Marine Biology Commons^™

Additive Negative Effects Of Anthropogenic Sedimentation And Warming On The Survival Of Coral Recruits, Francesca Fourney, Joana Figueiredo

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Corals worldwide are facing population declines due to global climate change and local anthropogenic impacts. Global climate change effects are hard to tackle but recent studies show that some coral species can better handle climate change stress when provided with additional energy resources. The local stressor that most undermines energy acquisition is sedimentation because it impedes coral heterotrophic feeding and their ability to photosynthesize. To investigate if reducing local sedimentation will enable corals to better endure ocean warming, we quantitatively assessed the combined effects of increased temperature and sedimentation (concentration and turbidity) on the survival of coral recruits of the …

Gulf Of Mexico Benthic And Planktic Foraminifera Carbon Isotopes, 2015, Patrick Schwing, Jeff Chanton

C-IMAGE data

This dataset consists of benthic and planktic foraminiferal carbon isotope (C-13, C-14) measurements from sediment cores taken throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico with relation to the Deepwater Horizon. Stable isotope measurements were performed on Cibicidoides spp., Uvigerina spp. and Globigerinoides ruber (white).

Cruises R/V Endeavor (En505) And R/V Weatherbird Ii (Wb1205) Gulf Of Mexico Water Chemistry (Spring 2012), Patrick Schwing, Jeff Chanton

C-IMAGE data

This dataset contains water column measurements made onboard the R/V Endeavor and R/V Weatherbird in May 2012 including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, methane concentrations, del13C, and 14C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC).

Northern Gulf Of Mexico Benthic And Planktic Foraminifera Taxonomy, 2011-2015, Patrick Schwing

C-IMAGE data

This dataset consists of species-level benthic and planktic foraminiferal assemblages identified from sediment cores taken throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico with relation to the Deepwater Horizon and the Southern Gulf of Mexico in relation to the Ixtoc 1 platform.

Ecosystem Biomonitoring With Edna: Metabarcoding Across The Tree Of Life In A Tropical Marine Environment, Michael Stat, Megan J. Huggett, Rachele Bernasconi, Joseph D. Dibattista, Tina Berry, Stephen J. Newman, Euan S. Harvey, Michael Bunce

Fisheries Research Articles

Effective marine management requires comprehensive data on the status of marine biodiversity. However, efficient methods that can document biodiversity in our oceans are currently lacking. Environmental DNA (eDNA) sourced from seawater offers a new avenue for investigating the biota in marine ecosystems. Here, we investigated the potential of eDNA to inform on the breadth of biodiversity present in a tropical marine environment. Directly sequencing eDNA from seawater using a shotgun approach resulted in only 0.34% of 22.3 million reads assigning to eukaryotes, highlighting the inefficiency of this method for assessing eukaryotic diversity. In contrast, using ‘tree of life’ (ToL) metabarcoding …

Inventory Of Gulf Of Mexico Oceanic Fauna Data Including Species, Weight, And Measurements From R/V Point Sur (Cruises Dp03 And Dp04) May-August, 2016, April Cook, Tracey Sutton

DEEPEND Datasets

This data set includes the biological and environmental data for all of the species collected during the DP03 (May 2016) and DP04 cruises (August 2016). The main gear type used was a 10-m2 Multiple Opening Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS). The MOCNESS was fitted with 6 nets which were opened according to the following depth scheme: net 0 from the surface to 1500m, net 1 from 1500-1200m, net 2 from 200-1000m, net 3 from 1000-600m, net 4 from 600-200m, and net 5 from 200m to the surface. Two trawls were conducted at each station sampled to capture diel …

Using The Oxford Nanopore Minion (A Portable Dna Sequencer) For Microbial Ecology, Lee Kerkhof

Sustainability Seminar Series

An approach utilizing the MinIon to sequence bacterial ribosomal operons within natural samples has been developed. Bacterial rRNA operons were amplified from 6 samples employing a mixture of farm soil and bioreactor DNA in known concentrations. Replicate extraction/amplifications (n=4) yielded over 10,000 2D sequences which were analyzed using a simplified data analysis pipeline based on NCBI Blast and assembly with Geneious software. The method could detect over 1000 operational taxonomic units in a quantitative manner. An iterative assembly scheme was developed to re- construct those rRNA operons with > 30x coverage from 30 OTUs among the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and …

