Marine Biology Commons^™

Microplastics In Full View: Birds As Bioindicators Of Malta's Coastal Ecosystem Health, Dalton Brauer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine environment and its organisms. To assess Malta’s coastal environmental health, water birds (inshore, offshore and pelagic species) were used as bioindicators by assessing the presence and abundance of plastic within their stomach contents. The project hoped to fill some of the current gaps in knowledge on microplastics within Malta by creating a working baseline, as well as …

A Comparison Of Phytoplankton Nutrient Limitation Between The Marsh And Beach Environments Of Waties Island, Sc, Raymond Sgambati, George Boneillo

Honors Theses

The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in nutrient limitation within the beach and marsh environments at Waties Island, SC. Conducting the experiment on Waties Island allowed most physical factors to be held as constant, meaning the marsh and beach environments would serve as the only variables. Experiments were performed in the winter, spring, summer and fall of 2018 to determine temporal changes in limitation to phytoplankton and cyanobacteria growth. Nutrient additions included dissolved inorganic nitrogen (nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium), dissolved organic nitrogen (urea), and phosphate. To test for co-limitation, a nitrate & phosphate treatment was also …

Can A Global Fund Help Solve The Global Marine Plastic Debris Problem?, Karen Raubenheimer, Alistair Mcilgorm

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

The problem of marine plastic debris impacts all of the world’s oceans and requires all nations to respond. However, developing States require funds to improve waste management infrastructure and services in order to reduce marine debris at source. Plastics manufacturers and retailers globally must be incentivised to design products for the environment as well as for the collection and end-of-life treatment facilities available within the intended markets. Given the oceans are a global common, we investigate the option of developing a global fund mechanism to progress the necessary actions to reduce plastic waste entering the world’s oceans. This requires consideration …

Species Richness, Diversity, And Abundance Of Sponge Communities In Broward County, Florida, 2000-2015, Jessica Price

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Sponges (Porifera) are a major component of coral reef ecosystems. They outnumber coral species on the Florida Reef Tract, and in places, account for more living cover. Because coral reefs are a vital part of Florida’s economy, it is important to understand how local sponge assemblages vary spatially and temporally, especially as corals continue to decline. However, long-term observations of sponge assemblages (species richness, diversity and abundance) are lacking. To address this, annual photoquadrats were analyzed from a series of 25 sites off Broward County between 2000 and 2015. Variations in sponge assemblages were then compared to several natural and …

Peruvian Pinnipeds As Archivists Of Enso Effects, Mickie Rae Edwards

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Environmental fluctuations in the eastern Pacific Ocean are reflected in the tissues of some of its most vulnerable apex predators, the Peruvian fur seal (PFS) Arctocephalus australis ssp.and the South American sea lion (SASL) Otaria byronia.These large pinnipeds live in sympatry along the Pacific coastline of South America and forage within the neritic waters over the continental shelf. The coastal waters off Peru are a region of great environmental fluctuations due to periodic, oscillating El Niño- La Niña- Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, which result in ecosystem-wide food web changes. Pinniped vibrissae (whiskers) are continuously growing keratinous tissues and …

The Relationship Of Endoparasite Diversity And Feeding Ecology In The Seabird Complex Of South Florida, Michael Nakama

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Endoparasite community structure has been poorly studied in migratory birds, particularly among the seabirds of south Florida. We examined parasite communities in seven south Florida seabird species: brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis (n=33), northern gannet Morus bassanus (n=31), double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus (n=33), osprey Pandion haliaetus (n=27), royal tern Thalasseus maximus (n=30), herring gull Larus argentatus (n=12), and laughing gull Leucophaeus atricilla (n=40). We identified 33 parasitic helminth species: 6 nematodes, 2 cestodes, 3 acanthocephalans, and 22 digeneans. Subsequent pairwise tests and similarity profile analysis identified four distinct clusters with similar parasite community structures: (1) pelican and gannet; (2) cormorant; (3) …

Ecophysiology Of Lionfish Metabolic And Visual Systems: Are There Physiological Limits To Inshore Invasion?, Aaron Hasenei

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Lionfish (Pterois spp.), an invasive species native to the Indo-Pacific, have permanently established themselves throughout the greater Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and regions of the Western Atlantic ranging from as far north as North Carolina to central Brazil. As their fundamental range expands, lionfish threaten to migrate into estuarine environments as they have been found to tolerate low salinities and an eclectic range of temperatures. The physiological capacity of invasion was assessed by quantifying the visual ecology of lionfish utilizing corneal electroretinography (ERG) as well as their metabolic scope and hypoxia tolerances under various temperature-oxygen-regimes utilizing intermittent-flow respirometry. Seasonal …

Turbulent And Electromagnetic Signature Of Small- And Fine-Scale Biological And Oceanographic Processes, Cayla Whitney Dean

