Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

The Temporal And Spatial Distribution Of Blue Crab Larvae On The Mid-Atlantic Bight Adjacent To The Chesapeake Bay, 1982-1983, Lyle Michael Varnell

OES Theses and Dissertations

Recruitment processes are important information for the management of commercially and recreationally exploited marine species. Recruitment processes of the Chesapeake Bay's most important commercial and recreational species, the blue crab, are unknown, due in part to the lack of knowledge of the processes directly preceeding recruitment.

The present study was undertaken to investigate and explain the movement and developmental patterns of blue crab larvae while offshore. Interannual and intraseasonal variations of these patterns were also examined.

Sampling occurred from May to November during 1982 and 1983. Larvae were collected at three depths (neuston layer (upper 10 cm), one meter and …

Picoplankton/Phytoplankton Dynamics In Hampton Roads, Virginia, Leslie E. Dorworth

OES Theses and Dissertations

The biomass distribution of the three main size components of the phytoplankton (net, nano, and picoplankton) was examined in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Work was done at two stations during the spring and neap tidal cycles when freshwater flow into the bay was at its seasonal minimum and maximum. Emphasis was placed on how the picoplankton ( < 2.0 μm, > 0.2 μm) reacted during the sampling period.

Picoplankton made up approximately 13% of the total biomass, during the observed time period, at the more oceanic station. The picoplankton fraction contributed up to 16% of the total biomass at the estuarine station. From this …

Population Variation In The Mitochondrial-Dna Of Two Marine Organisms: The Hard Shell Clam Mercenaria Spp. And The Killifish, Fundulus Heteroclitus, Bonnie Lynn Brown

OES Theses and Dissertations

The two major topics are covered in this dissertation: the integration of molecular genetic tools with applied aquacultural research and short-term evolutionary dynamics. The first study investigated the extent of geographic differentiation of native clam stocks along the U.S. east and Gulf coasts. Clam mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) demonstrated size polymorphism (16.5-19.0 kb) and restriction site heteroplasmy. Size heteroplasmic individuals occurred at a frequencies of 0-89% in clam populations. Restriction site heteroplasmy occurred in 12% of the 317 individuals assayed. Results of the study indicated that although harbouring a wealth of genetic variation, clams from northern regions were similar and lacked …

Fall 1989, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Summer 1989, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Winter 1989, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Spring 1989, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Gammaropsis Arawakia, A New Species Of Marine Amphipoda (Crustacea) From Jamaica, James Darwin Thomas, J. L. Barnard

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

One of the dominant amphipods in algal turf communities at Discovery Bay, Jamaica, is a new species, Gammaropsis arawakia, characterized by long peduncle of uropod 3, small coxa I, 3-articulate accessory flagellum, extremely setose gnathopod 2, one pair of dorsal teeth on urosomite I, pointed ocular lobe, and oblique upper margin of cephalic sinus for antenna 2.

Four Species Of Synopiidae From The Caribbean Region (Crustacea: Amphipoda), J. L. Barnard, James Darwin Thomas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Synopia ultramarina is redescribed from the Gulf Stream and the Florida Keys and comments are made on the tangled taxonomy in Synopia. Tiron bellairsi, originally described from Barbados, is reported from Belize, at the opposite side of the Caribbean Basin. Garosyrrhoe bigarra, a Pacific species, is also reported from Belize, but no clear subspecific differences are detected as yet between Pacific and Atlantic populations.

A New Species, Ampelisca Burkei, (Crustacea, Amphipoda) From Florida, J. L. Barnard, James Darwin Thomas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A new species Ampelisca burkei, from Florida, is described. This species appears to be very close to A. lobata Holmes, from the eastern Pacific Ocean, but differs in the shape and setation of article 4 on pereopod 7, and the presence of an anteroventral spine-seta on article 5 of pereopod 7.

Are Artificial "Witham" Surface Collectors Adequate Indicators Of Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus, Recruitment?, Mark J. Butler Iv, William F. Herrnkind

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the local dynamics of Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) postlarval influx, settlement, and recruitment may be essential for the responsible management of this important and heavily exploited resource. Most lobster recruitment research programs in the Caribbean employ derivations of the "Witham"-type surface collector to monitor postlarval (puerulus) lobster influx. However, the relevance of data obtained from surface collectors with respect to the estimation of actual puerulus influx, settlement, or recruitment to subsequent benthic juvenile stages remains untested. We investigated that relevance on regional (i.e., tens of kilometers) and local (i.e., tens of meters) scales by examining the …

Survival And Reproduction Of The Freshwater Grass Shrimp Palaemonetes Paludosus (Gibbes 1850) (Decapoda:Palaemonidae), In Saline Water, Brian Thomas Lowe

