Marine Biology Commons^™

On The Recurrent Ulva Prolifera Blooms In The Yellow Sea And East China Sea, Chuanmin Hu, Daqiu Li, Changsheng Chen, Jianzhong Ge, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Junpeng Liu, Feng Yu, Ming-Xia He

Marine Science Faculty Publications

A massive bloom of the green macroalgae Ulva prolifera (previously known as Enteromorpha prolifera) occurred in June 2008 in the Yellow Sea (YS), resulting in perhaps the largest “green tide” event in history. Using a novel index (Floating Algae Index) and multiresolution remote sensing data from MODIS and Landsat, we show that U. prolifera patches appeared nearly every year between April and July 2000–2009 in the YS and/or East China Sea (ECS), which all originated from the nearshore Subei Bank. A finite volume numerical circulation model, driven by realistic forcing and boundary conditions, confirmed this finding. Analysis of meteorological/environmental …

Shoreland Protection In Maine Communities Of The Piscataqua River Estuary, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission

PREP Reports & Publications

The Management Plan for the Piscataqua Rive r Estuary Program’s (PREP) includes several action plans to improve municipal regulatory protections for stream and wetland buffers. This project objective was to identify and prioritize appropriate shoreland areas for protection within Maine towns that are within the PREP region, and inform municipalities and land trusts about these areas, and the importance for protecting them.

Development Of Representative Species-Level Molecular Markers And Morphological Character Analysis Of Leucothoid Amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda), Kristine Nicolle White

Dissertations

Leucothoid amphipods were investigated using morphology and molecular rDNA gene sequence fragments. The morphological diagnostic characters for traditional taxonomy have been clarified, a molecular marker for representative species has been developed, and one of the current anamorph-leucomorph connections has been confirmed with molecular sequence data. Ultimately this study has combined traditional morphological and modern molecular methods to clarify the taxonomy and to propose a preliminary phylogeny of the Leucothoidae. Analysis of 18S rDNA gene fragments from 13 species in two genera supported the current morphological species designations and the separation of the family into two clades. Combined analysis of 18S …

Systematic Revision Of The Kalliapseudidae (Crustacea: Peracarida: Tanaidacea) And The Population Genetic Structure And Phylogeography Of A Species Along The Southeastern And Gulf Coasts Of North America, David Thomas Drumm

Dissertations

The Kalliapseudidae is a family of shallow burrow-dwelling marine and estuarine tanaidaceans. There are currently 39 known species of 12 genera and three subfamilies. They are primarily circumtropical in distribution; however, several species are found in temperate waters. The phylogeny of Kalliapseudidae is assessed to test the monophyly of currently accepted subfamilies and genera, based largely on examination of material loaned from various museums and institutions. Multiple exemplars from other apseudomorph families were also included in the ingroup to test the monophyly of the family. Parsimony analyses included 41 terminal taxa and 64 binary and multistate morphological characters. Analyses based …

Implementation Of The Great Works River Non-Point Source Pollution Watershed Management Plan, Tin Smith

PREP Reports & Publications

This project was a collaboration between the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Great Works Regional Land Trust, and the Great Works River Watershed Coalition to implement five of the “Highest Priority” tasks from the Action Plan of the Great Works River Nonpoint Source Pollution Watershed Management Plan (2007). The Great Works River drains 6 towns in southwest coastal Maine flowing into the estuary portion of the Salmon Falls and Piscataqua Rivers. The project included involving a steering committee of stakeholders, a buffer outreach effort, updating water quality data, invasive species education, improving access to information, and developing a plan for …

Town Of Brentwood Stormwater Management Project, Vanasse Hangen & Brustlin

PREP Reports & Publications

Vanasse Hangen & Brustlin (VHB) worked with the Brentwood Planning Board to develop and adopt a stormwater management ordinance intended to improve development practices primarily for commercial sites and new subdivisions.

Relationships Between Particle Properties And Scattering In Coastal Waters Of The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Influenced By The Mississippi River, Bruce Alan Spiering

Dissertations

This study was conducted to determine how the characteristics of an assemblage of suspended particles, including their composition and size affect the relationship between the optical scattering coefficient b (m-1), and the dry mass of the particles in suspension. Knowledge of the scattering to total suspended matter (TSM) ratio, i.e. the mass specific scattering coefficient b* (m2/g), is important because the light detected by optical imaging sensors used for remote sensing is the light that has been scattered by particles back through the water surface. If this ratio is not known or varies within the region of interest, accurate estimates …

Transplantation And Parrotfish Predation: A Study On Small Siderastrea Siderea Colonies Offshore Broward County, Fl Usa, Allison S. Brownlee

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

With increasing coastal development along southeastern Florida, nearshore coral reef communities are at an increased risk from anthropogenic impacts. Impact minimization and mitigation efforts associated with permitted coastal construction activities generally exclude nearshore small (< 10 cm diameter) Siderastrea siderea colonies from required coral transplantation due to an assumed high colony mortality associated with transplanting small stony corals. This study evaluated the efficacy of transplanting these small colonies by monitoring survival, growth, and zooxanthellae density post transplantation to an offshore reef area. Unexpected observations of parrotfish predation on the newly transplanted corals were made within the first 24 hours. Within 2 weeks, 94% …

