Marine Biology Commons^™

Effects Of The Parasitic Dinoflagellate Hematodinium Sp. On Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus) Activity Predation And Habitat Selection, John M. Tiggelaar Ii

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus occurs along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, and in high salinity regions, they are subject to lethal infection by the parasitic dinoflagellate Hematodinium. In Virginia's seaside estuaries, the prevalence of Hematodinium infection of C. sapidus can sometimes exceed 50%, threatening the commercial fishery for this species. Indeed, other commercially important crustacean fisheries have approached collapse due to Hematodinium infections. Most studies of this host-parasite interaction have focused on epidemiology, host-pathogen dynamics, and pathogen transmission, and little is known about the impact of the parasite on host behavior and population dynamics. …

Invasionsoft: A Web-Enabled Tool For Invasive Species Colonization Predictions, Matthew W. Johnston, Samuel J. Purkis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Predicting and averting the spread of invasive species is a core focus of resource managers in all ecosystems. Patterns of invasion are difficult to forecast, compounded by a lack of user-friendly species distribution model (SDM) tools to help managers focus control efforts. This paper presents a web-based cellular automata hybrid modeling tool developed to study the invasion pattern of lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) in the western Atlantic and is a natural extension our previous lionfish study. Our goal is to make publically available this hybrid SDM tool and demonstrate both a test case (P. volitans/miles) and a …

Coral Recruitment To Two Vessel Grounding Sites Off Southeast Florida, Usa, Alison L. Moulding, Vladimir N. Kosmynin, David S. Gilliam

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Over the last two decades, more than 10 major vessel groundings have occurred on coral reefs offshore southeast Florida. Lack of any published information on coral settlement, post-settlement survival, and juvenile coral growth in the southeast Florida region inhibits efforts to determine if coral populations will be able to effectively re-establish themselves. The goal of this study was to examine these processes to obtain background data needed to determine the potential for natural recovery. Over a three year period annual coral recruitment, juvenile growth, and mortality rates were measured in 20 permanent quadrats at each of two ship grounding and …

Insights Into Migration And Development Of Coral Black Band Disease Based On Fine Structure Analysis, Aaron Miller, Patricia Blackwelder, Husain Al-Sayegh, Laurie L. Richardson

Biology Faculty Articles

In many diverse ecosystems, ranging from natural surfaces in aquatic ecosystems to the mammalian gut and medical implants, bacterial populations and communities exist as biofilms. While the process of biofilm development has been well-studied for those produced by unicellular bacteria such Pseudomonas aeruginosa, little is known about biofilm development associated with filamentous microorganisms. Black band disease (BBD) of corals is characterized as a polymicrobial biofilm (mat) community, visually-dominated by filamentous cyanobacteria. The mat migrates across a living coral host, completely lysing coral tissue and leaving behind exposed coral skeleton. It is the only known cyanobacterial biofilm that migrates across …

A Retrospective Analysis Of Sustainable Oyster Harvest From The Louisiana State Primary Seed Grounds, 1999-2010: A Shell-Neutral Modeling Approach, Thomas M. Soniat, Mahdi Abdelguerfi, Eric N. Powell, John M. Klinck, Eileen E. Hofmann, Shengru Tu, Nathan Cooper, Janak Dahal, John Finigan, Benjamin S. Eberline, Jerome F. La Peyre, Megan K. La Peyre, Keith B. Ibos, Brian Lezina, Patrick Banks

CCPO Publications

No abstract provided.

Siting Study For A Hydrokinetic Energy Project Located Offshore Southeastern Florida: Protocols For Survey Methodology For Offshore Marine Hydrokinetic Energy Projects, Charles Vinick, Charles Messing, Brian K. Walker, John K. Reed, Stephanie Rogers

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Dehlsen Associates, LLC was awarded a grant by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Golden Field Office for a project titled “Siting Study Framework and Survey Methodology for Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Project in Offshore Southeast Florida,” corresponding to DOE Grant Award Number DE-EE0002655 resulting from DOE funding Opportunity Announcement Number DE-FOA- 0000069 for Topic Area 2, and it is referred to herein as “the project.”

The purpose of the project was to enhance the certainty of the survey requirements and regulatory review processes for the purpose of reducing the time, efforts, and costs associated with initial siting efforts …

Weak Prezygotic Isolating Mechanisms In Threatened Caribbean Acropora Corals, Nicole D. Fogarty, Steven V. Vollmer, Don R. Levitan

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The Caribbean corals, Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis, recently have undergone drastic declines primarily as a result of disease. Previous molecular studies have demonstrated that these species form a hybrid (A. prolifera) that varies in abundance throughout the range of the parental distribution. There is variable unidirectional introgression across loci and sites of A. palmata genes flowing into A. cervicornis. Here we examine the efficacy of prezygotic reproductive isolating mechanisms within these corals including spawning times and choice and no-choice fertilization crosses. We show that these species have subtly different mean but overlapping spawning times, suggesting …

Spatial Analyses Of Benthic Habitats To Define Coral Reef Ecosystem Regions And Potential Biogeographic Boundaries Along A Latitudinal Gradient, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Marine organism diversity typically attenuates latitudinally from tropical to colder climate regimes. Since the distribution of many marine species relates to certain habitats and depth regimes, mapping data provide valuable information in the absence of detailed ecological data that can be used to identify and spatially quantify smaller scale (10 s km) coral reef ecosystem regions and potential physical biogeographic barriers. This study focused on the southeast Florida coast due to a recognized, but understudied, tropical to subtropical biogeographic gradient. GIS spatial analyses were conducted on recent, accurate, shallow-water (0–30 m) benthic habitat maps to identify and quantify specific regions …

