular apoptosis, biochemical analyses of ovarian caspase-3/7 activity and protein carbonyl (PC, a measure of reactive oxygen species (ROS)) contents, nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels, and extrapallial fluid (EPF, an important body fluid) pH in the American oyster, …

Prevalence And Distribution Of Ranavirus In Amphibians From, Drew R. Davis, Jillian K. Farkas, Taylor R. Kruisselbrink, Jessa L. Watters, Elyse D. Ellsworth, Jacob L. Kerby, Cameron D. Siler

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Several infectious diseases are threatening amphibian species worldwide and have resulted in massmortality events across the globe. An emerging group of viral pathogens (ranaviruses) are documented to cause die-offs in amphibian populations worldwide, including in several regions of the U.S. Unfortunately, large gaps remain in our understanding of the distribution of this systemic pathogen in the U.S., including within the state of Oklahoma. To address this gap in our understanding, we carried out surveys of this infectious pathogen across 14 sites in seven southeastern Oklahoma counties in spring 2015, screening 17 amphibian species from this region. Using liver and tail …

Associations Between Chronic Exposure To Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons And Health Indices In Gulf Of Mexico Tilefish (Lopholatilus Chamaeleonticeps) Post Deepwater Horizon, Susan M. Syder, Erin Pulster, Steven Murawski

C-IMAGE Publications

A time series of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) data was collected for Gulf of Mexico demersal fishes in the years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2012–2017). Tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps ) were sampled via demersal longline at repeat stations in the northern Gulf of Mexico in 2012 to 2015 and 2017. Bile samples (n  = 256) were analyzed via high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for PAH metabolites as a biomarker of exposure to PAHs. Liver tissues (n  = 230) were analyzed for accumulation of PAHs and alkylated homologs via quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe …

An Analysis Of The Potential Toxicological Effects Of Marine Plastics And Associated Organic And Inorganic Toxic Compounds On Six Commercially Significant Fishery Species, Nicole Marie Jackson

HCNSO Student Capstones

Marine plastics are a global issue which has garnered significant support for mitigation efforts in recent history. Research on the prevalence of plastic polymers in the marine environment has also come to the forefront of the scientific community, however studies on the toxicological impacts of their presence remains to be a little studied matter to date. In this study an intensive critical review of existing data was conducted to compile profiles (including: stability ranks, sorption capacities, organic and inorganic toxic constituent concentrations, bioaccumulations scores per constituent, biomagnification scores per constituent, and totaled threat scores out of five) for the three …

Deep Machine Learning Techniques For The Detection And Classification Of Sperm Whale Bioacoustics, Peter C. Bermant, Michael M. Bronstein, Robert J. Wood, Shane Gero, David F. Gruber

Publications and Research

We implemented Machine Learning (ML) techniques to advance the study of sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) bioacoustics. This entailed employing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to construct an echolocation click detector designed to classify spectrograms generated from sperm whale acoustic data according to the presence or absence of a click. The click detector achieved 99.5% accuracy in classifying 650 spectrograms. The successful application of CNNs to clicks reveals the potential of future studies to train CNN-based architectures to extract finer-scale details from cetacean spectrograms. Long short-term memory and gated recurrent unit recurrent neural networks were trained to perform classification tasks, including (1) …

Prospects For The Sustainable Management Of Public Oyster Resources, Thomas M. Soniat, Nathan A. Cooper, Eric N. Powell

Faculty Publications

Common-pool resources such as public oyster grounds are especially vulnerable to overexploitation and habitat loss. Like those elsewhere, oyster populations and habitat of Louisiana public grounds are in decline. To maintain reef habitat and increase oyster abundance, a sustainable harvest model is applied, which allows harvest above that required to maintain reef cultch stasis. The model is restrained to promote shell gain by limiting fishing by area, type (sack versus seed), effort, and season. Harvest quotas and cultch removal rates derived from shell-budget–based modeling are a foundation for sustainable management of public oyster resources.

Trophic Upgrading And Mobilization Of Wax Esters In Microzooplankton, Keyana Roohani, Brad A. Haubrich, Kai-Lou Yue, Nigel D'Souza, Amanda Mantalbano, Tatiana Rynearson, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Christopher Reid

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Heterotrophic protists play pivotal roles in aquatic ecosystems by transferring matter and energy, including lipids, from primary producers to higher trophic predators. Using Oxyrrhis marina as a model organism, changes to the non-saponifiable protist lipids were investigated under satiation and starvation conditions. During active feeding on the alga Cryptomonas sp., the O. marina hexane soluble non-saponifiable fraction lipid profile reflected its food source with the observed presence of long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohols up to C25:1. Evidence of trophic upgrading in O. marina was observed with long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohol accumulation of up to C35:1. To the best of …

Hydrocarbon Concentration Data Collected During A Coastal Survey Conducted In The Bay Of Campeche, Southern Gulf Of Mexico On 2016-08-09, Isabel Romero

C-IMAGE data

On 2016 a coastal survey was conducted in the Bay of Campeche (Mexico) to search for remnants of the Ixtoc-1 spill. This spill occurred on June 3 of 1979 releasing about 3 million barrels of oil during 9.75 months. In the aftermath of the spill (1979-1980), a survey conducted by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi indicated oil reached and impacted several areas, including mangroves, reefs and rocky beaches. Previous visual surveys and observations from locals confirmed the coastal areas were not impacted by oil before the Ixtoc-1 spill. In 2016, C-IMAGE II researchers conducted a similar survey with the additional goal …

Can Swimming Depth Data From Multiple Pacific Herring Individuals Be Used To Estimate Characteristics Of Their School? Verification By Micro Bio-Loggers, Makoto Tomiyasu, Yuki Iino, Hokuto Shirakawa, Kazushi Miyashita

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Bio-logging and bio-telemetry are effective methods for monitoring the activity of aquatic animals. Tagging technology has recently advanced, and it is now possible to use tracking devices on small fish and multiple individuals. For species that live in schools such as small pelagic fish, analyzing the activity of multiple individuals may help to further our understanding of school activity in nature. In this study, we tracked the swimming depth of multiple individuals of schooling Pacific herring and examined whether the school’s characteristics and activity can be estimated from the individuals’ swimming depth in the laboratory and a set net experiment. …

New Records Of Three Deep-Sea Bathymodiolus Mussels (Bivalvia: Mytilida: Mytilidae) From Hydrothermal Vent And Cold Seeps In Taiwan, Meng-Ying Kuo, Dun- Ru Kang, Chih-Hsien Chang, Chia-Hsien Chao, Chau-Chang Wang, Hsin-Hung Chen, Chih-Chieh Su, Hsuan-Wien Chen, Mei-Chin Lai, Saulwood Lin, Li-Lian Liu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The deep sea mussel genus, Bathymodiolus Kenk & Wilson, 1985, contains 31 species, worldwide. Of which, one endemic species (Bathymodiolus taiwanesis) was reported from Taiwan (MolluscaBase, 2018). Herein, based on the mitochondrial COI results, we present 3 new records of the Bathymodiolus species from Taiwan, namely Bathymodiolus platifrons, Bathymodiolus securiformis, and Sissano Bathymodiolus sp.1 which were collected from vent or seep environments at depth ranges of 1080-1380 m. Therefore, a total of four species in the genus of Bathymodiolus are now known from Taiwan.