A synthesis of information products about environmental stressors provided in near real-time can serve environmental managers who seek to act decisively before stressors become unmanageable. We have created ecological forecasts, i.e., ecoforecasts, based on input from a variety of environmental sensors that report in near real-time, and we subsequently send those ecoforecasts to environmental managers. The application behind these ecoforecasts is Python-based software that uses an artificial intelligence (AI) inference engine called an expert system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Information Synthesizer (NEIS), formerly the Environmental Information Synthesizer for Expert Systems (EISES), has been developed over two decades to meet the needs of environmental managers and scientists. NEIS integrates environmental data from multiple sources, including in situ and satellite sensors. The application produces ecoforecasts designed to identify environmental conditions conducive to mass coral bleaching and bleaching of specific coral species, as well as other marine environmental events such as algal blooms. This study evaluates the efficacy of coral bleaching ecoforecasts generated by NEIS for the Florida reef tract covering the years 2005–2017.
{"title":"Operational ecoforecasting for coral reefs using artificial intelligence and integrated near real-time environmental data","authors":"L. Gramer, Madison Soden, J. Hendee","doi":"10.5343/bms.2022.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0012","url":null,"abstract":"A synthesis of information products about environmental stressors provided in near real-time can serve environmental managers who seek to act decisively before stressors become unmanageable. We have created ecological forecasts, i.e., ecoforecasts, based on input from a variety of environmental sensors that report in near real-time, and we subsequently send those ecoforecasts to environmental managers. The application behind these ecoforecasts is Python-based software that uses an artificial intelligence (AI) inference engine called an expert system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Information Synthesizer (NEIS), formerly the Environmental Information Synthesizer for Expert Systems (EISES), has been developed over two decades to meet the needs of environmental managers and scientists. NEIS integrates environmental data from multiple sources, including in situ and satellite sensors. The application produces ecoforecasts designed to identify environmental conditions conducive to mass coral bleaching and bleaching of specific coral species, as well as other marine environmental events such as algal blooms. This study evaluates the efficacy of coral bleaching ecoforecasts generated by NEIS for the Florida reef tract covering the years 2005–2017.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70884272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Habitat loss is a primary threat to seahorses, pipefishes, and their relatives (family Syngnathidae) globally. Conservation intervention is difficult or ineffective when species lack critical habitat information. To better understand the habitat associations of syngnathids we conducted underwater visual surveys of 79 sites in three habitat categories (Reef, Continuous, and Discontinuous Submerged Rooted Vegetation) in Biscayne National Park (BNP), a coastal Marine Protected Area (MPA) in southeastern Florida. We recorded nine syngnathid species in our surveys; presence/absence data was analyzed alongside a suite of abiotic and biotic variables. Nonparametric statistical tests indicated that syngnathids were significantly more abundant inside Biscayne Bay; we did not detect any syngnathids at reef sites despite reef-associated species being previously reported in BNP. Additional analyses indicated that sites where syngnathids were present were characterized by fine sediment, reduced horizontal visibility, high seagrass coverage, and low coverage of sessile benthic invertebrates and reef-associated turf algae. The most important predictor of syngnathid presence was a predominance of fine sediment—an indicator of low-velocity hydrodynamic conditions—and seagrass coverage at occupied sites was nearly double that of unoccupied sites. Variation in habitat use among the three most abundant sympatric syngnathids (Hippocampus zosterae, Syngnathus scovelli, and Syngnathus floridae) indicates niche partitioning based on salinity, local hydrodynamic regime, and seagrass coverage. Our study points to the value of protecting sheltered seagrass beds; heightened vulnerability habitat change—driven by watershed development, impacts from fisheries, recreation and tourism, and climate change—necessitates coordinated management of land use outside of the protected area.
