Fresh Water Studies Commons^™

Emerging Red Sore Disease Of American Eel (Anguilla Rostrata) In Chesapeake Bay: Etiology, Epidemiology, And Impacts In Aquaculture And The Wild, Amanpreet Kaur Kohli

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Emerging infectious diseases in aquatic systems, both in aquaculture and in the wild, are a global concern. Many have proposed an uptick in marine diseases as a result of environmental changes including a warming climate, habitat modifications, trade and transfer of wildlife and aquaculture products, pollution, overharvesting of resources, and other anthropogenic impacts. These perturbations can disturb the delicate host-pathogen relationships and result in new diseases or exacerbate the existing diseases in a population. Diseases can lead to several direct and indirect effects in the ecosystem such as population declines and extinctions, and thereby a change in population dynamics, as …

Developing A Miniature Smart Boat For Marine Research, Michael Isaac Eirinberg

Computer Engineering

This project examines the development of a smart boat which could serve as a possible marine research apparatus. The smart boat consists of a miniature vessel containing a low-cost microcontroller to live stream a camera feed, GPS telemetry, and compass data through its own WiFi access point. The smart boat also has the potential for autonomous navigation. My project captivated the interest of several members of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo’s (Cal Poly SLO) Marine Science Department faculty, who proposed a variety of fascinating and valuable smart boat applications.

Investigative Study Of Microalgal And Electrochemical Wastewater Treatment Systems And Modeling Of The Wafer-Enhanced Electrodeionization Using Supervised Learning, Humeyra Betul Ulusoy Erol

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wastewater has a serious impact on environment and public health due to its high concentration of nutrients and toxic contaminants. Without proper treatment, excess nutrients discharged in wastewater can cause a damage to the ecosystem such as undesirable pH shifts, cyanotoxin production, and low dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Main objectives of this dissertation work were to investigate i) the biofuel potential of P. cruentum when grown in swine wastewater, ii) the influence of four most commonly used ion exchange resins on the system efficiency and selectivity for the removal of sodium, calcium, and magnesium ions, and iii) the modeling of wafer-enhanced …

Phosphorus Variability In The Area Of Influence Of The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, Peter Mates

LSU Master's Theses

Man-made levees along the lower Mississippi River prevent delivery of sediment from building and maintaining Louisiana’s coastal wetlands. The Mid-Barataria sediment diversions is designed to reintroduce Mississippi River water, sediment, and nutrients into the sediment-starved Barataria Basin. Phosphorus (P) is an important macronutrient for regulating primary production in coastal marine ecosystems. Wetlands can serve as a sink or source for phosphorus to the overlying water column through various retention and release processes, dependent on concentration. Louisiana coastal systems can be phosphorus limited due to much higher concentrations of bioavailable Nitrogen in river water. The high soluble molar N:P ( >50:1) …

Identification And Quantification Of Microplastic Pollution In Water Samples And Four Species Of Fish From The Mississippi River, Kerrin E. Toner

LSU Master's Theses

Microplastics (£5 mm) have become a persistent anthropogenic pollutant and a growing environmental concern with evidence of them being found throughout several ecosystems. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition that rivers play a major role in transporting plastics from the land to the sea. The Mississippi River is the largest river in North America, draining land populated by over 100 million people. With high numbers of microplastics found in the waters of the northern of the Gulf of Mexico, it is likely that the Mississippi River is the primary source of these plastics. This study quantifies and …

Seasonal Transport Of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon And Total Alkalinity Across The Louisiana Shelf, Michelle M. Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

Rivers and wetlands are a major source of terrestrial derived carbon for coastal ocean margins. Unfortunately, Louisiana’s wetlands are threatened by ongoing high rates of erosion, deterioration, and unprecedented rates of river water discharge that changes seasonally, leading to a net loss of terrestrial carbon into the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM). There exists a current lack of understanding about the distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TAlk) within the shallowest regions of the Louisiana shelf. Even less is known about how the transport of DIC alters seasonally with changes in river outflow and shelf currents. Quantifying …