Enhancing Thermal Tolerance By Eliminating The Pejus Range: A Comparative Study With Three Decapod Crustaceans, Jennifer A. Jost, Stephanie M. Podolski, Markus Frederich

Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine invertebrates in the intertidal and subtidal zones are often exposed to highly variable environmental conditions, especially rapid changes in temperature. The ability to survive at different temperatures has previously been described using an extended version of Shelford’s law of tolerance, with optimum, pejus (Latin: ‘turning worse’), and pessimum ranges, and the respective thresholds, critical (Tc) and pejus (Tp) temperatures, that mark the transition from one range into the next. The width of the pejus range, in which the scope for activity gradually declines, varies among species. We tested the hypothesis that the width of the …

Increased Variability Of Microbial Communities In Restored Salt Marshes Nearly 30 Years After Tidal Flow Restoration, Anne E. Bernhard, David Marshall, Lazaros Yiannos

Biology Faculty Publications

We analyzed microbial diversity and community composition from four salt marsh sites that were impounded for 40–50 years and subsequently restored and four unimpounded sites in southeastern Connecticut over one growing season. Community composition and diversity were assessed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and sequence analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Our results indicated diverse communities, with sequences representing 14 different bacterial divisions. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Planctomycetes dominated clone libraries from both restored and unimpounded sites. Multivariate analysis of the TRFLP data suggest significant site, sample date, and restoration status effects, but the exact causes of these …

Out Of Sight, But Not Out Of Mind: A Look At Nanoparticles In The Marine Environment, Evan Ward, John J. Doyle

Wrack Lines

Nanoparticles exist in many products used by humans, such as sunscreens. medications, cosmetics, paints and electronics. But what is the effect of these tiny particles on the ocean or estuarine environment when the sunscreen washes off? This article looks at that question and at shellfish in particular. Evan Ward and John Doyle are marine scientists at UConn.

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Cormorant?, Richard Jay King

Wrack Lines

How much do you really know about the cormorant? It's an amazing coastal bird, though not a very pretty one. Lately it has a bad rap as a destroyer of island ecosystems. This article talks about these avian creatures and their habits.

Dredging And Shipping Impacts On Southeast Florida Coral Reefs, Brian K. Walker, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Dodge, Joanna Walczak

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

Many coastal regions have experienced extensive population growth during the last century. Commonly, this growth has led to port development and expansion as well as increased vessel activity which can have detrimental effects on coral reef ecosystems. In southeast Florida, three major ports built in the late 1920’s along 112 km of coastline occur in close proximity to a shallow coral reef ecosystem. Recent habitat mapping data were analyzed in GIS to quantify the type and area of coral reef habitats impacted by port and shipping activities. Impact areas were adjusted by impact severity: 100% of dredge and burial areas, …

Diversity Of The Ohio River Bacterial Communities Using Next-Generation Sequencing Techniques, Emily Michele Anneken

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The ability to sequence bacterial genetic material directly from environmental samples has unlocked the field of metagenomics. Next-generation sequencing techniques, such as pyrosequencing, have been instrumental in providing knowledge about bacterial communities. This study focused on identifying the bacterial diversity of the Ohio River via pyrosequencing and compared the diversity of cultivable bacteria versus the entire river community. To ensure the maximum number of cultivable bacteria was obtained, cultures were grown on nonselective media and incubated at river temperature. Bacterial DNA was extracted, sequenced, and classified. The dominant phyla for the Ohio River included Cyanobacteria (38-66% of the total), Actinobacteria …

Orange Matters, Tom Raynor, Jay Cox, Eileen T. Jevis, Christine Yackel, Susan Parks

Syracuse University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Deep-Sea Origin And In-Situ Diversification Of Chrysogorgiid Octocorals, Catherine S. Mcfadden, Eric Pante, Scott C. France, Arnaud Couloux, Corinne Cruaud, Sarah Samadi, Les Watling

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

The diversity, ubiquity and prevalence in deep waters of the octocoral family Chrysogorgiidae Verrill, 1883 make it noteworthy as a model system to study radiation and diversification in the deep sea. Here we provide the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the Chrysogorgiidae, and compare phylogeny and depth distribution. Phylogenetic relationships among 10 of 14 currently-described Chrysogorgiidae genera were inferred based on mitochondrial (mtMutS, cox1) and nuclear (18S) markers. Bathymetric distribution was estimated from multiple sources, including museum records, a literature review, and our own sampling records (985 stations, 2345 specimens). Genetic analyses suggest that the Chrysogorgiidae as currently described is …

Ecology Of Marine Bivalves: An Ecosystem Approach, Second Edition, Richard F. Dame

CCU Faculty Books

Exploring the potential use of bivalves as indicators and monitors of ecosystem health, this book describes live and computer simulated experiments, mesocosm studies, and field manipulation experiments. This second edition discusses major new developments, including phase shifts in many coastal and estuarine ecosystems dominated by suspension-feeding bivalves, the invasion or introduction of alien bivalve species, the rapid growth of environmental restoration focused on bivalves, and the examination of geological history with regard to global climate change and its impact on bivalve-dominated systems.

Preface In New Approaches To The Study Of Marine Mammals, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

When Whales Became Mammals: The Scientific Journey Of Cetaceans From Fish To Mammals In The History Of Science, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Despite Losing Its Mittens, A Chinese Mitten Crab Finds Its Way To Connecticut, Nancy C. Balcom

Wrack Lines

A new invasive species for Connecticut: the Chinese mitten crab. Only one of this invasive crustacean species was spotted, but there will be more on the way.