Survival of marine fishes during their early life history stage is tightly related to prey availability and predation pressure. Yet, our understanding of how individual larvae to entire assemblages are constrained by these factors is limited. We integrated biological sampling of larval fishes with fine-scale in situ imaging to relate...
This report is intended to provide a foundation for eventually developing one module of the Michigan Rapid Assessment Method (MiRAM). Specifically, it provides information on specific attributes of wetlands that can be used, along with information on species ranges, to help predict the assemblage of wildlife species most likely to...
This dissertation presents a different approach to understanding how amphibians are responding to disease through ontogeny. Although numerous efforts have been conducted to understand host responses to the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), studies have been restricted to distinct developmental stages. This dissertation provides information on host response to Bd across...
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...
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Andrew J. Pershing,2 Nicholas R. Record,3 Cynthia H. Pilskaln,4 Hans G. Dam,5
Leah R. Feinberg6
1School
Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) is an important commercial species along the west coast of North America, and its population dynamics are highly influenced by interactions between environmental variability and early life history distribution. However, the distribution of the early larvae stages of Dungeness crab offshore is poorly known. To fill...
Most marine fishes experience high rates of mortality during their early life history stages with far reaching consequences for adult population dynamics. Within a few weeks of hatching, relatively small changes in larval growth and mortality rates can lead to orders of magnitude variability in year-class strength. Growth and survival...
Earth is experiencing unprecedented biodiversity loss. Amphibians are at the forefront of this biodiversity loss, with species declines estimated to be more severe than those of birds and mammals. Amphibian population declines and extinctions are driven by a number of factors including climate change, habitat destruction, contaminants and disease but...
Most benthic marine fishes have a biphasic life cycle with a dispersive pelagic larval stage that spends weeks to months in the plankton before metamorphosing into juveniles and settling to benthic habitats. The magnitude of mortality during the early life stages of marine fishes typically drives variability in year-class strength....
Most benthic marine organisms have a bipartite life with an early pelagic stage that enables dispersal of offspring, connecting spatially separated populations, and a late stage where individuals reside in a benthic habitat. Settlement of pelagic offspring to bottom associated substrates is the process that connects the two life history...