Review Of Seagrassnet Monitoring Photographs In Great Bay, New Hampshire, Usa 2007 - 2014, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

SeagrassNet is a global monitoring program begun in 2001 and designed to scientifically detect and document seagrass habitat change (Short et al. 2006a, 2014). Monitoring of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in the Great Bay Estuary using SeagrassNet was conducted in Portsmouth Harbor between 2001 and 2009 (Short et al 2006b, Rivers and Short 2007), and is ongoing in Great Bay itself, from 2007 (Short 2009) to the present. In this report, July quadrat photos taken along the three Great Bay SeagrassNet transects from 2007 – 2014 are presented and discussed. They provide useful documentation of field percent cover measurements of …

Climate Controls Over The Net Carbon Uptake Period And Amplitude Of Net Ecosystem Production In Temperate And Boreal Ecosystems, Zheng Fu, Paul C. Stoy, Yiqi Luo, Jiquan Chen, Jian Sun, Leonardo Montagnani, Georg Wohlfahrt, Abdullah F. Rahman, Serge Rambal, Christian Bernhofer

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Highlights

• The start of net C uptake was determined by spring temperature in DBF and EF.

• Summer precipitation determined NEPmax anomalies in DBF and GRA.

• Climate controls annual NEP variability by regulating CUP and NEPmax.

Abstract

The seasonal and interannual variability of the terrestrial carbon cycle is regulated by the interactions of climate and ecosystem function. However, the key factors and processes determining the interannual variability of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in different biomes are far from clear. Here, we quantified yearly anomalies of seasonal and annual NEP, net carbon uptake period (CUP), and the maximum daily NEP (NEPmax) …

Understanding The Transition From Benthic Egg To Dispersive Larvae: Observations On The Intra-Capsular Growth And Development Of A Marine Snail (Kelletia Kelletii), Megan N. Wilson

Biological Sciences

It has long been understood that the larval life stage is responsible for the dispersion of many marine organisms across their biogeographic range. Such organisms have a bipartite life cycle, existing in the water column and subject to oceanographic processes as planktonic larvae before settling to suitable habitat along the benthos where they grow and mature. Previous studies have demonstrated that larval growth rate and behavior in the water column can alter larval position in relation to ocean currents and affects their dispersal pathway. However, there is a paucity of information regarding the growth rate of the earliest larval stage …

Non‐Linear Thresholds Characterize The Relationship Between Reef Fishes And Mangrove Habitat, Geoffrey S. Shideler, Rafael J. Araujo, Brian K. Walker, Jeremiah Blondeau, Joseph E. Serafy

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A significant obstacle to evaluating the importance of mangrove habitat to coral reef fishes has been the difficulty of disentangling its effects from other subtidal/nearshore habitats or human population pressures. Florida's seascape, unlike most others, has been extensively surveyed and mapped, and there are reliable estimates of human population density. Despite many studies that have correlated reef fish abundance with nearby mangrove habitat, some researchers continue to question the importance of mangroves to reef fishes. Previous studies that have investigated the mangrove–reef fish subsidy effect have applied methods that either compared averages or examined linear relationships; yet there is a …

Predicting The Consequence Of Natural And Chemical Dispersion For Oil Slick Size Over Time, Marieke Zeinstra-Helfrich, Wierd Koops, Albertinka Murk

C-IMAGE Publications

Application of dispersants aims to enhance the natural dispersion process in order to reduce the size of the slick and the amount of oil at the surface. This study presents an approach for modeling the development of the surface oil slick as a function of the wind speed, oil viscosity, and dispersant application. We modeled the oil slick mass distribution across a transect through the slick over time taking into account the continuous entrainment of oil, resurfacing process of the different oil droplet size classes and horizontal transport. Outcomes show distinctively different oil slick features, depending on how favorable conditions …

Behavioral Responses To Pulses Of Light In The Longfin Inshore Squid, Doryteuthis Pealeii (Lesueur, 1821), Stavros P. Hadjisolomou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The coleoid cephalopods (octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) are masters of rapid, adaptive camouflage. Unlike the slower hormonal chromatophore control of flatfish and chameleons, coleoid mollusks can change body patterns in milliseconds. Visual camouflage in coleoids is driven by a sensorimotor system consisting of visual input of their surroundings, a sophisticated central nervous system for information processing, and a neuromuscular control for body patterning. Motor neurons selectively activate millions of muscles, alternately expanding and reducing the pigmented chromatophores to generate visible brown, red, orange and yellow patterns on the skin. Below the chromatophore-layered skin are two types of reflecting cells, iridophores …