Stonehouse Pond Conservation, Gregg Caporossi

PREP Reports & Publications

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is partnering with New Hampshire Fish and Game, the Town of Barrington, and Strafford Rivers Conservancy to complete the Stonehouse Pond Conservation Project - a collaborative effort to protect 241 forested acres surrounding Stonehouse Pond in New Hampshire's fast growing coastal region. The property, located within a 4,200-acre block of unfragmented forest, has been recognized as a conservation priority in the NH Wildlife Action Plan and the Land Conservation Plan for the NH's Coastal Watersheds, and is part of TPL's broader Coastal Conservation Initiative. TPL has secured an option to purchase the properties …

Zooplankton Population Dynamics In The Upper Mississippi River-Lake System, Krystal Michaels

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

The Loss Of Species: Mangrove Extinction Risk And Geographic Areas Of Global Concern, Beth A. Polidoro, Kent E. Carpenter, Lorna Collins, Norman C. Duke, Aaron M. Ellison, Joanna C. Ellison, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, Edwino S. Fernando, Kandasamy Kathiresan, Nico E. Koedam, Suzanne R. Livingstone, Toyohiko Miyagi, Gregg E. Moore, Vien Ngoc Nam, Jin Eong Ong, Jurgenne H. Primavera, Serverino G. Salmo, Jonnell C. Sanciango, Sukristijono Sukardjo, Yamin Wang, Jean Wan Hong Yong

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mangrove species are uniquely adapted to tropical and subtropical coasts, and although relatively low in number of species, mangrove forests provide at least US $1.6 billion each year in ecosystem services and support coastal livelihoods worldwide. Globally, mangrove areas are declining rapidly as they are cleared for coastal development and aquaculture and logged for timber and fuel production. Little is known about the effects of mangrove area loss on individual mangrove species and local or regional populations. To address this gap, species-specific information on global distribution, population status, life history traits, and major threats were compiled for each of the …

Stewardship Plan For Garrity Reserve, Lee, Nh, Ellen Snyder

PREP Reports & Publications

The 16.02-acre Garrity Reserve lies on the west side of Garrity Road in the northeast region of the Town of Lee, New Hampshire (Map 1). The Garrity Reserve is identified on the Lee Tax Map as Map 9 Lots 3- 0 and 3-1 (Appendix A). The parcel has just over 790-feet of frontage on Garrity Road. There is no parking on the property; visitors park on the opposite side of Garrity Road, alongside the Gluke cemetery. The property is bordered by a residential subdivision to the west and rural residences to the north and south. A large portion of the …

Investigations Into The Application Of Single-Beam Acoustic Backscatter For Describing Shallow Water Marine Habitats, Greg Foster

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1

Producing thematic coral reef benthic habitat maps from single-beam acoustic backscatter has been hindered by uncertainties in interpreting the acoustic energy parameters E1 (~roughness) and E2 (~hardness), typically limiting such maps to sediment classification schemes. In this study acoustic interpretation was guided by high-resolution LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) bathymetry. Each acoustic record, acquired from a BioSonics DT-X echosounder and multiplexed 38 and 418 kHz transducers, was paired with a spatially-coincident value of a LIDAR-derived proxy for topographic complexity (Reef-Volume) and its membership to one of eight LIDAR-delineated benthic habitat classes. The discriminatory capabilities of the 38 and …

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) Observations Of Cyanobacteria Blooms In Taihu Lake, China, Chuanmin Hu, Zhongping Lee, Ronghua Ma, Kun Yu, Daqiu Li, Shaoling Shang

Marine Science Faculty Publications

A novel approach was used with data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to characterize the intense blooms of cyanobacteria (primarily Microcystis aeruginosa) in Taihu Lake, China's third largest freshwater lake. The approach involves first deriving a floating algae index (FAI) based on the medium‐resolution (250 and 500 m) MODIS reflectance data at 645, 859, and 1240 nm after correction of the ozone/gaseous absorption and Rayleigh scattering effects and then objectively determining the FAI threshold value (−0.004) to separate the bloom and nonbloom waters. By definition, the term “bloom” or “floating algae” refers to bloom where cyanobacteria form …

A Test Of The Area Of Refuge Hypothesis In Indo-Pacific Marine Biogeography, Jonnell C. Sanciangco

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the marine biogeographic patterns of species richness of the Indo-Pacific. One of these hypotheses suggests that available habitat area is the main predictor of species richness. This is the basis for the area of refuge hypothesis that attempts to explain the global maxima of species richness found in the Coral Triangle, the area encompassing mostly the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This species-area effect also has habitat heterogeneity as a potential component. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of habitat availability predictors, such as shallow water area and coastline length …

