Marine Biology Commons^™

High Predation On Small Populations: Avian Predation On Imperiled Salmonids, Ann-Marie Osterback, Danielle Frechette, Andrew Shelton, Sean Hayes, Morgan Bond, Scott A. Shaffer, Jonathan Moore

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Generalist predators can contribute to extinction risk of imperiled prey populations even through incidental predation. Quantifying predation on small populations is important to manage their recovery, however predation is often challenging to observe directly. Recovery of prey tags at predator colonies can indirectly provide minimum estimates of predation, however overall predation rates often remain unquantifiable because an unknown proportion of tags are deposited off‐colony. Here, we estimated overall predation rates on threatened wild juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss by generalist adult Western Gulls Larus occidentalis in six central California (USA) watersheds. We estimated predation rates by gulls from the recapture of …

Novel Pathways For Injury From Offshore Oil Spills: Direct, Sublethal And Indirect Effects Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On Pelagic Sargassum Communities, Sean P. Powers, Frank J. Hernandez, Jr, Robert H. Condon, J. Marcus Drymon, Christopher M. Free

University Faculty and Staff Publications

The pelagic brown alga Sargassum forms an oasis of biodiversity and productivity in an otherwise featureless ocean surface. The vast pool of oil resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill came into contact with a large portion of the Gulf of Mexico’s floating Sargassum mats. Aerial surveys performed during and after the oil spill show compelling evidence of loss and subsequent recovery of Sargassum. Expanding on the trends observed in the aerial surveys, we conducted a series of mesocosm experiments to test the effect of oil and dispersants on the vertical position and weight of the Sargassum complex ( …

University Scholar Series: Scott Shaffer, Scott Shaffer

University Scholar Series

A New Form Of Biotechnology: Novel Data Logging Devices Reveal Secrets About The Lives Of Marine Animals

On September 25, 2013, Dr. Scott Shaffer gave a talk titled “A New Form Of Biotechnology: Novel Data Logging Devices Reveal Secrets About The Lives Of Marine Animals” as part of the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Shaffer’s research focuses on the ecology, physiology, and conservation of marine vertebrate species. Specifically, he uses novel smart technologies to study long-range movements, distribution, and behavior of wild seabirds and marine mammals. This new …

Shellfish Tissue Monitoring In Piscataqua Region Estuaries 2012, Matthew A. Wood, Philip R. Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

Originally conducted by a committee of Canadian and US governments and university scientists, Gulfwatch examined the effects of decades of development and industrialization on the water quality of the Gulf of Maine as it relates to human health primarily through assessing contaminant exposure of marine organisms from 1993 to 2010. The NH Gulfwatch Program continues these efforts by collecting blue mussels at two sites in the Great Bay Estuary and one in the Hampron-Seabrook Estuary, and analyzes the organisms’ tissue for potentially harmful levels and concentrations of toxins including heavy metals, chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons …

Shellfish Tissue Monitoring In Piscataqua Region Estuaries 2010 And 2011, Matthew A. Wood, Philip R. Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

Conducted by a committee of Canadian and US government and university scientists, Gulfwatch examines the effects of decades of development and industrialization on the water quality of the Gulf as it relates to human health primarily through assessing contaminant exposure of marine organisms. Gulfwatch scientists collect blue mussels at over 60 US and Canadian sites Gulfwide, and analyze the organisms’ tissue for potentially harmful levels and concentrations of toxins including heavy metals, chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Migratory Patterns And Habitat Use Of The Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias Taurus) In The Western North Atlantic Ocean, Shara Marie Teter

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Large population declines for sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) in parts of its global range are well documented, resulting in a strong need for biologically informed conservation and management measures. Although sand tigers in the western North Atlantic have been listed as a Species of Concern by the US government since 1997, details of their seasonal migratory movements and especially vertical habitat use patterns along the US East Coast are limited. Understanding these movement patterns is vital to reducing fishery-related mortality of these sharks and informing other management efforts aimed at recovery of their stocks in the US Atlantic. …

Reported Incidences Of Parasitic Infections In Marine Mammals From 1892 To 1978, John R. Felix

Zea E-Books Collection

The role of parasites in the lives and deaths of marine mammals has been scrutinized by biologists for decades, but the scientific literature prior to 1978 has been difficult to acquire and time-consuming to search. Now this new and extensive bibliography gives researchers a convenient resource for reviewing the classical literature on parasites of marine mammals so that historical infection prevalence and geographical distribution can be easily and properly assessed. This book contains detailed information about accepted (or suspected) taxonomic synonyms and geographical information about the host and/or parasite, covering the parasite groups Acanthocephala, Acarina, Anoplura, Cestoda, Nematoda, and Trematoda, …