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Small- and fine-scale biological and oceanographic processes may have a measurable electromagnetic signature. These types of processes inherently involve turbulence and three-dimensional dynamics. Traditional models of the electromagnetic signature of oceanographic processes are of an analytical nature, do not account for three-dimensional boundary layer dynamics or turbulence, self-inductance, and may not describe the variety of the environmental conditions occurring in the ocean. In order to address this problem, I have implemented magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools, which has allowed for the evaluation of the electromagnetic signature of a number of small- and fine-scale biological and oceanographic processes in …

Indirect Effects Of Ocean Warming And Acidification On The Realized Recruitment Of Agaricia Agaricites, Allan Anderson

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades, coral cover has declined worldwide due to overfishing, disease, and storms, and these effects have been exacerbated by ocean warming and acidification. Corals are extremely susceptible to these changes because they are already living close to their thermal and aragonite saturation thresholds. Ocean warming and acidification (OAW) may also impact coral survival and growth by impacting their settlement cues. Coral larvae use crustose coralline algae (CCA) and their associated biofilms as cues for settlement, i.e., habitat selection. Settlement cues can also be negatively affected by increased water temperature and acidity. It was hypothesized that the …

Optimization Of Light Irradiance During The Early Life Of Sexually-Produced Porites Astreoides And Agaricia Agaricites Recruits, Nicholas J. Mcmahon

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Current solutions of coral restoration rely mainly on fragmentation. Though a reliable technique, this asexual form of reproduction does not benefit the genetic diversity of the coral reef. With many global and local stressors threatening corals’ existence, the resiliency of corals to future ocean conditions depends highly on sexual reproduction to produce new genotypes. New technology allows coral spawning/larval release, larval settlement and rearing to be carried out in an aquarium system. Many of the techniques necessary to maintain coral recruits are well-established, however the effects of light intensity remain to be studied for these early life stages. Newly …

Contrasting Population Genetic Structure In Three Aggregating Groupers (Percoidei: Epinephelidae) In The Indo-West Pacific: The Importance Of Reproductive Mode, Ka Yan Ma, Lynne Van Herwerden, Stephen J. Newman, Michael L. Berumen, John Howard Choat, Ka Hou Chu, Yvonne Sadovy De Mitcheson

Fisheries Research Articles

Background

Understanding the factors shaping population genetic structure is important for evolutionary considerations as well as for management and conservation. While studies have revealed the importance of palaeogeographic changes in shaping phylogeographic patterns in multiple marine fauna, the role of reproductive behaviour is rarely considered in reef fishes. We investigated the population genetics of three commercially important aggregating grouper species in the Indo-West Pacific, namely the camouflage grouper Epinephelus polyphekadion, the squaretail coral grouper Plectropomus areolatus, and the common coral trout P. leopardus, with similar life histories but distinct spatio-temporal characteristics in their patterns of forming spawning aggregations. …

Uncovering The Role Of Propagule Pressure In Determining Establishment Success Using A Synthetic Biology Approach, Michael D. Dressler

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The spread of invasive species poses a major ecological and economical threat. Consequently there are ongoing efforts to develop a generalizable mechanism to predict establishment success of non-native species. One proposed mechanism to predict establishment success is propagule pressure, which is defined as the number of individuals introduced at a given time. Although some studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between propagule pressure and establishment success, others have not, and the effect of propagule pressure on establishment success remains unclear. To address this challenge, a strain of bacteria engineered with an Allee effect, a growth dynamic that is often associated …

Along-Shelf Connectivity And Circumpolar Gene Flow In Antarctic Silverfish (Pleuragramma Antarctica), Jilda Alicia Caccavo, Chiara Papetti, Maj Wetjen, Rainer Knust, Julian R. Ashford, Lorenzo Zane

OES Faculty Publications

The Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica) is a critically important forage species with a circumpolar distribution and is unique among other notothenioid species for its wholly pelagic life cycle. Previous studies have provided mixed evidence of population structure over regional and circumpolar scales. The aim of the present study was to test the recent population hypothesis for Antarctic silverfish, which emphasizes the interplay between life history and hydrography in shaping connectivity. A total of 1067 individuals were collected over 25 years from different locations on a circumpolar scale. Samples were genotyped at fifteen microsatellites to assess population differentiation and …

Spectral Sensitivity In Ray-Finned Fishes: Diversity, Ecology And Shared Descent, Lorian E. Schweikert, Robert R. Fitak, Eleanor M. Caves, Tracey Sutton, Sonke Johnsen

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

A major goal of sensory ecology is to identify factors that underlie sensory-trait variation. One open question centers on why fishes show the greatest diversity among vertebrates in their capacity to detect color (i.e. spectral sensitivity). Over the past several decades, λ_max values (photoreceptor class peak sensitivity) and chromacy (photoreceptor class number) have been cataloged for hundreds of fish species, yet the ecological basis of this diversity and the functional significance of high chromacy levels (e.g. tetra- and pentachromacy) remain unclear. In this study, we examined phylogenetic, physiological and ecological patterns of spectral sensitivity of ray-finned fishes (Actinoptergyii) via …

