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Oceanography

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The University of Maine

2012

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Collaborative Research: Life Histories Of Species In The Genus Calanus In The North Atlantic And North Pacific Oceans And Responses To Climate Forcing, Jeffrey Runge, Andrew J. Pershing Dec 2012

Collaborative Research: Life Histories Of Species In The Genus Calanus In The North Atlantic And North Pacific Oceans And Responses To Climate Forcing, Jeffrey Runge, Andrew J. Pershing

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Species in the genus Calanus are predominant in the mesozooplankton of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. Their key role in marine food web interactions has been recognized in GLOBEC programs, both in the U.S. and internationally. Considerable knowledge of life history characteristics, including growth, reproduction, mortality, diapause behavior and demography has been acquired from both laboratory experiments and measurements at sea. This project reviews and synthesizes this knowledge and uses it to develop an Individual Based Life Cycle model for sibling species in two sympatric species pairs, C.marshallae and C. pacificus in the North Pacific Ocean and C. …

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Polychaete Burrowing Behavior In Sand And Mud, Kevin Terrence Du Clos Dec 2012

Polychaete Burrowing Behavior In Sand And Mud, Kevin Terrence Du Clos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marine sediments are continually reworked by resident organisms that control the ecology, chemistry, and physical structure of these vast systems. For example, the creation of a burrow brings oxygenated water into contact with anoxic sediment, facilitating aerobic respiration and supporting a distinct population of bacteria and meiofauna. Collectively, the effects of infauna on sediments and pore waters are known as bioturbation. Studying the behavior organisms that live beneath the sediment surface (infauna) is crucial to understanding the effects of bioturbation. Infauna can be difficult to study, however, because much their activity cannot be directly observed. The purpose of this thesis …

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Assessing Allelopathic Effects Of Alexandrium Fundyense On Thalassiosira Sp., Emily R. Lyczkowski Dec 2012

Assessing Allelopathic Effects Of Alexandrium Fundyense On Thalassiosira Sp., Emily R. Lyczkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Production of allelopathic chemicals by the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense is one suggested mechanism by which this relatively slow grower outcompetes other phytoplankton, particularly diatoms. Despite well documented allelopathic potential of Alexandrium spp., the potency is variable. To further characterize allelopathic effects of A. fundyense on diatoms in the Gulf of Maine, I studied growth and nutrient acquisition by the chain-forming diatom Thalassiosira sp. in the presence and absence of allelochemicals. Thalassiosira cells, upon exposure to filtrate of A. fundyense cultures exhibited “bleaching” and both growth and nutrient utilization ceased for up to 4 days compared to controls. Results from …

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Ecology Of Injury In Marine Sedimentary Habitats: Effects Of Repeated Injury On Infaunal Condition And Sediment Bioturbation, Sara M. Lindsay Nov 2012

Ecology Of Injury In Marine Sedimentary Habitats: Effects Of Repeated Injury On Infaunal Condition And Sediment Bioturbation, Sara M. Lindsay

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The majority of the ocean floor is sedimentary, and marine sediments play a key role in the flux of nutrients and organic matter in the ocean. Via their feeding and other activities, organisms living in marine sediments influence benthic-pelagic coupling by processing and redistributing organic matter supplied from the water column and influencing the supply of nutrients. These activities also influence recruitment and competitive interactions. Thus, factors that impact infaunal activity can secondarily impact sediment biogeochemistry and benthic communities. Non-lethal loss of body tissue is a common event for marine infauna such as polychaetes, and numerous studies have investigated the …

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Dissertation Research: Eco-Evolutionary Effects Of An Aquatic Consumer: Linking Phenotypic Diversity To Community And Ecosystem Responses, Kevin S. Simon, Quenton Tuckett, Michael T. Kinnison Oct 2012

Dissertation Research: Eco-Evolutionary Effects Of An Aquatic Consumer: Linking Phenotypic Diversity To Community And Ecosystem Responses, Kevin S. Simon, Quenton Tuckett, Michael T. Kinnison

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This research addresses the interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes by examining the recent evolution of a common invasive fish species, the white perch, in lakes and the consequences of this evolution for community and ecosystem dynamics. White perch have successfully invaded lakes spanning a productivity gradient, which provides diverse selective pressures that may result in altered fish morphology, physiology and ecological role. Adaptation by these fish may, in turn, feed back to affect lake productivity and community structure through several ecological and chemical pathways. This project tests the hypothesis that this rapid evolutionary divergence within a single species has …

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Cmg Collaborative Research: Interactions Of Phytoplankton With Dissipative Vortices, Peter A. Jumars, Lee Karp-Boss Oct 2012

