Marine Biology Commons^™

Evaluating Ecosystem Response To Oyster Restoration And Nutrient Load Reduction With A Multispecies Bioenergetics Model, Richard S. Fulford, Denise L. Breitburg, Mark Luckenbach, Roger I.E. Newell

Faculty Publications

Many of the world's coastal ecosystems are impacted by multiple stressors each of which may be subject to different management strategies that may have overlapping or even conflicting objectives. Consequently, management results may be indirect and difficult to predict or observe. We developed a network simulation model intended specifically to examine ecosystem-level responses to management and applied this model to a comparison of nutrient load reduction and restoration of highly reduced stocks of bivalve suspension feeders (eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica) in an estuarine ecosystem (Chesapeake Bay, USA). Model results suggest that a 50% reduction in nutrient inputs from the watershed …

Behavior And Physiology Of Hermit Crabs During Burial: Shell Abandonment And Lactate Accumulation, Janelle Allison Shives

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Organisms living in the intertidal zone must adapt to environmental and physical stressors. One physical stressor that these organisms may face, and that may require specific behavioral and physiological responses, is burial by sediment. In this thesis I report the results of experiments in which I subjected the intertidal hermit crab, Pagurus samuelis, to burial and analyzed aspects of subsequent behavior and physiology. In the first set of experiments, hermit crabs were buried with the shell aperture facing either up or down, and at one of three depths (2, 4, or 6 cm). The factors hermit crab weight, shell …

A Sea Change For Aquatic Sustainability : Meeting The Challenge Of Fish Resources Management And Aquatic Sustainability In The 21st Century, Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries Occasional Publications

No abstract provided.

Hydrodynamic Fin Function Of Brief Squid, Lolliguncula Brevis, William J. Stewart, Ian K. Bartol, Paul S. Krueger

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Although the pulsed jet is often considered the foundation of a squid's locomotive system, the lateral fins also probably play an important role in swimming, potentially providing thrust, lift and dynamic stability as needed. Fin morphology and movement vary greatly among squid species, but the locomotive role of the fins is not well understood. To begin to elucidate the locomotive role of the fins in squids, fin hydrodynamics were studied in the brief squid Lolliguncula brevis, a species that exhibits a wide range of fin movements depending on swimming speed. Individual squid were trained to swim in both the …

River Road New Castle Marsh Restoration Recommendations, Rockingham County Conservation District

PREP Reports & Publications

PREP’s 2009 (YR 13) workplan allocated $30,000 of EPA 320 funds for restoration project funding (Workplan ID 09-D-2). $9,500 of this allocation went to the Rockingham County Conservation District (RCCD) to fund planning work on two separate salt marsh restoration projects: 1. Stuart Farm (Stratham, NH) 2. River Road Marsh (New Castle, NH)

Upper Ocean Response To The Atmospheric Cold Pools Associated With The Madden-Julian Oscillation, Suyang Pei, Toshiaki Shinoda, Alexander Soloviev, Ren-Chieh Lien

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Atmospheric cold pools are frequently observed during the Madden‐Julian Oscillation events and play an important role in the development and organization of large‐scale convection. They are generally associated with heavy precipitation and strong winds, inducing large air‐sea fluxes and significant sea surface temperature (SST) fluctuations. This study provides a first detailed investigation of the upper ocean response to the strong cold pools associated with the Madden‐Julian Oscillation, based on the analysis of in situ data collected during the Dynamics of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign and one‐dimensional ocean model simulations validated by the data. During strong cold pools, SST …

Changing Patterns Of Microhabitat Utilization By The Threespot Damselfish, Stegastes Planifrons, On Caribbean Reefs, William F. Precht, Richard B. Aronson, Ryan M. Moody, Les M. Kaufman

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The threespot damselfish, Stegastes planifrons (Cuvier), is important in mediating interactions among corals, algae, and herbivores on Caribbean coral reefs. The preferred microhabitat of S. planifrons is thickets of the branching staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis. Within the past few decades, mass mortality of A. cervicornis from white-band disease and other factors has rendered this coral a minor ecological component throughout most of its range. Methodology/Principal Findings:Survey data from Jamaica (heavily fished), Florida and the Bahamas (moderately fished), the Cayman Islands (lightly to moderately fished), and Belize (lightly fished) indicate that distributional patterns of S. planifrons are positively correlated with live …

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 …