Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Storm Surges In The Region Of Western Alaska, Warren Blier, Stanley Keefe, Wilson Shaffer, Sung C. Kim

VIMS Articles

Within the period of the historical record there have been several occurrences of extensive damage from storm-surge-related coastal flooding in the region of Nome, Alaska. The most recent of these events, although by no means the most destructive, occurred in association with the storm of 5–6 October 1992. Despite the small population of Nome (approximately 4000 people), total damage costs exceeded $6 million. The research into the nature and causes of such flooding events has focused on this October 1992 case. The authors have, however, also examined a weaker, shorter-duration event that occurred on 20 August 1993 and, for contrast, …

Phenotypic Selection In An Intertidal Snail: Effects Of A Catastrophic Storm, G. Trussell

VIMS Articles

Littorina obtusata exhibits clear morphological variation (e.g. shell height, shell length, and aperture area) among shores differentially exposed to wave energies. Selection imposed by the hydrodynamic environment is often invoked to explain the correlation between morphology and wave exposure in intertidal organisms, but rarely is this hypothesis tested. I examined the effects of a catastrophic storm on the shell length and relative shell height and aperture area of L. obtusata populations on 2 protected and 1 wave-exposed share in New England (USA) to test this hypothesis. Snails sampled after the storm had relatively squatter shells than those sampled before the …

Storm Surges In The Region Of Western Alaska, Warren Blier, Stanley Keefe, Wilson A. Shaffer, Sung C. Kim

VIMS Articles

Within the period of the historical record there have been several occurrences of extensive damage from storm-surge-related coastal flooding in the region of Nome, Alaska. The most recent of these events, although by no means the most destructive, occurred in association with the storm of 5–6 October 1992. Despite the small population of Nome (approximately 4000 people), total damage costs exceeded $6 million.

The research into the nature and causes of such flooding events has focused on this October 1992 case. The authors have, however, also examined a weaker, shorter-duration event that occurred on 20 August 1993 and, for contrast, …

Trophic Effects Of Sponge Feeding Within Lake Baikal's Littoral Zone .2. Sponge Abundance, Diet, Feeding Efficiency, And Carbon Flux, Aj Pile, Mark R. Patterson, M. Savarese, V I. Chernykh, V A. Fialkov

VIMS Articles

Endemic freshwater demosponges in the littoral zone of Lake Baikal, Russia, dominate the benthic biomass, covering 44% of the benthos. We measured in situ sponge abundance and,orating and calculated sponge-mediated Fluxes of picoplankton (plankton <2 mu m) for two common species, Baikalospongia intermedia and Baikalospongia bacillifera. By means of dual-beam how cytometry, we found retention efficiencies ranging from 58 to 99% for four types of picoplankton: heterotrophic bacteria, Synechococcus-type cyanobacteria, autotrophic picoplankton with one chloroplast, and autotrophic picoplankton with two chloroplasts. By using a general model for organism-mediated fluxes, we conservatively estimate that through active suspension feeding, sponges are a sink for 1.97 g C d(-1) m(-1), mostly from procaryotic cell types. Furthermore, grazing by these extensive sponge communities can create a layer of picoplankton-depleted water overlying the benthic community in this unique lake.