Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Establishing An Ecological Baseline Of Macroinfaunal Assemblages In Nearshore Sediments Of Southeast Florida, Candace Grimes

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the biosphere require ecological baselines in order to compare past, present, and future conditions and identify their effects. Establishing ecological baselines for infauna in southeastern Florida is a key component to understanding effects of current and future disturbances; however, nearshore sediment infaunal communities are neither as thoroughly investigated nor as well understood as, for example, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves. Baseline studies help assess and monitor changes due, for example, to human population growth, sea level change, and global warming. Therefore, six benthic cores were collected quarterly from six locations from May 2015 to February 2016 using …

Extant Crinoidea (Echinodermata) Of Singapore, Charles Messing, Teresa S. Tay

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The crinoid fauna of Singaporean waters now includes approximately 39 nominal species belonging to six families, all in Order Comatulida. Seventeen of the 22 species collected during the Singapore Strait Biodiversity Workshop (May-June 2013) were previously known from the area. Of the remaining five, Cenometra bella (Colobometridae) is definitely a new record for Singapore, while the taxonomic status of the other four is uncertain. Seventeen additional species, collected almost entirely in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were not represented in the 2013 survey.

Diversity, Structure And Convergent Evolution Of The Global Sponge Microbiome, Torsten Thomas, Lucas Moitinho-Silva, Miguel Lurgi, Johannes R. Bjork, Cole Easson, Carmen Astudillo-Garcia, Julie B. Olson, Patrick M. Erwin, Susanna Lopez-Legentil, Heidi Luter, Andia Chaves Fonnegra, Rodrigo Costa, Peter J. Schupp, Laura Steindler, Dirk Erpenbeck, Jack Gilbert, Rob Knight, Gail Ackermann, Jose V. Lopez, Michael W. Taylor, Robert W. Thacker, Jose M. Montoya, Ute Hentschel, Nicole S. Webster

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are early-diverging metazoa renowned for establishing complex microbial symbioses. Here we present a global Porifera microbiome survey, set out to establish the ecological and evolutionary drivers of these host–microbe interactions.We show that sponges are a reservoir of exceptional microbial diversity and major contributors to the total microbial diversity of the world’s oceans. Little commonality in species composition or structure is evident across the phylum, although symbiont communities are characterized by specialists and generalists rather than opportunists. Core sponge microbiomes are stable and characterized by generalist symbionts exhibiting amensal and/or commensal interactions. Symbionts that are phylogenetically unique to …

Slides: The Era Of River Anthropology: Social And Eco-Hydrological Science Connections And Capacity For Environmental Flows: Us Case Studies, Joseph E. Flotemersch, Lisa-Perras Gordon

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Joe Flotemersch, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development

21 slides

Slides: Environmental Flows In The Era Of 'River Anthropology', Rebecca Tharme

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Rebecca Tharme, Riverfutures Ltd.

18 slides

Slides: The Colorado River Basin, Larry Macdonnell

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Larry MacDonnell, Senior Fellow, Getches-Wilkinson Center, University of Colorado

17 slides

Slides: The Columbia River Basin, Barbara Cosens

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Barbara Cosens, Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Idaho College of Law, Waters of the West Interdisciplinary Program

16 slides

Slides: Environmental Flow Case Studies: Southern And Eastern Africa, Rebecca Tharme, Kelly Fouchy, Susan Graas, John Conallin, Michael Mcclain, Unesco-Ihe, Felister Mombo, Sokoine University Of Agriculture

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Rebecca Tharme, Riverfutures Ltd.

17 slides

Agenda: Coping With Water Scarcity In River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned From Shared Experiences, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Water scarcity is increasingly dominating headlines throughout the world. In the southwestern USA, the looming water shortages on the Colorado River system and the unprecedented drought in California are garnering the greatest attention. Similar stories of scarcity and crisis can be found across the globe, suggesting an opportunity for sharing lessons and innovations. For example, the Colorado River and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin likely can share many lessons, as both systems were over-allocated, feature multiple jurisdictions, face similar climatic risks and drought stresses, and struggle to balance human demands with environmental needs. In this conference we cast our net broadly, exploring …

Slides: Rivers And People In The Neotropics: Social And Ecological Science For Environmental Flows, Elizabeth P. Anderson

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Elizabeth P. Anderson, Florida International University