栖息地丧失是全球海马、管鱼及其近亲(管鱼科)的主要威胁。当物种缺乏关键的栖息地信息时，保护干预是困难的或无效的。为了更好地了解合颌纲动物的栖息地关系，我们对佛罗里达州东南部沿海海洋保护区比斯坎国家公园(Biscayne National Park，简称BNP)的79个地点进行了水下目视调查。我们在调查中记录了9种合颌鱼;存在/不存在数据与一套非生物和生物变量一起进行分析。非参数统计检验表明，合胞虫在比斯坎湾内的丰度明显更高;尽管之前在BNP报道过与珊瑚礁相关的物种，但我们没有在珊瑚礁遗址中发现任何合鱼。其他分析表明，合胞藻存在的地点具有沉积物细，水平能见度低，海草覆盖率高，无底栖无脊椎动物和珊瑚礁相关草坪藻类覆盖率低的特征。合胞藻存在的最重要的预测因子是细沉积物的优势——一种低速水动力条件的指标——海草覆盖在被占领的地点几乎是未被占领地点的两倍。三种最丰富的同域合颌纲(海马体、褐尾合颌和佛罗里达合颌)栖息地利用的变化表明，生态位分配基于盐度、当地水动力状况和海草覆盖。我们的研究指出了保护有遮蔽的海草床的价值;受流域开发、渔业、休闲和旅游业的影响以及气候变化的驱动，脆弱性加剧的栖息地变化需要对保护区以外的土地利用进行协调管理。
{"title":"Habitat associations and threat vulnerabilities of seahorses and pipefishes (Syngnathidae) in Biscayne National Park, Florida, USA","authors":"E. Stump, J. Rosenfeld, Acj Vincent","doi":"10.5343/bms.2022.0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0067","url":null,"abstract":"Habitat loss is a primary threat to seahorses, pipefishes, and their relatives (family Syngnathidae) globally. Conservation intervention is difficult or ineffective when species lack critical habitat information. To better understand the habitat associations of syngnathids we conducted underwater visual surveys of 79 sites in three habitat categories (Reef, Continuous, and Discontinuous Submerged Rooted Vegetation) in Biscayne National Park (BNP), a coastal Marine Protected Area (MPA) in southeastern Florida. We recorded nine syngnathid species in our surveys; presence/absence data was analyzed alongside a suite of abiotic and biotic variables. Nonparametric statistical tests indicated that syngnathids were significantly more abundant inside Biscayne Bay; we did not detect any syngnathids at reef sites despite reef-associated species being previously reported in BNP. Additional analyses indicated that sites where syngnathids were present were characterized by fine sediment, reduced horizontal visibility, high seagrass coverage, and low coverage of sessile benthic invertebrates and reef-associated turf algae. The most important predictor of syngnathid presence was a predominance of fine sediment—an indicator of low-velocity hydrodynamic conditions—and seagrass coverage at occupied sites was nearly double that of unoccupied sites. Variation in habitat use among the three most abundant sympatric syngnathids (Hippocampus zosterae, Syngnathus scovelli, and Syngnathus floridae) indicates niche partitioning based on salinity, local hydrodynamic regime, and seagrass coverage. Our study points to the value of protecting sheltered seagrass beds; heightened vulnerability habitat change—driven by watershed development, impacts from fisheries, recreation and tourism, and climate change—necessitates coordinated management of land use outside of the protected area.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
W. Sharp, G. Delgado, Aaron R. Pilnick, Joshua T. Patterson
The functional loss of herbivory on Caribbean coral reefs following an epizootic-driven die-off of the long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum) in the 1980s and its lack of recovery has inspired efforts to re-establish an ecologically viable population throughout the region. An area of focus is to develop scalable methods for producing D. antillarum through aquaculture from gametes for release onto coral reefs. We had earlier observed that aquaculture-produced D. antillarum lacked the strong diurnal sheltering behavior exhibited by wild individuals. Based upon those findings, subsequent cohorts of aquaculture-produced individuals were therefore maintained under a natural diurnal cycle of UV-filtered sunlight and provided ample access to structure that mimicked its natural shelter. An examination of the sheltering behavior of D. antillarum from one of these cohorts found the pronounced diurnal sheltering behavior typical of wild individuals. This observation underscores the potential that the behavioral deficit observed in earlier hatchery-propagated D. antillarum can be mediated and ecologically functional individuals can be produced through this aquaculture process.