OES Theses and Dissertations

To determine the effects of salinity on adult and larval survival, egg deposition, egg hatching and metamorphosis, shrimp were held in the laboratory and exposed to treatment salinities ranging from O to 35 ppt. Tests on adult survival indicate a 96 hour LC-50 between 30 and 35 ppt. Longer term tests on adult survival showed high mortality in salinities greater than 15 ppt. Shrimp became ovigerous in salinities of O - 20 ppt with egg hatching and metamorphosis limited to O - 5 ppt. Starved- larvae hatched from field captured ovigerous females in O ppt were able to metamorphose in …

Microbial Food Resources Of The Macrofaunal-Deposit Feeder Ptychodera Bahamensis (Hemichordata: Enteropneusta), Fred C. Dobbs, James B. Guckert

OES Faculty Publications

Biochemical and traditional analyses were used to characterize the microbial food resources and digestive efficiency of Ptychodera bahamensis, an enteropneust hemichordate. Sediment was collected from freshly extruded fecal casts and adjacent feeding depressions. There were no significant differences between casts and depressions in median grain size, percent silt-clay, density of total meiofauna and of nematodes, and concentrations of chlorophyll a and phaeophytin. Nematodes in casts had a median diameter greater than those in depressions. Measures of total, viable microbial biomass were 30% (total phospholipid, ester-linked fatty acids) and 49% (extractible phospholipid phosphate) lower in casts. Concentrations of 33 fatty …

Callianassa Trilobata (Crustacea: Thalassinidea) Influences Abundance Of Meiofauna And Biomass, Composition, And Physiologic State Of Microbial Communities Within Its Burrow, Fred C. Dobbs, James B. Guckert

OES Faculty Publications

Biochemical and traditional methods were used to determine the influence of Callianassa trilobata on microbiological and meiofaunal communities within its large, highly consolidated burrow. Sediment was collected from the lining of the shrimp's burrow, the burrow matrix, and ambient, subsurface sediment. The lining and matrix were composed of poorly sorted, fine-grained material compared to sandy ambient sediment. Meiofauna, predominantly nematodes, were most abundant in ambient sediment, not in the burrow as has been found for other species of macrofauna. Concentrations of chlorophyll a were very high in the lining, consistent with the suggestion that C. trilobata lines its burrow walls …

Relocation Movement In A Stalked Crinoid (Echinodermata), Charles G. Messing, M. Christine Rosesmyth, Stuart R. Mailer, John E. Miller

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Physiological Implications Of Bleaching Of Corals Off Southeast Florida, C. J. Reese, G. S. Kleppel, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

As part of an ongoing study of coral bleaching, observations were made of corals on reefs (ca. 8m) off John U. Lloyd Beach, Dania, FL, in December, 1987. Bleaching was evident in approximately 50% of Montastrea annularis, the dominant scleractinian coral species. Quantitative pigment measurements by HPLC show that bleached corals contained

Decline Of Coral Growth Rates At Negril, Jamaica, T. J. Goreau, Richard E. Dodge, P. D. Goreau

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Montastrea annularis heads were collected near Negril, Jamaica, along transects from open, normal reef conditions into the mouths of rivers draining the Negril Morass. Corals subject to turbidity (particulate peat and dissolved humic compouonds near rivers, re-suspended reef sediments away from them) were growing more slowly than those in normal circumstances. Surprisingly, corals growing fastest were slowing the most, and the slowest growers increasing growth rate. Linear regression analysis of growth trends over the past two decades revealed stable limit-cycle behavior: change of growth was inversely proportional to growth rate, with a very significant correlation coefficient of -0.92. We suggest …

Vadosiapus Copacabanus, A New Genus And Species Of Exoedicerotidae From Brazil (Crustacea, Amphipoda), J. L. Barnard, James Darwin Thomas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Vadosiapus copacabanus, n. gen. is described from the surf zone on the beach at Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The genus and unique species is related to the three known species of Bathyporeiapus, which range southward from Brazil through the Magellan region of South America. Vadosiapus is distinguished from Bathyporeiapus in the odd phoxocephalid-like article 3 of the mandibular palp, the nonsinuate epimeron 2, the broadened tel son bearing only midsagittal armaments and the enlarged dactyl of gnathopod 2.

Elasmopus Balkomanus, A New Species From The Florida Keys (Crustacea, Amphipoda), James Darwin Thomas, J. L. Barnard

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Elasmopus balkomanus is described from Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys. The species is very close to the eastern Pacific E. antennatus but in the male has equally extending rami on uropod 3, only 2 (versus 4-6) spines on each lobe of the tel son in adults, a lateral ridge on the propodus of male gnathopod 2 and very heavily armed flagella of antenna 2 in the male.

This species lives in a short-tufted algal turf community on coral rubble but apparently is rare because it has only been collected once in 10 years of sampling in the Florida …

Ipanemidae, New Family, Ipanema Talpa, New Genus And Species, From The Surf Zone Of Brazil (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Haustorioidea), J. L. Barnard, James Darwin Thomas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A new family of haustorioid Amphipoda resembling the Phoxocephalopsidae and Urothoidae has been discovered in sands of the surf zone off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Like the recently described Cheidae, the new speciesgenus- family combines various characters of haustorioids in a unique manner and bears one unprecedented apomorphic character: an alate, uncleft telson.