38 slides

Slides: Food For Thought: Water Requirements For Social-Ecological Systems, Michael Douglas, Sue Jackson

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenters:

Michael Douglas, University of Western Australia, Charles Darwin University

Sue Jackson, Griffith University

35 slides

Agenda: Indigenous Water Justice Symposium, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Indigenous Water Justice Symposium (June 6)

Indigenous peoples throughout the world face diverse and often formidable challenges of what might be termed “water justice.” On one hand, these challenges involve issues of distributional justice that concern Indigenous communities’ relative abilities to access and use water for self-determined purposes. On the other hand, issues of procedural justice are frequently associated with water allocation and management, encompassing fundamental matters like representation within governance entities and participation in decision-making processes. Yet another realm of water justice in which disputes are commonplace relates to the persistence of, and respect afforded to, Indigenous communities’ cultural traditions and values surrounding water—more specifically, …

Framework For Drafting Ecological Objectives For Water Sharing Plans - Submission Of The Nsw Aboriginal Land Council, Geoff Scott, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

Indigenous Water Justice Symposium (June 6)

Presenter: Phil Duncan, Gomeroi Nation, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

4 pages

Contains 1 footnote

Letter addressed to Nick Cook, A/Team Leader, WSP Science & Evaluation - North, NSW Office of Water, from Geoff Scott, Chief Executive Officer, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council.

Bathymetric Survey For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo, Hispaniola, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Joseph Cleto, Yolanda Leon, Jorge Gonzalez, Daniel Comarazamy

Publications and Research

The two largest lakes on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, Lake Azuei in Haiti and Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic, have experienced dramatic growth and surface area expansion over the past few years leading to severe flooding and loss of arable land around the lake perimeters. In order to better understand the reasons for this unprecedented rate of expansion and the resulting consequences a multi-disciplinary team comprised of researchers from Haiti, the DR, and the US have embarked on an extensive data collecting and hydrologic and climatological modeling campaign. While the sensor deployment entails stations that measure climatological data …

Surface Dynamics Of Crude And Weathered Oil In The Presence Of Dispersants: Laboratory Experiment And Numerical Simulation, Alexander Soloviev, Brian K. Haus, Michael G. Mcgauley, Cayla Whitney Dean, David G. Ortiz-Suslow, Nathan J. M. Laxague, Tamay M. Ozgokmen

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Marine oil spills can have dire consequences for the environment. Research on their dynamics is important for the well-being of coastal communities and their economies. Propagation of oil spills is a very complex physical-chemical process. As seen during the Deepwater Horizon event in the Gulf of Mexico during 2010, one of the critical problems remaining for prediction of oil transport and dispersion in the marine environment is the small-scale structure and dynamics of surface oil spills. The laboratory experiments conducted in this work were focused on understanding the differences between the dynamics of crude and weathered oil spills and the …

Abundance And Diversity Of Deep-Sea Crustaceans Of Bear Seamount, New England Seamount Chain, Valerie Miranda

HCAS Graduate Science Research Symposium

Bear Seamount (39° 55’ N; 67° 30’ W) is the westernmost peak of extinct undersea volcanoes in the New England Seamount Chain (Moore et al., 2003). It is located on the continental slope off Georges Bank, and is governed by unique environmental factors and currents that may be unlike those of the other seamounts (Moore et al., 2003). Previous cruises to this seamount have been successful in capturing abundant fishes, cephalopods and invertebrates (Moore et al., 2003; Moore et al., 2004; Moore et al., 2008), but only the distribution patterns of the fishes and cephalopods have been examined, leaving a …

Vision And Bioluminescence In Deep-Sea Crustaceans, Tamara Frank

HCAS Graduate Science Research Symposium

Adaptations of the visual systems of deep-sea crustaceans to dim light environments are driven not only by environmental light, but also biologically produced light, or bioluminescence. In the pelagic zone, the relationship is driven, at least in part, by intrinsic bioluminescence. The unusual possession of UV sensitivity, in additional to the expected blue sensitivity, in several species of deep-sea crustaceans appears to be linked to their two modes of bioluminescence. In the benthic zone, the relationship is not so clear. On several NOAA-OER funded research expeditions, electrophysiological studies were conducted on a number of species of decapod crustaceans collected with …