Long-Term Changes In A Spatially Subsidized Insular Ecosystem In The Archipelago Of Bahía De Los Ángeles, Baja California, Mexico, Thais Fournier

Theses

Interactions between climate change and the processes that structure coastal communities are poorly understood.Long – term weather patterns that include extreme events (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO”) allow us to test hypotheses of how changes in weather (e.g., precipitation) will influence communities over long time frames. One system that is particularly vulnerable to climate changes is the coastal ecotone, which occupies 8% of the earth’s surface. A large exchange of resources (spatial subsidies) link habitats across this ocean – land interface, often with dramatic consequences for the recipient systems. Spatial subsidies such as marine input influence …

Understanding And Optimizing Growth And Development Of California Yellowtail (Seriola Dorsalis) In Aquaculture Using Physiological Tools, Laura Schwebel

Theses

Physical fitness metrics were used to assess the health and development of California Yellowtail, Seriola dorsalis, in an aquaculture environment during two grow-out experiments. The first experiment sought to evaluate the effects of a common aquaculture deformity (an improperly inflated swim bladder) that has been hypothesized to impact energy allocation, growth, and development. Metrics including metabolic rate, critical swimming speed, feed conversion ratio, and growth rate, were monitored over a 32-week period in three groups of California Yellowtail: wild-caught (“wild”), healthy hatchery-reared (“inflated”), and hatchery-reared with uninflated swim bladders (“uninflated”). At the start of the grow-out period, wild fish …

Vertical And Cross-Shore Distributions Of Barnacle Larvae In La Jolla, Ca Nearshore Waters: Implications For Larval Transport Processes, Malloree Lynn Hagerty

Theses

Many marine organisms begin their lives as tiny larvae that are at the mercy of ocean currents. Understanding the transport and subsequent dispersal of larvae is crucial, as it drives population connectivity in the ocean. Larval transport is a complex process involving both physical motions of the water and larval behavior. Vertical positioning is especially important because currents vary throughout the water column, and larvae at different depths will be advected differently. With swimming speeds insufficient to swim against currents, marine larvae can mediate cross-shore transport by controlling their depth distributions. Thus, the overall objective of this study was to …

Diving Behaviour Of Cuvier’S Beaked Whales Exposed To Two Types Of Military Sonar, Erin A. Falcone, Gregory S. Schorr, Stephanie L. Watwood, Stacy L. Deruiter

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) have stranded in association with mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS) use, and though the causative mechanism linking these events remains unclear, it is believed to be behaviourally mediated. To determine whether MFAS use was associated with behavioural changes in this species, satellite tags were used to record the diving and movements of 16 Cuvier’s beaked whales for up to 88 days in a region of frequent MFAS training off the coast of Southern California. Tag data were combined with summarized records of concurrent bouts of high-power, surface-ship and mid-power, helicopter-deployed MFAS use, along with other potential …

Low Carbon Sink Capacity Of Red Sea Mangroves, Hanan Almahasheer, Óscar Serrano, Carlos M. Duarte, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Pere Masqué, Xabier Irigoien

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Mangroves forests of Avicennia marina occupy about 135 km² in the Red Sea and represent one of the most important vegetated communities in this otherwise arid and oligotrophic region. We assessed the soil organic carbon (C_org) stocks, soil accretion rates (SAR; mm y^-1) and soil C_org sequestration rates (g C_org m^-2 yr^-1) in 10 mangrove sites within four locations along the Saudi coast of the Central Red Sea. Soil C_org density and stock in Red Sea mangroves were among the lowest reported globally, with an average of 4 ± …

Genomic Signatures Of Local Adaptation Reveal Source-Sink Dynamics In A High Gene Flow Fish Species, Katherine Cure, Luke Thomas, Jean-Paul A. Hobbs, David V. Fairclough, Winn Jason Kennington