Microplastics In Mississippi River Fishes: A Watershed Approach, Ahmed Gad

LSU Master's Theses

Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm that come from different sources, such as industrial products, cosmetics, and the breakdown of the macroplastics. Microplastics derive from terrestrial sources but concentrate in flowing freshwaters where they may enter aquatic food webs. The northern Gulf of Mexico has shown very high microplastic concentrations, which are assumed to be sourced from the Mississippi River and its watershed. This study seeks to study microplastics in fish in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Fish stomachs and intestines from fish underwent chemical digestion, filtration, and microplastics identification and enumeration through FT-IR spectrometry. Chapter …

Living Upstream: Kennebec River Influence On Nutrient Regimes And Phytoplankton Communities In Harpswell Sound, Siena Brook Ballance

Honors Projects

Phytoplankton underpin marine trophic systems and biogeochemical cycles. Estuarine and coastal phytoplankton account for 40-50% of global ocean primary productivity and carbon flux making it critical to identify sources of variability. This project focuses on the Kennebec River and Harpswell Sound, a downstream, but hydrologically connected coastal estuary, as a case study of temperate river influence on estuarine nutrient regimes and phytoplankton communities. Phytoplankton pigments and nutrients were analyzed from water samples collected monthly at 8 main-stem rivers stations (2011-2013) and weekly in Harpswell Sound (2008-2017) during ice-free months. Spatial bedrock and land use impacts on river nutrients were investigated …

On The Frontlines - The Fishermen Of Ibrahim Hyderi, Muhammad Haris Aslam Khan

MSJ Capstone Projects

Climate change has become a matter of recent debate for much of the world. According to a report published by a German watch, a non-governmental organization, in 2019, Pakistan among the five countries at severe risk of climate change disasters.

During the last two decades, Pakistan saw more than 141 extreme climatic catastrophes. Only in 2016, more than 566 people died due to these conditions.

A report published by Asian Development Bank in 2017 indicates Pakistan’s climate change profile. It states that more than 1,600 people have lost their lives in the super flood of 2010 alone. A loss of …

Numerical Climate Model Simulations Investigating The Role Of Arctic Sea Ice Export Events In Modulating Deglacial Climate, Anthony J. Joyce

Doctoral Dissertations

Periods of abrupt climate cooling during the last deglaciation (20,000-8,000 yrs ago) are often attributed to glacial outburst floods slowing the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Yet, despite over 40 years of research, conclusive evidence that such events significantly impact climate remains elusive. This study uses a climate model to investigate an alternative freshwater forcing mechanism in which the episodic break-up and mobilization of thick perennial Arctic sea ice might have disrupted large-scale climate. The results presented here show the first evidence that (1) the Arctic Ocean stored enormous volumes of freshwater during colder periods as thick masses of sea …

Characterizing Freshwater Phytoplankton Dynamics With Electro-Optical Remote Sensing, Michael Sayers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Freshwater lakes are an important component contributing to ecosystem health and biodiversity on local, regional, and global scales. And while lakes only represent <5% of the global surface area, they are often very productive systems which contribute significantly to carbon cycling dynamics and freshwater fish production on a number of spatial scales. Due to the remote location and sheer size of some of these lakes it has proven difficult to adequately document changes in water quality. Significant challenges exist to adequately monitor water quality, and in particular phytoplankton dynamics, over large spatial and temporal scales using traditional in situ methods. Satellite electro-optical remote sensing offers a potential tool to provide better characterization of phytoplankton dynamics for a variety of freshwater systems. This work resulted in an approach to quantify global summer phytoplankton abundance using a newly developed remote sensing derived chlorophyll-a product. This product was also used in conjunction with a newly created carbon fixation model to assess global freshwater phytoplankton production which provided new insights into the role freshwater systems play in the …