Characterization Of The Marine Sponge Amphimedon Compressa Microbiome Across A Spatial Gradient, Renee Michelle Potens

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Diverse and ecologically important microbial communities (microbiomes) are symbiotic within marine sponges. In this study, the microbiome of Amphimedon compressa from three sample locations (Broward and Dade Counties, Southeast Florida, USA and the Southern Caribbean, Bocas del Toro, Panama) is characterized using 16S rRNA Illumina sequencing. The predominant taxa are Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, as expected for Low Microbial Abundance sponges, accounting for over 53% of the total microbiome community. The numbers of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) decrease from Broward County (2,900) to Dade County (2,300) and then Bocas del Toro (1,200). The correlates to a decreasing north-south gradient of …

Monitoring A Problem: Evaluating The Ecological Status Of The Invasive Nile Monitor In Florida And Forecasting Population Expansion Using Computational Gis, Noah Cohen

HCAS Graduate Science Research Symposium

The state of Florida is an epicenter for the introduction of exotic terrestrial and marine species, often which are attributed to the pet industry. Identifying the threats posed by exotics that may become invasive is critical to manage and protect indigenous species and habitats. One such exotic that is now invasive in Florida is the Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus). The Nile monitor is a large, predatory lizard native to central and southern Africa that is thought to have been introduced to Florida via both intentional and unintentional releases associated with the exotic pet trade. Since their introduction, Nile monitors have …

Genomic Assembly Analyses Of Asian Teleost Species Seabass (Lates Calcarifer) And Arowana (Scleropages Formosus), Stephen O'Brien

HCAS Graduate Science Research Symposium

The genome assembly and annotation of Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) , a marine teleost with aquaculture relevance will be described, an initiative of Genome 10K . Though > 500 eukaryotic genome sequences are available in public repositories, the majority are highly fragmented with incomplete assemblies, so considerable effort and resources are often spent to improve their quality. In the present study, PacBio long read sequencing , genetic and optical mapping, and syntenic inference were combined to build a chromosome-length assembly with a contig N50 size over 1 Mb and scaffold N50 size over 25 Mb that span ~90% of the genome …

If You Build It, Will They Come? Exploring Enhancements To Artificial Structure For Use In Restoration And Mitigation Applications In The Mexican Caribbean, Kirk Kilfoyle

HCAS Graduate Science Research Symposium

A study involving standardized artificial reef modules (ReefballsTM) was conducted in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. The purpose was to explore the use of artificial structure in restoration and mitigation projects in a Caribbean coral reef environment similar to South Florida by applying select experimental treatments hypothesized to accelerate their acquisition of a natural coral reef assemblage. Multiple hypotheses on the progression and interaction between artificial structure and the resulting fish, coral, algal, and non-coral invertebrate assemblages were examined. Each of 40 reefball modules received one of 4 treatments (10 modules/treatment): invertebrate substrate pads, coral transplants, settlement plates, or control. Following deployment, …

High Resolution Study Of The Spatial Distributions Of Abyssal Fishes By Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Rosanna Milligan, K. J. Morris, B. J. Bett, J. M. Durden, D. O. B. Jones, K. Robert, H. A. Ruhl, D. M. Bailey

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

On abyssal plains, demersal fish are believed to play an important role in transferring energy across the seafloor and between the pelagic and benthic realms. However, little is known about their spatial distributions, making it difficult to quantify their ecological significance. To address this, we employed an autonomous underwater vehicle to conduct an exceptionally large photographic survey of fish distributions on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (NE Atlantic, 4850 m water depth) encompassing two spatial scales (1–10 km²) on and adjacent to a small abyssal hill (240 m elevation). The spatial distributions of the total fish fauna and that …

Development Of A [2]-Catenane Synthetic Method And A Student Beliefs Survey For A Hybrid Organometallics Course, Jourdan E. Lakes

Honors Theses

In this study, the value-added of a new upper-level chemistry course, CHEM 372-Organometallics, was defined using a Student Beliefs Survey that was answered by students in CHEM 372 and by faculty who teach upper-level chemistry courses at Coastal Carolina University. The laboratory portion of CHEM 372 focused on the synthesis of a [2]-catenane, which is a molecularly interlocked molecule (MIM). The intention was to give the CHEM 372 students a goal to work toward over the course of the semester instead of different, unrelated, experiments each week. Using this style of lab teaching, the students were introduced to graduate school-level …