{"title":"Diurnal sheltering behavior of hatchery-propagated long-spined urchins (Diadema antillarum): a re-examination following husbandry refinements","authors":"W. Sharp, G. Delgado, Aaron R. Pilnick, Joshua T. Patterson","doi":"10.5343/bms.2022.0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0054","url":null,"abstract":"The functional loss of herbivory on Caribbean coral reefs following an epizootic-driven die-off of the long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum) in the 1980s and its lack of recovery has inspired efforts to re-establish an ecologically viable population throughout the region. An area of focus is to develop scalable methods for producing D. antillarum through aquaculture from gametes for release onto coral reefs. We had earlier observed that aquaculture-produced D. antillarum lacked the strong diurnal sheltering behavior exhibited by wild individuals. Based upon those findings, subsequent cohorts of aquaculture-produced individuals were therefore maintained under a natural diurnal cycle of UV-filtered sunlight and provided ample access to structure that mimicked its natural shelter. An examination of the sheltering behavior of D. antillarum from one of these cohorts found the pronounced diurnal sheltering behavior typical of wild individuals. This observation underscores the potential that the behavioral deficit observed in earlier hatchery-propagated D. antillarum can be mediated and ecologically functional individuals can be produced through this aquaculture process.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jonathan R. Rodemann, W. R. James, J. Rehage, H. Baktoft, Sophia V. Costa, R. D. Ellis, Lizbeth Gonzalez, Rolando Santos Corujo
The Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is the largest grouper species in the Atlantic and exhibits high site fidelity and limited range of movement. By 1990, the goliath grouper population in US waters had declined approximately 95% relative to unfished levels, leading to a harvest ban in 1990. Since then, the south Florida population has grown but the magnitude of recovery remains unknown due to uncertainties about life history characteristics. However, despite these unknowns, the state of Florida approved a limited recreational harvest of goliath grouper. In 2021, fine-scale habitat use of three juvenile goliath grouper was investigated using acoustic telemetry and a positioning solver. All three individuals exhibited high site fidelity as well as a diel habitat use pattern, utilizing seagrass habitat during the night and mangrove habitat during the day. Fine-scale acoustic telemetry provides insight into not only habitat use, but broader habitat preferences as well. This study illustrates the need to consider deep seagrass-dominated channels lined with red mangroves when protecting juvenile goliath grouper populations within Florida Bay, especially as the population is opened to harvest.
{"title":"Residency and fine-scale habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) in a mangrove nursery","authors":"Jonathan R. Rodemann, W. R. James, J. Rehage, H. Baktoft, Sophia V. Costa, R. D. Ellis, Lizbeth Gonzalez, Rolando Santos Corujo","doi":"10.5343/bms.2022.0061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0061","url":null,"abstract":"The Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is the largest grouper species in the Atlantic and exhibits high site fidelity and limited range of movement. By 1990, the goliath grouper population in US waters had declined approximately 95% relative to unfished levels, leading to a harvest ban in 1990. Since then, the south Florida population has grown but the magnitude of recovery remains unknown due to uncertainties about life history characteristics. However, despite these unknowns, the state of Florida approved a limited recreational harvest of goliath grouper. In 2021, fine-scale habitat use of three juvenile goliath grouper was investigated using acoustic telemetry and a positioning solver. All three individuals exhibited high site fidelity as well as a diel habitat use pattern, utilizing seagrass habitat during the night and mangrove habitat during the day. Fine-scale acoustic telemetry provides insight into not only habitat use, but broader habitat preferences as well. This study illustrates the need to consider deep seagrass-dominated channels lined with red mangroves when protecting juvenile goliath grouper populations within Florida Bay, especially as the population is opened to harvest.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Aeby, Gareth J. Williams, D. Whitall, A. Davies, Elizabeth Fromuth, B. Walker
Dark spot disease (DSD) was first reported within Florida’s coral reefs in the 1990s but factors affecting its spatial distribution have not been well studied. We used a 14-year (2005–2019) coral monitoring data set, utilizing 2242 surveys collected along Florida’s coral reefs (about 530 linear km) to explore the spatial and temporal patterns of DSD occurrence. We built predictive statistical models to test for correlations between a suite of environmental and human impact factors and the occurrence of DSD in the reef coral, Siderastrea siderea. DSD in S. siderea is a chronic disease which occurred in all 14 years of the study. Annual DSD prevalence ranged from 0.45% to 4.4% and the proportion of survey sites that had DSD ranged from 4.8% to 30.9%. During the study period, DSD became more widespread across Florida’s coral reefs and affected a higher proportion of S. siderea populations. Spatial variations in DSD correlated with environmental and human factors which together explained 64.4% of the underlying variability. The most influential factors were concentration of silica in the surface waters (a proxy for freshwater input), the total number of coral hosts, and distance to septic areas. DSD occurred in all regions, but the highest cumulative prevalence occurred in the upper Keys on reefs around major urban centers with links to coastal water discharges. Our results support the hypothesis that coastal water quality is a key component of DSD disease dynamics in Florida and provides motivation for addressing land–sea connections to ameliorate disease occurrence in the region.