Technical Appendix: Economic Impact Of Commercial Fisheries On Local County Economies From Catch In California National Marine Sanctuaries 2010, 2011 And 2012, Vernon R. Leeworthy, Desiree Jerome, Kelsey Schueler

Working Papers

This report documents the data and methods of estimation used in estimating the economic impact of commercial fishing catch from all four National Marine Sanctuaries in California on local county economies in terms of harvest revenue received by fishermen and the associated economic impacts, including multiplier impacts, on total output, value added, income and the number of full- and part-time jobs.

This report is part of a series of reports meeting the priorities in the “Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) West Coast Region Socioeconomic Plan FY 2013 – FY 2014” and “national program priorities” on establishing the connection between …

A Quantitative Evaluation Of Growth In Leptodea Fragilis Before And After The Arrival Of Zebra Mussels In Lake Erie, Elizabeth Barkett, Robert A. Krebs, Matthew T. Begley

Undergraduate Research Posters 2013

The arrival of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes in the 1980’s marked several environmental changes, most notably in freshwater mussels in the Unionidae. There are no studies of population demographics of native Great Lake species before this period of time. In this study, several recent shell collections of Leptodea fragilis, a fast-growing freshwater mussel, were made on various beaches along Lake Erie. To compare the effects of the zebra mussels on L. fragilis, we compared growth rates, determined from size and estimated age of shells, to additional collections of L. fragilis from 1941 to 1967available at the Cleveland Museum …

The General Qapp For Long Island Sound Volunteer Coastal Monitoring (With Adoption Form), Jamie M.P. Vaudrey, Kimberly Gallagher

Department of Marine Sciences

The General QAPP for Long Island Sound Volunteer Coastal Monitoring is designed to streamline the process of writing a QAPP for Monitoring Programs in the Long Island Sound area. This document does not replace guidance on developing a program and is not sufficient as a stand-alone document to guide the initial development and sample design process for a monitoring program.

Evaluation Of Current Community-Based Monitoring Efforts And Recommendations For Developing A Cohesive Network Of Support For Monitoring Long Island Sound Embayments., Jamie M.P. Vaudrey, Jamie Alonzo, Adrienne Esposito, Curt Johnson, Maureen Dolan Murphy, Charles Yarish

Department of Marine Sciences

This project focuses on Long Island Sound embayments and represents an exploration of the potential for coordination among community-based water quality monitoring groups, and coordination between community-based groups and data end users, including scientists and managers. Community-based monitoring groups represent a potential valuable source of water quality information. The development of standardized protocols, training methods and reporting procedures will serve to provide end users with the confidence necessary to utilize the data collected as part of community-based monitoring programs. Both groups of stakeholders stand to benefit from this type of coordination with the ultimate benefit being a healthier, better understood …

Buoy Gear- A Potential For Bycatch Reduction In The Small-Scale Swordfish Fisheries: A Florida Experience And Indian Ocean Perspective., Evgeny V. Romanov, David W. Kerstetter, Travis Allan Moore, Pascal Bach

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

A swordfish buoy gear, an innovative fishing practice developed in USA in early 2000s, provide a possibility of direct swordfish targeting yielding high CPUE of target species and very low bycatch levels. Here we present a summary of US experience and discuss potential application of this gear in the Indian Ocean region in the perspective of small-scale fisheries development and bycatch reduction.

Review Of Report On The “Status Of Nearshore Finfish Stocks In South-Western Western Australia: Australian Herring And Tailor”, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

No abstract provided.

A Pre-Zygotic Barrier To Hybridization In Two Con-Generic Species Of Scleractinian Corals, Andrew H. Baird, Vivian R. Cumbo, Joana Figueiredo, Saki Harii

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Hybridization is often cited as a potential source of evolutionary novelty in the order Scleractinia. While hybrid embryos can be produced in vitro, it has been difficult to identify adult hybrids in the wild. Here, we tested the potential for hybridization between two closely related species in the family Fungiidae. We mixed approximately 5000 eggs of Ctenactis echinata with sperm from C. crassa. No hybrid embryos were produced. This observation adds to a growing body of evidence for pre-zygotic barriers to hybridization in corals and challenges the claim that hybridization is a major source of evolutionary novelty …