Fisheries Research Articles

Understanding source-sink dynamics is important for conservation management, particularly when climatic events alter species’ distributions. Following a 2011 ‘marine heatwave’ in Western Australia, we observed high recruitment of the endemic fisheries target species Choerodon rubescens, towards the cooler (southern) end of its distribution. Here, we use a genome wide set of 14 559 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify the likely source population for this recruitment event. Most loci (76%) showed low genetic divergence across the species’ range, indicating high levels of gene flow and confirming previous findings using neutral microsatellite markers. However, a small proportion of loci showed strong …

Impacts Of Coastal Acidification On Louisiana Plankton, Amy Mallozzi

LSU Master's Theses

Anthropogenic input of carbon dioxide (CO₂) has an increasingly acidifying effect on the world’s oceans with the potential to impact biogeochemical cycles and food web dynamics. Coastal Louisiana is an area highly vulnerable to changing climate, but the unique local water chemistry created by input from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers makes the manifestation of elevated CO₂ and its biological implications difficult to predict. Louisiana estuaries are highly productive and support a large commercial market for the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. This study explores the use of experimental microcosms to expose natural phytoplankton assemblages and larval …

Avoidance Responses Of Minke Whales To 1–4 Khz Naval Sonar, Petter H. Kvadsheim, Stacy L. Deruiter, Lise D. Sivle, Jeremy A. Goldbogen

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Minke whales are difficult to study and little information exists regarding their responses to anthropogenic sound. This study pools data from behavioural response studies off California and Norway. Data are derived from four tagged animals, of which one from each location was exposed to naval sonar signals. Statistical analyses were conducted using Mahalanobis distance to compare overall changes in parameters summarising dive behaviour, avoidance behaviour, and potential energetic costs of disturbance. Our quantitative analysis showed that both animals initiated avoidance behaviour, but responses were not associated with unusual dive behaviour. In one exposed animal the avoidance of the sonar source …

Landsat Based Sargassum Coverage In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, 2010, Chuanmin Hu, Lian Feng

C-IMAGE data

This dataset contains the sargassum coverage in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico detected using both Landsat remote sensing images and airborne AVIRIS data. The mean Sargassum coverage during the four quarters of 2010 for the study region are also provided. Dataset results are provided in Excel format and correspond to the the publication: Hu, C.; Hardy, R.; Ruder, E.; Geggel, A.; Feng, L.; Powers, S.; Hernandez, F.; Graettinger, G.; Bodnar, J.; McDonald, T. (2016). Sargassum coverage in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico during 2010 from Landsat and airborne observations: Implications for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impact assessment. Marine Pollution …

Ecopath With Ecosim Model Of The West Florida Shelf Representing 1980 For Harmful Algal Bloom Simulations, Cameron Ainsworth, Alisha Gray

C-IMAGE data

This is an Ecopath with Ecosim model of the West Florida Shelf. It is based on a model constructed by Mahmoudi (unpublished data) (see Okey et al. 2004 for an application) and later modified Gray et al. 2013 to incorporate additional exploited and non-exploited species and life stages known to be sensitive to harmful algal blooms (HABs). To incorporate HABs an additional (pseudo) fishing fleet is added into the model to provide a red tide mortality driver on adult fish and invertebrates. Biomass caught by this fleet is immediately cycled into the detritus pool, and thus nutrients from killed fish …

Anthropogenic Effects On The Fouling Community: Impacts Of Biological Invasions And Anthropogenic Structures On Community Structure, Whitney Elizabeth Mcclees

Dissertations and Theses

Coastal anthropogenic infrastructure has significantly modified nearshore environments. Because these structures often have a strong association with shipping as would be found in ports and harbors, they have been identified as invasion hotspots. Due to propagule pressure from shipping and recreational boating and suitable uncolonized substrate that provides a refuge from native predators, a greater number of non-native species have been found on these structures compared to nearby natural substrate. The mechanisms that limit the spread of non-native species from anthropogenic structures to natural substrate have been explored for several taxa at a species-specific level, but less so from an …

Species Specific Metabolic Capacity Of Naphthalene And Phenanthrene In Three Species Of Marine Teleosts Exposed To Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil, Erin Pulster

C-IMAGE data

Select monohydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) metabolites were measured in three marine teleosts, red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) and southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) to evaluate species specific metabolic differences. Fish were exposed to DWH crude oil by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections at time 0 and 48 hours with bile sampling events at 24 and 72 hours post injection. Biliary levels of monohydroxylated naphthalene and phenanthrene metabolites were confirmed and quantified using gas chromatography triple quadrapole mass spectrometry.