{"title":"Host density and anthropogenic stress are drivers of variability in dark spot disease in Siderastrea siderea across the Florida Reef Tract","authors":"G. Aeby, Gareth J. Williams, D. Whitall, A. Davies, Elizabeth Fromuth, B. Walker","doi":"10.5343/bms.2022.0063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2022.0063","url":null,"abstract":"Dark spot disease (DSD) was first reported within Florida’s coral reefs in the 1990s but factors affecting its spatial distribution have not been well studied. We used a 14-year (2005–2019) coral monitoring data set, utilizing 2242 surveys collected along Florida’s coral reefs (about 530 linear km) to explore the spatial and temporal patterns of DSD occurrence. We built predictive statistical models to test for correlations between a suite of environmental and human impact factors and the occurrence of DSD in the reef coral, Siderastrea siderea. DSD in S. siderea is a chronic disease which occurred in all 14 years of the study. Annual DSD prevalence ranged from 0.45% to 4.4% and the proportion of survey sites that had DSD ranged from 4.8% to 30.9%. During the study period, DSD became more widespread across Florida’s coral reefs and affected a higher proportion of S. siderea populations. Spatial variations in DSD correlated with environmental and human factors which together explained 64.4% of the underlying variability. The most influential factors were concentration of silica in the surface waters (a proxy for freshwater input), the total number of coral hosts, and distance to septic areas. DSD occurred in all regions, but the highest cumulative prevalence occurred in the upper Keys on reefs around major urban centers with links to coastal water discharges. Our results support the hypothesis that coastal water quality is a key component of DSD disease dynamics in Florida and provides motivation for addressing land–sea connections to ameliorate disease occurrence in the region.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rodrigo Pires da Silva, R. Triay-Portella, C. López, João Gama Monteiro, J. Canning‐Clode
The first record of a mat-forming zoantharian species, Zoanthus pulchellus (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860), in Madeira Island, Portugal (NE Atlantic).
在葡萄牙马德拉岛(东北大西洋)首次发现一种成垫动物，Zoanthus pulchellus (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860)。
{"title":"Tropicalization alert: new species of mat-forming zoantharian (Zoanthus pulchellus) arrives on Madeira Island (NE Atlantic)","authors":"Rodrigo Pires da Silva, R. Triay-Portella, C. López, João Gama Monteiro, J. Canning‐Clode","doi":"10.5343/bms.2023.0048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2023.0048","url":null,"abstract":"The first record of a mat-forming zoantharian species, Zoanthus pulchellus (Duchassaing and Michelotti, 1860), in Madeira Island, Portugal (NE Atlantic).","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura Jay W Grove, Steven G Smith, Jeremiah Blondeau, Jerald S Ault
Numerous reef fish monitoring programs worldwide produce the data necessary to describe the status and trends of coral reefs; however, quantitative description of status at ecosystem scales has been challenging. Our goal was to use southern Florida’s coral reefs as the template to complete a holistic, ecosystem-scale evaluation of reef fish community status using large-scale diver surveys that sampled across a spatial gradient of human urbanization, exploitation, and fishery protection. Key aspects of the analysis were: (i) identification of a low human impact reference area as the basis for quantifying resource condition; (ii) selection of indicator variables that helped discriminate two classes of impacts: habitat quality and fishing; (iii) application of estimation methods that facilitated distinguishing anthropogenic impacts from inherent productivity of different habitats; and (iv) use of a sustainability benchmark to gauge the resource condition of the reference area. The reference-centering analysis approach reduced reliance on qualitative judgements by an expert panel and outputted results on a scale that was informative and could be easily interpreted by a variety of audiences. Our findings identified habitat quality issues in the most urbanized region, southeast Florida, and pervasive fishing issues throughout the ecosystem, including the remote Dry Tortugas region.