Cmg Collaborative Research: Interactions Of Phytoplankton With Dissipative Vortices, Peter A. Jumars, Lee Karp-Boss

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The aim of this project is to develop coordinated laboratory experiments and computational models to address a fundamental question in oceanography concerning magnitudes and mechanisms of turbulence effects on phytoplankton and other particles at the spatial scale of individual organisms. The importance of external energy in the form of turbulence in determining relative success of different kinds of phytoplankton dates to the seminal analysis of Munk and Riley (1952) and Margalef (1978). Margalef's "mandala" asserts that high nutrient concentrations and turbulence intensities favor dominance by diatoms, whereas low values favor non-red-tide dinoflagellates. Subsequent work has revealed a wide spectrum of …

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Collaborative Research: Linking Researchers And Graduate Students Through Cosee Tools & Services, Annette V. Decharon Sep 2012

Collaborative Research: Linking Researchers And Graduate Students Through Cosee Tools & Services, Annette V. Decharon

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This proposal will be awarded using funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This award provides funds to conduct workshops aimed at improving the broader impacts efforts of scientists. Through professional development workshops, scientist-graduate student teams will produce interactive materials based on the ?Ocean Literacy? and ?Climate Literacy? principles that can be specifically designed for a variety of audiences. The primary target audiences for this project are the research scientists and graduate students who participate in the project workshops. Through team-building and COSEE-facilitated long-term contact, the project will provide sustained professional development …

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Collaborative Research: Globec Pan Regional Synthesis: The Effect Of Varying Freshwater Inputs On Regional Ecosystems In The North Atlantic, Fei Chai Aug 2012

Collaborative Research: Globec Pan Regional Synthesis: The Effect Of Varying Freshwater Inputs On Regional Ecosystems In The North Atlantic, Fei Chai

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This research addresses several mechanisms by which freshwater influx might impact the primary production of Calanus finmarchicus in the northern North Atlantic Ocean. Variability in the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index is related to changes in various physical and biological parameters across the entire North Atlantic, but the mechanisms underlying those relationships are not well known. Understanding basin-to-regional connections is important for interpreting patterns of variability observed on both sides of the Atlantic during the core GLOBEC study period (1993-1999) and from earlier observations, and inferring process, whether local or remote, from those observed patterns. The proposed research is focused …

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Circulation And Transport In Casco Bay, Maine, Gregory H. Sinnett Aug 2012

Circulation And Transport In Casco Bay, Maine, Gregory H. Sinnett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

General circulation and transport exchange within Casco Bay, Maine occurs primarily through the three deepest channels separating the interior sections of the Bay from the outer Bay and adjacent Western Gulf of Maine shelf. Resource management in Casco Bay relies on an ability to predict and/or track oil spill trajectories, Red Tide events, nutrient plumes, pollution and other factors important to the estuarine environment. However, the exchange through these channels, the mean circulation and associated forcing mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, time series of current velocities, temperature, salinity and wind data collected during 2004 and 2005 are …

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Rapid: Assessing Tsunami Impacts On The Benthic Community Of Robinson Crusoe Island, Richard Wahle, Peter Petraitis May 2012

Rapid: Assessing Tsunami Impacts On The Benthic Community Of Robinson Crusoe Island, Richard Wahle, Peter Petraitis

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This RAPID project will assess the subtidal ecological impacts of the tsunami that struck Robinson Crusoe Island on 27 February 2010 with support from the Biological Oceanography Program and the Office of International Science and Engineering/Americas. It will take advantage of baseline data collected as part of an ongoing Chilean research project. Robinson Crusoe Island belongs to the Juan Fernandez archipelago, some 600 km west of the coast of Chile in the southeast Pacific. The island group is unique for its high level of marine and terrestrial endemism, including a fishery for the prized Robinson Crusoe Island lobster, Jasus frontalis. …

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Improvements To Sampling From The Research Vessel Ira C, Mary Jane Perry Mar 2012

Improvements To Sampling From The Research Vessel Ira C, Mary Jane Perry

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The University of Maine's Darling Marine Center is awarded a grant to equip the 42-ft Ira C., the Center's largest vessel, with a well instrumented CTD, including optical sensors and a small array of sampling bottles plus a winch with conducting cable so that CTD work from the Ira C. no longer needs to depend on users bringing their own CTD and lowering by hand. This proposal is to expand the environments and variables within effective reach of the University of Maine's marine laboratory, the Ira C. Darling Marine Center (the Center) in midcoast Maine. The Center is within a …

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