Penetration Of Uv-Visible Solar Radiation In The Global Oceans: Insights From Ocean Color Remote Sensing, Zhongping Lee, Chuanmin Hu, Shaoling Shang, Keping Du, Marlon Lewis, Robert Arnone, Robert Brewin

Faculty Publications

Penetration of solar radiation in the ocean is determined by the attenuation coefficient (K-d()). Following radiative transfer theory, K-d is a function of angular distribution of incident light and water's absorption and backscattering coefficients. Because these optical products are now generated routinely from satellite measurements, it is logical to evolve the empirical K-d to a semianalytical K-d that is not only spectrally flexible, but also the sun-angle effect is accounted for explicitly. Here, the semianalytical model developed in Lee et al. (2005b) is revised to account for the shift of phase function between molecular and particulate scattering from the short …

Great Bay Estuary Eelgrass Monitoring Program For 2013, Philip Trowbridge

Quality Assurance Project Plans

No abstract provided.

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary For 2012, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary declined in both distribution and biomass between 2011 and 2012, continuing the long-term trend of eelgrass loss. In 2012, eelgrass was once again mainly present in the Great Bay itself with limited distribution in Portsmouth Harbor and Little Bay. Eelgrass distribution in Great Bay decreased 1.5% between 2011 and 2012 with no change in biomass. In Great Bay,eelgrass distribution has declined 36% since 1996 and biomass is a quarter of what it was in the early 1990s. Nuisance macroalgae in Great Bay continued to proliferate in 2012 and to impact eelgrass by smothering eelgrass …

Demography And Population Dynamics Of Massive Coral Communities In Adjacent High Latitude Regions (United Arab Emirates), Kristi A. Foster, Greg Foster

HCAS Student Articles

Individual massive coral colonies, primarily faviids and poritids, from three distinct assemblages within the southeastern Arabian Gulf and northwestern Gulf of Oman (United Arab Emirates) were studied from 2006–2009. Annual photographic censuses of approximately 2000 colonies were used to describe the demographics (size class frequencies, abundance, area cover) and population dynamics under “normal” environmental conditions. Size class transitions included growth, which occurred in 10–20% of the colonies, followed in decending order by partial mortality (3–16%), colony fission (<5%) and ramet fusion (<3%). Recruitment and whole colony mortality rates were low (<0.7 colonies/m2) with minimal interannual variation. Transition matrices indicated that the Arabian Gulf assemblages have declining growth rates (λ<1) whereas the massive coral population is stable (λ = 1) in the Gulf of Oman. Projection models indicated that (i) the Arabian Gulf population and area cover declines would be exacerbated under 10-year and 16-year disturbance scenarios as the vital rates do not allow for recovery to pre-disturbance levels during these timeframes, and (ii) the Gulf of Oman assemblage could return to its pre-disturbance area cover but its overall population size would not fully recover under the same scenarios.

Jellyfish Body Plans Provide Allometric Advantages Beyond Low Carbon Content, Kylie A. Pitt, Carlos M. Duarte, Cathy H. Lucas, Kelly R. Sutherland, Robert H. Condon, Hermes Mianzan, Jennifer E. Purcell, Kelly L. Robinson, Shin-Ichi Uye

Faculty Publications

Jellyfish form spectacular blooms throughout the world's oceans. Jellyfish body plans are characterised by high water and low carbon contents which enables them to grow much larger than non-gelatinous animals of equivalent carbon content and to deviate from non-gelatinous pelagic animals when incorporated into allometric relationships. Jellyfish have, however, been argued to conform to allometric relationships when carbon content is used as the metric for comparison. Here we test the hypothesis that differences in allometric relationships for several key functional parameters remain for jellyfish even after their body sizes are scaled to their carbon content. Data on carbon and nitrogen …

Ccaat/Enhancer-Binding Protein Delta (C/Ebp-Delta) Expression In Antarctic Fishes: Implications For Cell Cycle And Apoptosis, Isaac Martin Sleadd

Dissertations and Theses

Chapter 1: Antarctic fishes are extremely cold adapted. Despite their inability to upregulate heat shock proteins, recent studies have demonstrated a capacity for heat response in these animals. A cDNA microarray study looked at the Notothenioid fish Trematomus bernacchii and revealed heat sensitivities for hundreds of genes, two of which code for members of the CCAAT/Enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) family of transcription factors. These molecular switches are best known for their roles in apoptosis, inflammation and cell cycle arrest. This dissertation further elucidates the role of C/EBP-delta in the Antarctic fishes T. bernacchii and Pagothenia borchgrevinki.

Chapter 2: C/EBP-delta is constitutively …