{"title":"A quantitative assessment of the status of reef fish communities from a large-scale probability survey in southern Florida","authors":"Laura Jay W Grove, Steven G Smith, Jeremiah Blondeau, Jerald S Ault","doi":"10.5343/bms.2023.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2023.0020","url":null,"abstract":"Numerous reef fish monitoring programs worldwide produce the data necessary to describe the status and trends of coral reefs; however, quantitative description of status at ecosystem scales has been challenging. Our goal was to use southern Florida’s coral reefs as the template to complete a holistic, ecosystem-scale evaluation of reef fish community status using large-scale diver surveys that sampled across a spatial gradient of human urbanization, exploitation, and fishery protection. Key aspects of the analysis were: (i) identification of a low human impact reference area as the basis for quantifying resource condition; (ii) selection of indicator variables that helped discriminate two classes of impacts: habitat quality and fishing; (iii) application of estimation methods that facilitated distinguishing anthropogenic impacts from inherent productivity of different habitats; and (iv) use of a sustainability benchmark to gauge the resource condition of the reference area. The reference-centering analysis approach reduced reliance on qualitative judgements by an expert panel and outputted results on a scale that was informative and could be easily interpreted by a variety of audiences. Our findings identified habitat quality issues in the most urbanized region, southeast Florida, and pervasive fishing issues throughout the ecosystem, including the remote Dry Tortugas region.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"241 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135440885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Coralliths are spherical, free-living (motile), scleractinian colonies inhabiting present day and ancient coral reefs. They form by the coral rolling on the seabed which can occur through biological and/or physical processes. While diving and snorkeling in nearshore environments in the upper Florida Keys, we observed hundreds of coralliths of varying sizes and species. This included colonies of Porites astreoides, Siderastrea radians, and Solenastrea bournoni . The largest coralliths we observed were all S. bournoni and ranged between 0.5 and 1.4 m in diameter. The exceptionally large colonies identified (>1 m) may be the largest and oldest spherical coralliths described to date. Relatively frequent movement of a corallith is key to their formation as all colony surfaces must be exposed to sunlight and currents periodically to maintain their spherical shape. Intuitively, the larger a corallith grows, the stronger the current energy must be to initiate movement. Considering the shallow depth of the corallith habitat and the high frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes impacting south Florida, we hypothesized that the forces generated by shoaling, breaking storm waves would be sufficient to cause the formation of these giant coralliths. Calculations based on hydrodynamic forces and field observations after the passage of a storm support the efficacy of storm-generated waves and surge to move and roll these giant coralliths. The tropical storm/hurricane return time where we found these large colonies in the Florida Keys is one in every seven years. This return time is apparently frequent enough to maintain their spherical morphology and assist in the formation of these giant coralliths.
{"title":"Giant mobile coralliths from the Florida Keys, USA","authors":"William F Precht, Mark R Patterson, Peter W Glynn","doi":"10.5343/bms.2023.0051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2023.0051","url":null,"abstract":"Coralliths are spherical, free-living (motile), scleractinian colonies inhabiting present day and ancient coral reefs. They form by the coral rolling on the seabed which can occur through biological and/or physical processes. While diving and snorkeling in nearshore environments in the upper Florida Keys, we observed hundreds of coralliths of varying sizes and species. This included colonies of Porites astreoides, Siderastrea radians, and Solenastrea bournoni . The largest coralliths we observed were all S. bournoni and ranged between 0.5 and 1.4 m in diameter. The exceptionally large colonies identified (>1 m) may be the largest and oldest spherical coralliths described to date. Relatively frequent movement of a corallith is key to their formation as all colony surfaces must be exposed to sunlight and currents periodically to maintain their spherical shape. Intuitively, the larger a corallith grows, the stronger the current energy must be to initiate movement. Considering the shallow depth of the corallith habitat and the high frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes impacting south Florida, we hypothesized that the forces generated by shoaling, breaking storm waves would be sufficient to cause the formation of these giant coralliths. Calculations based on hydrodynamic forces and field observations after the passage of a storm support the efficacy of storm-generated waves and surge to move and roll these giant coralliths. The tropical storm/hurricane return time where we found these large colonies in the Florida Keys is one in every seven years. This return time is apparently frequent enough to maintain their spherical morphology and assist in the formation of these giant coralliths.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134884443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Erasmus, K. A. Hadfield, P. Sikkel, Nico J. Smit
Gnathia jimmybuffetti sp. nov. is described from the Florida Keys. Morphological characterization of the male, female, and juvenile, as well as the life cycle development of the female is examined. The male of this new species is distinguished from other species from the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic marine province by the slightly produced frontal margin; absent mediofrontal process; single, strong, conical superior frontolateral process, with 2 pairs of long simple setae; and rounded inferior frontolateral process, the weak distally curved mandible with weakly convex dentate blade. In addition, molecular characterization for three life stages, (males, females, and praniza), is provided, as well as evidence for linking host DNA to juvenile stages. This paper contributes to our understanding of the gnathiid biodiversity of the Tropical Atlantic realm, specifically the Floridian ecoregion. Furthermore, this paper validates the methods of extracting and identifying host DNA from the gnathiid blood meal.