Hydroclimate Drivers And Atmospheric Dynamics Of Floods, Nasser Najibi

Dissertations and Theses

Our preliminary survey showed that most of the recent flood-related studies did not formally explain the physical mechanisms of long-duration and large-peak flood events that can evoke substantial damages to properties and infrastructure systems. These studies also fell short of fully assessing the interactions of coupled ocean-atmosphere and land dynamics which are capable of forcing substantial changes to the flood attributes by governing the exceeding surface flow regimes and moisture source-sink relationships at the spatiotemporal scales important for risk management. This dissertation advances the understanding of the variability in flood duration, peak, volume, and timing at the regional to the …

Evaluation Of Population Structure And The Interspecific Relationship Of Striped Marlin (Kajikia Audax) And White Marlin (K. Albida) Based On Traditional Or Genome-Wide Molecular Markers, Nadya Mamoozadeh

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The istiophorid billfishes (marlins, spearfishes, and sailfish) are highly migratory pelagic fishes exhibiting broad and continuous spatial distributions in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. These species are targeted by a number of recreational, commercial, artisanal, and subsistence fisheries worldwide, and are also caught as bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries targeting tunas and swordfish. Though stock assessments have not been conducted for all istiophorids, assessments available for some species indicate that many istiophorid stocks are overfished and/or experiencing overfishing. However, the development of stock-specific recovery efforts is often impeded by a lack of information on basic species biology, including stock …

Micro-Spi Sediment Profile Imaging Micro-Inspector, Andrew P. Corvin, Caleb T. Davies, Matt R. Ferrari

Mechanical Engineering

This project was proposed by Dr. Brian Paavo through a desire to more easily study the benthic sediment layers of the ocean. To do so, he asked us to build a simple and compact machine for use in sediment profile imagery (SPI). Although devices like this already exist, they are all large scale devices that require a ship with a crane to deploy, which is expensive and time consuming. Instead, he desired a “micro” SPI, which is capable of being deployed from a small vessel that can easily navigate shallow waters. Our interpretation of these requirements was as follows: a …

Groundwater And Tidal Controls On Wetland Hydrology, Julie J. Metz Wetland Mitigation Bank, Woodbridge, Virginia, Benjamin Stuart Hiza

OES Theses and Dissertations

Julie J. Metz Wetlands Mitigation Bank, a 92-hectare freshwater wetland located in Woodbridge, Virginia, borders the tidally-influenced Neabsco Creek. Seven pods separated by earthen berms were built by Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. (WSSI) in 1995 and 1997 by removing the toe of small sandy alluvial fans and covering the underlying coarse gravel bed with a low permeability cap. The basal Quaternary gravels were deposited in a creek valley incised into a thick sand-and-clay Cretaceous delta. The alluvial-fan apron developed at the base of steep slopes along the sides of the valley. Pressure transducer data from five monitoring wells along …

Ecological Consequences Of Lost Anadromous Forage Fish In Freshwater Ecosystems, Steven R. Mattocks

Masters Theses

Beginning in the early 1600s, dam construction in New England obstructed anadromous fish access to spawning grounds during migration. As a result, anadromous forage fish populations have declined, which has impacted freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. To determine the impacts of dams on anadromous forage fish and freshwater ecosystems, I used historical and current data to estimate population changes in alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) from 1600-1900. A significant reduction in spawning habitat occurred in New England as a result of 1,642 dams constructed between 1600 and 1900, resulting in 14.8% and 16.6% lake and stream habitat remaining by 1900, …

Patterns Of Abundance And Community Dynamics In Atlantic Coastal Sharks, Cassidy Peterson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Improved Monitoring Of The Changjiang River Plume In The East China Sea During The Monsoon Season Using Satellite Borne L-Band Radiometers, Bumjun Kil

Dissertations

Measurement of sea surface salinity (SSS) from Satellite borne L-band (1.4 GHz, 21cm) radiometers (NASA Aquarius/SAC-D and ESA SMOS) in the East China Sea (ECS) is challenging due to the uncertainty of SSS caused by land thermal emissions in the antenna side lobes and because of strong radio frequency interference (RFI) due to illegally emitted man-made sources. RFI contamination in the ECS has gradually decreased because of the on-going international efforts to eliminate broadcasts in the protected L-band radio-astronomy frequency band. The present dissertation focuses on carefully eliminating the remaining RFI contamination in retrieved SSS, and masking out regions close …