The new taxon has the following characters of Urothoidae: antenna 2, head, and distal parts of pereopods but has a distinctive antenna I, coxae 1-2, mandibular palp, telson and epimera 1-2. Ipanema has the following characters of Phoxocephalopsidae: coxae, mandibles, and uropod I but has distinctive antennae …

Consequences Of Thymidine Catabolism For Estimates Of Bacterial Production: An Example From A Coastal Marine Sediment, Kevin R. Carman, Fred C. Dobbs, James B. Guckert

OES Faculty Publications

Radioactively labeled thymidine (TdR) has been used extensively to measure bacterial production in aquatic environments, but critical assumptions of the TdR technique often have gone untested. In this study of a coastal marine sediment, the metabolic fate of methyl [³H]TdR and methyl [¹⁴C]TdR was at variance with the assumptions necessary for determining bacterial production. Only 2% of incorporated radioactivity was recovered in the DNA fraction of TCA-insoluble material following time-course incubations of l-300 min. At least the methyl group of TdR was extensively catabolized, as shown by copious production of ¹⁴C0₂. The temporal …

The Effects Of Siltation On Recruitment Of Spiny Lobsters, Panulirus Argus, William F. Herrnkind, Mark J. Butler, Richard A. Tankersley

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Fewer juvenile pinry lobsters were found in areas of the Florida Keys where their primary habitat was heavily silted as compared with similar, less silted habitat. Several hypotheses explaining this relationship were tested, and the time-to-metamorphosis was compared for settling pueruli within silted and nonsilted algae stands. Limited postlarval settlement and avoidance of silted algal habitats by juveniles, probably accounts for the paucity of young lobsters in heavily silted sites. In addition, although juvenile lobsters are nonselective predators, lower prey availability in silted algae probably promotes transciency which, in turn, causes increased mortality by predation while juveniles are exposed.

Evaluation Of Possible Reproductively Mediated Character Displacement In The Crayfishes, Orconectes Rusticus And O. Sanbornii, Mark J. Butler Iv

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Orconectes rusticus is replacing several species of crayfishes in north-central and northeastern North America, including O. sanbornii in Ohio. Recent evidence suggests that the species replacements may be driven by asymmetrical reproductive success favoring O. rusticus. Nonetheless, some sympatric associations appear locally persistent. Because crayfish demonstrate size assortative mating and there is a disparity in the sizes of the species, further divergence in the sizes of the species in sympatry could enhance reproductive isolation, ultimately providing a mechanism for character displacement. To test this hypothesis the size differentials between crayfish collected from allopatric and sympatric populations in east-central Ohio …

Winter 1988, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Summer 1988, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Spring 1988, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Fall 1988, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Effects Of A Dispersed And Undispersed Crude Oil On Mangroves, Seagrasses And Corals, T. G. Ballou, Richard E. Dodge, S. C. Hess, A. H. Knap, Thomas D. Sleeter

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the application of dispersant to spilled oil as a means of reducing adverse environmental effects of oil spills in nearshore, tropical waters. The results of numerous laboratory and field studies have suggested that dispersants may play a useful role in reducing adverse impacts on sensitive and valued environments such as mangroves, seagrasses, and corals. However, the use of dispersants has not been allowed thus far in most situations because of a lack of direct experimental data on the various effects of dispersants and the environmental trade-offs presumed to occur as a …

Molting In The Mature Female Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus, Rathbun, Kirk J. Havens

OES Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines the hypothesis that mature female blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, do not have a terminal anecdysis. Induced molting via eyestalk ablation, size frequency distributions and gonad and limb regeneration indices from field collected animals are used as indicators of potential post maturity molts.

Eyestalk ablation of mature females resulted in ecdysis approximately 51 days after ablation, indicating a physiological ability if mature females to complete ecdysis. Analysis of size frequency distributions indicates two distinct shifts from smaller to larger females, one in early spring and a second in early fall. While migration of larger females into …

Phytoplankton Dynamics In The Very Low Salinity Region Of The James River Estuary, Virginia, U.S.A., Changho Moon

OES Theses and Dissertations

During summer and autumn discharge from the James River estuary, Virginia, was less than 120 _m³sec^-1. There was a peak phytoplankton biomass in the very low salinity region (defined as the location where surface salinity measured less than 0.5$ 0/00) and this peak represented five to ten times greater biomass than adjacent waters. The peak biomass occurred independent of the tidal state and the location of nutrient inputs. It disappeared during winter and spring, and nutrient limitation was not responsible for the low phytoplankton biomass, indicating there were physical, not chemical controlling factors.

The peak biomass …