{"title":"Morphological description and molecular characterization of Gnathia jimmybuffetti sp. nov. (Crustacea, Isopoda, Gnathiidae): the first new gnathiid in 100 years from the Floridian ecoregion","authors":"A. Erasmus, K. A. Hadfield, P. Sikkel, Nico J. Smit","doi":"10.5343/bms.2023.0040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2023.0040","url":null,"abstract":"Gnathia jimmybuffetti sp. nov. is described from the Florida Keys. Morphological characterization of the male, female, and juvenile, as well as the life cycle development of the female is examined. The male of this new species is distinguished from other species from the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic marine province by the slightly produced frontal margin; absent mediofrontal process; single, strong, conical superior frontolateral process, with 2 pairs of long simple setae; and rounded inferior frontolateral process, the weak distally curved mandible with weakly convex dentate blade. In addition, molecular characterization for three life stages, (males, females, and praniza), is provided, as well as evidence for linking host DNA to juvenile stages. This paper contributes to our understanding of the gnathiid biodiversity of the Tropical Atlantic realm, specifically the Floridian ecoregion. Furthermore, this paper validates the methods of extracting and identifying host DNA from the gnathiid blood meal.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"85 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70885981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present study describes the morphology and ultrastructure of the oocysts of a new species of the genus Nematopsis infecting different organs of the surf clam Spisula solida (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca, Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. Each oocyst (14.3 ± 0.2 µm long, and 10.3 ± 0.3 µm wide) contains a single uninucleate vermiform sporozoite. Single and grouped oocysts enveloped by a parasitophorous vacuole occur enclosed within host phagocytes externally, surrounded by a complex reticular ring-like structure formed by juxtaposed and parallel cysterns containing numerous small electron dense masses regularly distributed in their lumen. More advanced stages of infection show phagocytic degradation characterized by cytoplasmic vacuolarization and rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane. Morphological and ultrastructural observations combined with host reaction specificity supports the erection of a new species, namely Nematopsis spisula sp. nov.
{"title":"Morphological and ultrastructural description of <i>Nematopsis spisula</i> sp. nov. (Apicomplexa) inhabiting <i>Spisula solida</i> (Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast","authors":"Carlos Azevedo, Sónia Rocha, Graça Casal","doi":"10.5343/bms.2023.0030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2023.0030","url":null,"abstract":"The present study describes the morphology and ultrastructure of the oocysts of a new species of the genus Nematopsis infecting different organs of the surf clam Spisula solida (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca, Bivalvia) on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. Each oocyst (14.3 ± 0.2 µm long, and 10.3 ± 0.3 µm wide) contains a single uninucleate vermiform sporozoite. Single and grouped oocysts enveloped by a parasitophorous vacuole occur enclosed within host phagocytes externally, surrounded by a complex reticular ring-like structure formed by juxtaposed and parallel cysterns containing numerous small electron dense masses regularly distributed in their lumen. More advanced stages of infection show phagocytic degradation characterized by cytoplasmic vacuolarization and rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane. Morphological and ultrastructural observations combined with host reaction specificity supports the erection of a new species, namely Nematopsis spisula sp. nov.","PeriodicalId":55312,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of Marine Science","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135105676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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