How Strongly Do Oysters Stick?, Nicolás M. Morato, Andrés M. Tibabuzo, Jonathan J. Wilker

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biological adhesives are a type of interfacial material that has incredible potential to generate new biomimetic compounds that can replace current strong, but toxic, adhesives. Therefore, a study of the chemical composition and mechanical properties of those bio-adhesives is necessary. However, in the case of oysters, despite known chemical characterization of the adult’s adhesive, there are almost no studies on its mechanical properties. Furthermore, there is no available information on the adhesive properties of spat (oysters in their larvae state). Herein, we present the first mechanical characterization of the spat adhesive, measuring its adhesion strength by hydrodynamic determination using a …

The Trophic Role Of A Large Marine Predator, The Tiger Shark Galeocerdo Cuvier, Luciana C. Ferreira, Michele Thums, Michael R. Heithaus, Adam Barnett, Katya G. Abrantes, Bonnie J. Holmes, Lara M. Zamora, Ashley J. Frisch, Julian G. Pepperell, Derek Burkholder, Jeremy Vaudo, Robert Nowicki, Jessica Meeuwig, Mark G. Meekan

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Tiger sharks were sampled off the western (Ningaloo Reef, Shark Bay) and eastern (the Great Barrier Reef; GBR, Queensland and New South Wales; NSW) coastlines of Australia. Multiple tissues were collected from each shark to investigate the effects of location, size and sex of sharks on δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes among these locations. Isotopic composition of sharks sampled in reef and seagrass habitats (Shark Bay, GBR) reflected seagrass-based food-webs, whereas at Ningaloo Reef analysis revealed a dietary transition between pelagic and seagrass food-webs. In temperate habitats off southern Queensland and NSW coasts, shark diets relied on pelagic food-webs. Tiger …

New Genera And Species Of Fossil Marine Amioid Fishes (Actinopterygii, Holostei) From The Late Cretaceous Agoult Locality In Southeastern Morocco, Mark V. Wilson, Alison M. Murray, Terry C. Grande

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The document is Terry C. Grande's (et al.) abstract in the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 77th Annual Meeting Program and Abstracts.

A Global Biogeographic Classification Of The Mesopelagic Zone, Tracey Sutton, Malcolm R. Clark, Daniel C. Dunn, Patrick N. Halpin, Alex D. Rogers, John Guinotte, Steven J. Bograd, Martin V. Angel, Jose Angel A. Perez, Karen Wishner, Richard L. Haedrich, Dhugal Lindsay, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Alexander Vereshchaka, Uwe Piatkowski, Telmo Morato, Katarzyna Blachowiak-Samolyk, Bruce H. Robison, Kristina Gjerde, Annelies Pierrot-Bults, Patricio Bernal, Gabriel Reygondeau, Mikko Heino

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We have developed a global biogeographic classification of the mesopelagic zone to reflect the regional scales over which the ocean interior varies in terms of biodiversity and function. An integrated approach was necessary, as global gaps in information and variable sampling methods preclude strictly statistical approaches. A panel combining expertise in oceanography, geospatial mapping, and deep-sea biology convened to collate expert opinion on the distributional patterns of pelagic fauna relative to environmental proxies (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen at mesopelagic depths). An iterative Delphi Method integrating additional biological and physical data was used to classify biogeographic ecoregions and to identify …

Dna Analysis Of Traded Shark Fins And Mobulid Gill Plates Reveals A High Proportion Of Species Of Conservation Concern, Dirk Steinke, Andrea Bernard, Rebekah L. Horn, Paul Hilton, Robert H. Hanner, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Continuously increasing demand for plant and animal products causes unsustainable depletion of biological resources. It is estimated that one-quarter of sharks and rays are threatened worldwide and although the global fin trade is widely recognized as a major driver, demand for meat, liver oil, and gill plates also represents a significant threat. This study used DNA barcoding and 16 S rRNA sequencing as a method to identify shark and ray species from dried fins and gill plates, obtained in Canada, China, and Sri Lanka. 129 fins and gill plates were analysed and searches on BOLD produced matches to 20 species …