Stewardship Plan For The 5 Corners Reserve, Lee, Nh, Ellen Snyder

PREP Reports & Publications

The 20.7–acre Lee Five Corners Reserve (Reserve) is located north of Route 4 and west of Snell Road in the northern “Five Corners” region of Lee, New Hampshire. The property is accessed at the end of Old Concord Turnpike, which leads northwest from Snell Road near the intersection of Route 155 (Map 1). The gravel access road continues through the Five Corners Reserve and onto a Town of Durham parcel that houses a public drinking water well. An iron gate that blocks public access to the Durham well site is located on the Five Corners Reserve. A small parking area …

The Ontogeny Of Muscle Structure And Locomotory Function In The Long-Finned Squid Doryteuthis Pealeii, J. T. Thompson, I. K. Bartol, A. E. Baksi, P. S. Krueger

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the extent to which changes in muscle form and function underlie ontogenetic changes in locomotory behaviors and performance is important in understanding the evolution of musculoskeletal systems and also the ecology of different life stages. We explored ontogenetic changes in the structure, myosin heavy chain (MHC) expression and contractile properties of the circular muscles that provide power for jet locomotion in the long-finned squid Doryteuthis pealeii. The circular muscle fibers of newly hatched paralarvae had different sizes, shapes, thick filament lengths, thin: thick filament ratio, myofilament organization and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) distribution than those of adults. Viewed in …

Review Of Erosion And Sedimentation Control Programs In The Piscataqua Region, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, Ken Hickey, Cayce Dalton, Jeff Clifford

PREP Reports & Publications

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) seeks to minimize adverse impacts to water resources associated with construction site development activities. In order to achieve this goal, PREP must understand the strengths and weaknesses of existing erosion and sedimentation control (E&SC) programs in the 52 municipalities of the PREP water shed (Figure 1-1). A detailed understanding of the existing E&SC programs will enable PREP and other stakeholders to identify and implement actions to improve E&SC programs and minimize adverse impacts. This report provides a review and assessment of existing erosion and sedimentation control programs and a set of recommendations for improving …

Diversity Partitioning Of Stony Corals Across Multiple Spatial Scales Around Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, Robert Van Woesik, Assaf Zvuloni, Yossi Loya

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The coral reefs of Zanzibar Island (Unguja, Tanzania) encompass a considerable proportion of the global coralreef diversity and are representative of the western Indian Ocean region. Unfortunately, these reefs have been recently subjected to local and regional disturbances. The objectives of this study were to determine whether there are potentially non-random processes forcing the observed coral diversity patterns, and highlight where and at which spatial scales these processes might be most influential. Methodology/Principal Findings: A hierarchical (nested) sampling design was employed across three spatial scales, ranging from transects (≤20 m), stations (<100 m), to sites (<1000 m), to examine coral diversity patterns. Two of the four sites, Chumbe and Mnemba, were located within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), while the other two sites, Changuu and Bawe, were not protected. Additive partitioning of coral diversity was used to separate regional (total) diversity (γ) into local a diversity and among-sample β diversity components. Individual-based null models were used to identify deviations from random distribution across the three spatial scales. We found that Chumbe and Mnemba had similar diversity components to those predicted by the null models. However, the diversity at Changuu and Bawe was lower than expected at all three spatial scales tested. Consequently, the relative contribution of the among-site diversity component was significantly greater than expected. Applying partitioning analysis for each site separately revealed that the within-transect diversity component in Changuu was significantly lower than the null expectation. Conclusions/Significance: The non-random outcome of the partitioning analyses helped to identify the among-sites scale (i.e., 10's of kilometers) and the within-transects scale (i.e., a few meters; especially at Changuu) as spatial boundaries within which to examine the processes that may interact and disproportionately differentiate coral diversity. In light of coral community compositions and diversity patterns we strongly recommend that Bawe be declared a MPA.

Processes Influencing Seasonal Hypoxia In The Northern California Current System, Thomas Connolly, Barbara Hickey, S. Geier, William Cochlan

Faculty Publications

This paper delineates the role of physical and biological processes contributing to hypoxia, dissolved oxygen (DO) < 1.4 mL/L, over the continental shelf of Washington State in the northern portion of the California Current System. In the historical record (1950–1986), during the summer upwelling season, hypoxia is more prevalent and severe off Washington than further south off northern Oregon. Recent data (2003–2005) show that hypoxia over the Washington shelf occurred at levels previously observed in the historical data. The year 2006 was an exception, with hypoxia covering ∼5000 km2 of the Washington continental shelf and DO concentrations below 0.5 mL/L at the inner shelf, lower than any known previous observations at that location. In the 4 years studied, upwelling of low DO water and changes in source water contribute to interannual variability, but cannot account for seasonal decreases below hypoxic concentrations. Deficits of DO along salinity surfaces, indicating biochemical consumption of DO, vary significantly between surveys, accounting for additional decreases of 0.5–2.5 mL/L by late summer. DO consumption is associated with denitrification, an indicator of biochemical sediment processes. Mass balances of DO and nitrate show that biochemical processes in the water column and sediments each contribute ∼50% to the total consumption of DO in near-bottom water. At shorter than seasonal time scales on the inner shelf, along-shelf advection of hypoxic patches and cross-shelf advection of seasonal gradients are both shown to be important, changing DO concentrations by 1.5 mL/L or more over 5 days.