Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Role Of Inputs Of Marine Wrack And Carrion In Sandy-Beach Ecosystems: A Global Review, Glenn A. Hyndes, Emma L. Berdan, Cristian Duarte, Jenifer E. Dugan, Kyle A. Emery, Peter A. Hamback, Christopher J. Henderson, David M. Hubbard, Mariano Lastra, Miguel A. Mateo, Andrew Olds, Thomas A. Schlacher

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Sandy beaches are iconic interfaces that functionally link the ocean with the land via the flow of organic matter from the sea. These cross-ecosystem fluxes often comprise uprooted seagrass and dislodged macroalgae that can form substantial accumulations of detritus, termed ‘wrack’, on sandy beaches. In addition, the tissue of the carcasses of marine animals that regularly wash up on beaches form a rich food source (‘carrion’) for a diversity of scavenging animals. Here, we provide a global review of how wrack and carrion provide spatial subsidies that shape the structure and functioning of sandy-beach ecosystems (sandy beaches and adjacent surf …

The Renaissance Of Odum's Outwelling Hypothesis In 'Blue Carbon' Science, Isaac R. Santos, David J. Burdige, Tim C. Jennerjahn, Steven Bouillon, Alex Cabral, Oscar Serrano, Thomas Wernberg, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Julia A. Guimond, Joseph J. Tamborski

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The term ‘Blue Carbon’ was coined about a decade ago to highlight the important carbon sequestration capacity of coastal vegetated ecosystems. The term has paved the way for the development of programs and policies that preserve and restore these threatened coastal ecosystems for climate change mitigation. Blue carbon research has focused on quantifying carbon stocks and burial rates in sediments or accumulating as biomass. This focus on habitat-bound carbon led us to losing sight of the mobile blue carbon fraction. Oceans, the largest active reservoir of carbon, have become somewhat of a blind spot. Multiple recent investigations have revealed high …

Kelp-Associated Microbes Facilitate Spatial Subsidy In A Detrital-Based Food Web In A Shoreline Ecosystem, Charu Lata Singh, Megan J. Huggett, Paul S. Lavery, Christin Säwström, Glenn A. Hyndes

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Microbes are ubiquitous but our knowledge of their effects on consumers is limited in benthic marine systems. Shorelines often form hotspots of microbial and detritivore activity due to the large amounts of detrital macrophytes that are exported from other coastal ecosystems, such as kelp forests, and accumulate in these systems. Shoreline ecosystems therefore provide a useful model system to examine microbial-detritivore interactions. We experimentally test whether bacteria in the biofilm of kelp provide a bottom-up influence on growth and reproductive output of detritivores in shorelines where detrital kelp accumulates, by manipulating the bacterial abundances on kelp (Ecklonia radiata). The growth …

The Renaissance Of Odum's Outwelling Hypothesis In 'Blue Carbon' Science, Isaac R. Santos, David J. Burdige, Tim C. Jennerjahn, Steven Bouillon, Alex Cabral, Oscar Serrano, Thomas Wernberg, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Julia A. Guimond, Joseph J. Tamborski

OES Faculty Publications

The term ‘Blue Carbon’ was coined about a decade ago to highlight the important carbon sequestration capacity of coastal vegetated ecosystems. The term has paved the way for the development of programs and policies that preserve and restore these threatened coastal ecosystems for climate change mitigation. Blue carbon research has focused on quantifying carbon stocks and burial rates in sediments or accumulating as biomass. This focus on habitat-bound carbon led us to losing sight of the mobile blue carbon fraction. Oceans, the largest active reservoir of carbon, have become somewhat of a blind spot. Multiple recent investigations have revealed high …

Detrital Protein Contributes To Oyster Nutrition And Growth In The Damariscotta Estuary, Maine, Usa, Cheyenne M. Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oyster aquaculture is an expanding industry that relies on identifying and utilizing natural estuarine conditions for the economically viable production of a filter-feeding crop. The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is the principal species currently cultured in Maine. In addition to preferentially consumed phytoplankton, various detrital complexes (non-algal and/or non-living organic matter) may provide some nutrition to C. virginica between times of phytoplankton abundance. Here I investigated the importance of detrital proteins in supporting the growth of oysters cultured in the upper Damariscotta Estuary. Oyster aquaculture in this area is highly successful and previous reports indicate that labile detrital protein …