Comparative Use Of A Caribbean Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem And Association With Fish Spawning Aggregations By Three Species Of Shark, Alexandra E. Pickard, Jeremy Vaudo, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Richard S. Nemeth, Jeremiah Blondeau, Elizabeth Kadison, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Understanding of species interactions within mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; ~ 30–150 m) lags well behind that for shallow coral reefs. MCEs are often sites of fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) for a variety of species, including many groupers. Such reproductive fish aggregations represent temporal concentrations of potential prey that may be drivers of habitat use by predatory species, including sharks. We investigated movements of three species of sharks within a MCE and in relation to FSAs located on the shelf edge south of St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Movements of 17 tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), seven lemon (Negaprion …

Cockatoo Sands In The Victoria Highway And Carlton Hill Areas, East Kimberley: Hydrogeology, Aquifer Properties And Groundwater Chemistry, D L. Bennett, John Andrew Simons, Richard J. George Dr, Paul Raper

Resource management technical reports

Cockatoo Sands are recognised as potentially suitable for irrigated agriculture because they are generally well drained and not subject to waterlogging or inundation. These characteristics allow them to be cultivated and prepared for planting various crops during the wet and dry seasons of northern Australia. Expanding agricultural production onto the Cockatoo Sands around Kununurra will increase opportunities for agriculture by increasing the overall scale of agriculture, allowing year-round agricultural enterprise, new crops and new market opportunities.

DAFWA has assessed the soil characteristics and agriculturally suitable areas of Cockatoo Sands in the Victoria Highway and Carlton Hill areas near Kununurra. Potential …

Geospatial Analysis Of Droughts, Rice And Wheat Production, And Agrarian Vulnerability: A District-Level Study Of The Self-Calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index In India, Aaron Michael Shew

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Droughts have affected more people than any other natural disaster in the last century, causing billions in economic damages and millions of deaths. As the Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) have heated in the Indian Ocean, drought patterns across South Asia have changed; the Indian monsoon has become more volatile and less predictable. In this study, monthly self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI) data for the time period between 1950 and 2009 were interpolated to India’s districts; then the data were analyzed for changes in frequency and severity. The data were further evaluated using Anselin’s Local Moran’s I Statistic to elicit …

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 …

The Role Of Hydrologic Regimes In Driving Morphologic Divergence And The Trait Compositions Of Fish Assemblages, Lindsey A. Bruckerhoff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The hydrologic regime is an important determinant of the ecological integrity of a stream. Hydrologic regimes are defined by the magnitude, timing, frequency, rate of change, and duration of high and low flow events and capture long term patterns of variability and predictability of water movement in a stream. Flow regimes influence many aspects of the biophysical environment in lotic systems; therefore organisms have adapted to natural flow patterns. We investigated how fish have adapted to flow regimes at both a population and community level. In the first study presented in this thesis, we hypothesized fish exhibit phenotypic divergence to …

Acoustic Repertoire Of Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) Bachelor Groups In The Waters Surrounding Ischia, Italy (Tyrrhenian Sea), Cristina M. Ledon

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The subpopulation of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Mediterranean Sea is presently list as “Endangered”. This study is an attempt to provide detailed data on sperm whale Bachelor Groups surrounding Ischia, Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea). 24 hours, 38 minutes, and 38 seconds of sperm whale Bachelor Group acoustic data was analyzed in order to describe acoustic repertoire, classify behavioral associations to acoustic types, and identify habitat-use. The data showed that the acoustic repertoire of sperm whale Bachelor Groups is dominated by Usual Clicks. Additionally, a click type that maintains an inter-click interval (ICI) in …

Geographic And Depth Distributions Of Decapod Shrimps (Caridea: Oplophoridae) From The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico With Notes On Ontogeny And Reproductive Seasonality, Eric A. Burdett

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the first description of the geographic and depth distributions of pelagic decapod shrimps in the area located around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, based on the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NRDA (National Resource Damage Assessment) trawl samples collected from April – June, 2011. This information is important in ecosystem models investigating trophic effects of the spill because pelagic decapod shrimp are consumed by a variety of organisms occupying higher trophic levels. One of the most abundant and diverse groups of decapods is the Family Oplophoridae. Their roles in pelagic food webs in the Gulf of …