The undergradtuate research project was the completion, manipulation and assessment of a population model. The stage based population model assessed the late larval and juveniles stages of the hard shell clam Mercenaria mercenaria. There were seven class sizes input into the model starting with pediveligers and ending with juveniles at...
Full Text:
, 417, 171–182. doi:10.3354/meps08809
Waldbusser, G. G., Bergschneider, H., & Green, M. A. (2010b
A majority of the world’s largest net-based fisheries target planktivorous forage fish that serve as a critical trophic link between the plankton and upper-level consumers such as large predatory fishes, seabirds, and marine mammals. Because the plankton production that drives forage fish also drives jellyfish production, these taxa often overlap...
Invasive species are a growing global economic and ecological problem. Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois spp.) are known to have extreme negative effects on coral-reef communities in the Bahamas, so understating their distribution within and among reefs, what limits their local movements, and the effects they have on native prey species...
Zooplankton fecal pellet flux is a highly variable component of the biological carbon pump. While fecal pellets can comprise 0 to nearly 100% of particulate organic carbon collected in sediment traps, mechanisms for this variability remain poorly understood. Fecal pellet carbon flux is a complex function of several variables. We...
Climate-driven changes in biotic interactions can profoundly alter ecological
communities, particularly when they impact foundation species. In marine systems,
changes in herbivory and the consequent loss of dominant habitat forming species can
result in dramatic community phase shifts, such as from coral to macroalgal
dominance when tropical fish herbivory decreases,...
Full Text:
).
3. Nykjaer L. 2009 Mediterranean Sea surface warming 1985-2006. Clim Res 39(1), 11-17. (doi:10.3354
Air-breathing marine animals face a complex set of physical challenges associated with diving that affect the decisions of how to optimize feeding. Baleen whales (Mysticeti) have evolved bulk-filter feeding mechanisms to efficiently feed on dense prey patches. Baleen whales are central place foragers where oxygen at the surface represents the...
We inferred the population densities of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and short-beaked
common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in the Northeast Pacific Ocean as functions
of the water-column’s physical structure by implementing hierarchical models in a Bayesian
framework. This approach allowed us to propagate the uncertainty of the field observations
into the...
The 20-year US GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics)
program examined zooplankton populations and their predators in four coastal
marine ecosystems. Program scientists learned that environmental controls on
zooplankton vital rates, especially the timing and magnitude of reproduction, growth,
life-cycle progression, and mortality, determine species population dynamics,
seasonal and spatial distributions,...
Marine heatwaves (“MHWs”) are discrete periods of anomalously warm ocean conditions that can lead to shifts in the distribution and abundance of marine organisms. Low-trophic level, pelagic forage species are frequently among those affected by MHWs, often resulting in considerable impacts upon their predators. In the North Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic...
We use density and microstructure data to characterize the properties and physical setting of optical thin layers observed over the New Jersey shelf in the summer of 2006. Layers were differentiated into two types by their vertical position in the water column, fluorescence intensity, and possibly community composition or cell...