Dietary Effects On The Stoichiometry Of Growth, Regulation, And Wastes Of Ozark Stream Insect Detritivores, Halvor Matthew Halvorson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A widespread stressor, anthropogenic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution can increase resource nutrient content and alter animal community composition in freshwater ecosystems. In this dissertation, I used ecological stoichiometry theory to examine effects of diet nutrient content and leaf litter type on growth, regulation, and wastes of aquatic invertebrate detritivores. I tested effects of leaf litter diet carbon:phosphorus (C:P) on growth and stoichiometric regulation of the detritivorous caddisfly Pycnopsyche lepida and used results to determine a threshold elemental ratio of oak litter C:P=1620 that confers peak growth of this species. This empirical, growth-based approach provided a more accurate estimate …

Bulletin No. 40: Salt Marsh Plants Of Long Island Sound, R. Scott Warren, Juliana Barrett, Margaret Van Patten

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Alterations Of Organic Inputs On The Bacterial Community Within The Sediments Of Wind Cave, South Dakota, Usa, Marisa K. Chelius, Guy Beresford, Howard Horton, Meghan Quirk, Greg Selby, Rodney T. Simpson, Rodney Horrocks, John C. Moore

International Journal of Speleology

Wind Cave (WICA) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, like many mostly dry caves in temperate regions is an energy-starved system. The biotic communities that reside in these systems are low in diversity and simple in structure, and sensitive to changes in external inputs of organic matter. Caves open to tourist traffic offer an opportunity to study the impacts of organic matter amendments in the form of human and rodent hair and dander, clothing lint, material from rodent activity (nesting materials and feces), and algal growth in and around artificial lighting. This study reports on the impacts of carbon …

Detritus: Mother Nature's Rice Cake, Pamela Mason, Lyle M. Varnell, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, Wetlands Program

Reports

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Sewage Pollution In The White River, Arkansas On Benthos And Leaf Detritus Decomposition, Arthur V. Brown, Lawrence D. Willis, Peter P. Brussock

Technical Reports

Recently there has been much emphasis placed on the importance of leaf detritus processing to the energetics of stream invertebrates. This study was designed primarily to assess the effects of municipal effluent on the ability of a stream community to utilize leaf detritus, and secondarily to evaluate the extent of the pollution of the White River by the Fayetteville, Arkansas effluent discharge. Physical and chemical water quality, benthos, and fish were sampled periodically at one station upstream and two stations downstream from the discharge, and in the Richland Creek tributary. Processing of leaf detritus was studied at each site using …

Abundance And Biomass Of The Meiobenthos In Nearshore Lake Michigan With Comparisons To The Macrobenthos, Thomas F. Nalepa, Michael A. Quigley

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The meiobenthos of nearshore southeastern Lake Michigan was quantified by taking cores from three depths (11, 17, and 23 m) at monthly intervals from May to November 1976-79. Total meiobenthic abundance rangedfrom 69,700/m² to 1,300,000/m² and total biomass rangedfrom 0.03 to 0.87 g/m². Nematodes accounted for 80% of all individuals and 66% of the biomass. Most of the major groups peaked in late spring/summer, but some peaked in early spring and fall. With the exception of nematodes, mean annual densities varied from two-fold to twelve-fold at a given station. Harpacticoids, tardigrades, and ostracods tended to be …

Degradation Of Riparian Leaves And The Recycling Of Nutrients In A Stream Ecosystem, Louis A. Krumholz, Roger G. Lambert, Charles R. Liston, Harry H. Woodward

KWRRI Research Reports

Leaves collected at 4 stations in the upper 5 km of Doe Run, Meade County, Kentucky, indicated an annual accumulation within the stream of 354 g/m²/year (17,700 kg). Leaves of sycamore (23.6%), red oak (21.7%), sugar maple (9.7%), beech (9.6%), white oak (7.1%), and hickory (6.0%) trees were most abundant, and leaves from 14 other kinds made up the remaining 22.3%. About a third of the annual leaf fall occurred during the last half of October and about two-thirds in the last 3 months of the year.

Calorific equivalents for different kinds of leaves ranged from 3,789 cal/g …