Taxon-Specific Aerosolization Of Bacteria And Viruses In An Experimental Ocean-Atmosphere Mesocosm, Jennifer M. Michaud, Luke R. Thompson, Drishti Kaul, Josh L. Espinoza, R. Alexander Richter, Zhenjiang Zech Xu, Christopher Lee, Kevin M. Pham, Charlotte M. Beall, Francesca Malfatti, Farooq Azam, Rob Knight, Michael D. Burkart, Christopher L. Dupont, Kimberly A. Prather

Faculty Publications

Ocean-derived, airborne microbes play important roles in Earth’s climate system and human health, yet little is known about factors controlling their transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere. Here, we study microbiomes of isolated sea spray aerosol (SSA) collected in a unique ocean–atmosphere facility and demonstrate taxon-specific aerosolization of bacteria and viruses. These trends are conserved within taxonomic orders and classes, and temporal variation in aerosolization is similarly shared by related taxa. We observe enhanced transfer into SSA of Actinobacteria, certain Gammaproteobacteria, and lipid-enveloped viruses; conversely, Flavobacteriia, some Alphaproteobacteria, and Caudovirales are generally under-represented in SSA. Viruses do not transfer …

High-Frequency Temperature Variability Mirrors Fixed Differences In Thermal Limits Of The Massive Coral Porites Lobata, Daniel J. Barshis, Charles Birkeland, Robert J. Toonen, Ruth D. Gates, Jonathon H. Stillman

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Spatial heterogeneity in environmental characteristics can drive adaptive differentiation when contrasting environments exert divergent selection pressures. This environmental and genetic heterogeneity can substantially influence population and community resilience to disturbance events. Here, we investigated corals from the highly variable back-reef habitats of Ofu Island in American Samoa that thrive in thermal conditions known to elicit widespread bleaching and mortality elsewhere. To investigate the relative importance of acclimation versus site of origin in shaping previously observed differences in coral tolerance limits at Ofu Island, specimens of the common Indo-Pacific coral Porites lobata from locations with differing levels of thermal variability were …

Measuring Connective Capacity Throughout The Gulf Of Mexico Fishery Management Network, Anthony Rocha Lima

Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico provides substantial resources along its 1,680-mile coastline, spanning 5 U.S. states and providing millions of pounds of seafood and hundreds of millions in revenue annually. Continued success of the fishery relies on the ability of a large, complex, multiagency network to find the best solutions to balance the needs of humans, as well as ensure long-term sustainability. Organizations with varying objectives require effective communication when addressing intricate ecosystem-based management topics such as endangered species and regional economies.

To better understand the connectivity within the Gulf fishery management network, an IRB reviewed survey was dispersed to the …

Aquatic Invasions: Causes, Consequences, And Solutions, Corey Ackerson, Melissa Carmichael, Olivia Carpenter, Hannah Crull, Jillian Henrichon, Maeve Mcgowan, Allison Mills, Nicholas Paolini, Everett Pierce, Nicole Scherer, Nicole Volosin, Kady Winsor, Markus Frederich

Marine Sciences Student Projects

Invasive species represent a global threat to ecosystems, human health, and the economy. A basic knowledge of invasive species biology is crucial to understand current and future impacts and implications. The purpose of this book is to provide a broad background on invasive species, and also details on specific examples through case studies.

The students in the course Aquatic Invasive Species (MAR 442) at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, have researched and reviewed scientific literature to educate readers about these issues. The class, comprised of twelve junior and senior Marine Science, Marine Affairs, Applied Mathematics, and Environmental …

Effects Of Age, Mass, And Terrestrial Duration On Oxygen Store Development In Phocids And Otariids, Rachael M. Stevenson

HCNSO Student Capstones

Diving ontogeny among pinniped species was explored to determine how oxygen store development was affected by age, mass, and terrestrial duration between Phocidae and Otariidae. Distinct physiological and post-natal developmental differences exist between the two families which contribute to oxygen store and diving development. Blood oxygen data for six phocids and otariids and muscle oxygen data for two phocids and otariids were obtained. Body mass significantly (p

Shoreline Characterization In The Northern Indian River Lagoon, Melinda Donnelly, Michelle Shaffer, Suzanne Connor, Linda Walters

CEELAB Research Data

The purpose of this project was to evaluate current conditions of estuarine shorelines in the northern section of the Indian River Lagoon system, including Mosquito Lagoon, north Indian River, and Banana River. From January 2016 through June 2018, we evaluated structural and functional characteristics of 374 miles of shoreline, from Ponce Inlet in Volusia County to Sebastian Inlet in Brevard County (11,000+ data points). Hard-armoring accounted for approximately 50% of total shoreline, evenly divided between shoreline with bulkheads (25%) and hardened slopes (25%). Forty-five percent of shoreline without hard-armoring had anthropogenic alterations (i.e. mosquito impoundments, railroads and roadways, residential and …