A Survey Of Aquatic Organisms For The Cyanotoxin Beta-Methylamino-L-Alanine (Bmaa), Ian M. Sammler

OES Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria blooms are increasing globally as a result of eutrophication. Many cyanobacteria are potentially harmful, not only because of the oxygen depleted zones created when they decay, but also because of the toxins they produce. β- Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), reportedly produced by many species of cyanobacteria, is a non-proteinogenic amino acid that has been linked to the development of neurodegenerative diseases (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer's) in humans. This study presents results from an assessment of BMAA in cyanobacteria and their grazers from the lower Chesapeake Bay and Lake Erie regions. BMAA was analyzed in samples prepared with the EZ:Faast™ …

Oyster Reef Connectivity Inferred Via Population Genetic Analysis, Brendan Douglas Turley

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A panel of 48 single nucleotide polymorphism markers (SNPs) was developed for use in a population genetic analysis of the Eastern Oyster Crassostrea virginica sampled from the lower Chesapeake Bay. The SNPs were developed from published and unpublished sequencing data and developed to be used on a Fluidigm Biomark. A selection of 95 SNPs were chosen initially for development and the best 48 were selected for downstream applications. This project was a collaboration with the non-profit Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) to examine their oyster reef restoration project in the Lafayette River, Virginia. The CBF wanted to test a hydrodynamic connectivity …

The Reproductive Biology Of Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) In Chesapeake Bay, Carissa L. Gervasi

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) is an anadromous finfish that supports a lucrative fishery along the Atlantic coast of the United States and serves as a vital component of estuarine food webs. Once Striped Bass stocks were restored after crashing in the late 1980s, abundance skyrocketed to record levels. Over the past decade however, abundance has steadily declined, concurrent with an outbreak of mycobacteriosis. Disease prevalence is currently >50%, and previous research has demonstrated diseasepositive fish exhibit slower growth and increased natural mortality compared to diseasenegative fish. The purpose of this research was to provide a contemporary description of Chesapeake …

Bay Scallop, Argopecten Irradians, Restoration In The Virginia Coastal Bays: The Role Of Predation On Spring Vs Fall Cohort Survival, Erika L. Schmitt

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

While the importance o f predation in controlling many natural bivalve populations is well established, it is often overlooked in the restoration strategies for depleted populations. Adult bay scallops {Argopecten irradians concentricus) along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast spawn multiple times per year, typically once in the early summer and again in the early fall. Larvae generally settle on seagrass leaves to avoid benthic predators, but shift to the sediment surface around 20 mm in size when they become less vulnerable to predation. The objectives o f this study were to 1.) Determine proportional survival o f two distinct size classes …

A Model Of Carrying Capacity And Ecosystem Impacts In A Large-Scale, Bivalve-Dominated Agro-Ecosystem: Hard Clam Aquaculture In Cherrystone Inlet, Va, Michael A. Kuschner

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

With the recent growth of the hard clam aquaculture industry, sites of intensive aquaculture have emerged as large-scale agro-ecosystems where the success of aquaculture production is dynamically linked to ecosystem function. Large scale clam aquaculture operations are associated with a range of potential positive and negative feedbacks related to nutrient dynamics, water and sediment quality, proliferation of macroalgae, and carrying capacity. Quantitative modeling tools are needed to support system-level planning related to site selection, scale of operations, production capacity and ecosystem function. The purpose of this study was to develop a model for Cherrystone Inlet, VA, where one-third (1.9 km2) …

The Saco River Plume: A Discussion Of The Near-Field Dynamics, Barbara A. Fortier

All Theses And Dissertations

This study focused on the freshwater discharge plume from the Saco River in southwestern Maine to determine the mechanisms responsible for the largest impacts on the near-field dynamics in this region. We examined the forcing factors that tended to increase the plume's spatial extent upshelf of the river mouth. Salinity, temperature, and density data were collected during cruises from May through November 2010 and by two surface moorings deployed upshelf of the Saco River mouth. We found a distinct variation in the latitude of the upshelf boundary of the plume during and after periods of high discharge. Furthermore, we found …

Quantification Of Nursery Habitats For Blue Crabs In Chesapeake Bay, Gina M. Ralph

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The blue crab is an iconic species in Chesapeake Bay, supporting important commercial and recreational fisheries and functioning as a critical link in the food web. Structurally complex habitats are often cited as nurseries for the blue crab, and other commercially important fish and crustacean species, by providing enhanced growth and survival for juveniles. I quantified the value of shallow habitats as nurseries for blue crabs through field studies and a demographic model. In Chapter 2, I utilized a two-year juvenile survey in vegetated habitats of the lower Bay to examine the effect of habitat complexity on the density of …

Studies Of Mortality Estimation, Amy Y. Then

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Instantaneous total mortality rate Z can be partitioned into two components: fishing, F, and natural mortality, M. A number of data-poor methods have been developed to estimate Z, F, and M, and these methods tend to rely on fairly restrictive assumptions as well as on data types that are easy to obtain, e.g., length or other life history information. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to contribute to the advancement of methods for estimating these important and influential stock parameters. The relevant issues and the gaps in knowledge pertaining to these data-poor methods are outlined in the Introduction chapter …

Effects Of Saltwater Intrusion On Vegetation Dynamics And Nutrient Pools In Low-Salinity Tidal Marshes, Pamunkey River (Virginia, Usa), Lori A. Sutter

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This study investigated vegetation changes in a former tidal freshwater marsh (TFM) to determine the role that salinity intrusion plays in vegetation dynamics. Field observations along a narrow salinity gradient in the Pamunkey River revealed that vegetation is shifting to fewer dominants with increasing salinity. Two remaining dominants, Peltandra virginica and Zizania aquatica (hereafter Peltandra and Zizania, respectively), had variable net CO2 assimilation throughout the growing season. Peltandra net CO2 assimilation declined both over the growing season and in marshes with higher salinity; whereas, Zizania generally increased over the growing season peaking in late summer. The same species' tissue nutrients …

Physiological Stress And Post-Release Mortality Of White Marlin (Kajikia Albida) Caught In The U.S Recreational Fishery, Lela Sylvia Schlenker

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

White Marlin (Kajikia albida) is a highly migratory species that occurs throughout temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean and is the basis of a large sport fishery along the United States Atlantic coast. The single, Atlantic-wide stock is considered to be overfished, with less than one-third the spawning biomass estimated to be necessary for maximum sustainable yield. Billfish management measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and implemented in the U.S. by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), as well as increasing angler awareness of conservation, have resulted in the vast majority …

An Evaluation Of A Reduced Bar Spacing Turtle Excluder Device In The U.S Gulf Of Mexico Offshore Shrimp Trawl Fishery, Michel Anthony Nalovic

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Shrimp are the most economically valuable internationally-traded seafood commodity, and wild-caught, trawled shrimp make up almost half of the ~6.6 million metric tons of annual global production. Shrimp trawling is responsible for one-third of the world’s total fisheries bycatch, leading many to consider shrimp trawling to be the single most destructive fishing practice in the world. Though the bycatch of large marine animals can be significantly reduced by use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) on shrimp trawls, current TED designs are ineffective at reducing the capture of smaller organisms which represent a large portion of the total bycatch. To further …

Fishes In Seagrass Habitats: Species Composition, Trophic Interactions, And Production, Kathryn L. Sobocinski

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The value of habitats in terms of biological production is of interest to ecologists and resource managers. Seagrasses are a commonly occurring habitat type in shallow marine waters and have been shown to support high abundances of fish and invertebrates. In lower Chesapeake Bay, seagrasses grow in a shallow fringe in the subtidal zone. Although, ample evidence exists for the value of these habitats as foraging and rearing areas for a variety of organisms, the connectivity among species and the benefits derived from these habitats in terms of production have not been well described, especially for small, seasonally occurring finfishes. …