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We evaluated the prevalence of influenza A virus (IAV) in different species of bivalves inhabiting natural water bodies in waterfowl habitat along the Delmarva Peninsula and Chesapeake Bay in eastern Maryland. Bivalve tissue from clam and mussel specimens (Macoma balthica, Macoma phenax, Mulinia sp., Rangia cuneata, Mya arenaria, Guekensia demissa, and an undetermined mussel species) … Read more
Recent declines in anadromous river herring (Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and Blueback Herring A. aestivalis) have been documented in much of their range using fishery‐independent spawning run counts. A lack of rigorous long‐term run counts and demographic data for Chesapeake Bay spawning stocks resulted in the declaration of unknown stock status in a 2012 stock assessment … Read more
Ongoing efforts to restore eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations in regions of low natural recruitment rely on stocking of juveniles (spat on shell) to rebuild populations. Often, remote setting is used, entailing releasing hatchery-produced larvae into recirculating tanks filled with oyster shells. Other restoration methods that rely on releasing C. virginica larvae directly onto the … Read more
Techniques for positive re-identification of finfish are well developed and are used to estimate vital rates, migration patterns and stock structure. Fluorochrome dyes, like nontoxic calcein, have been used with success to mark hard parts of fish and the shells of some molluscs. Yet, despite the commercial and ecological importance of the eastern oyster Crassostrea … Read more
The continued development of effective mark and recapture tools for marine invertebrates is required to better understand fundamental planktonic processes such as larval transport and mortality. Mass chemical marking methods provide researchers with the ability to mark large quantities of individuals at one time with reduced handling stress and costs. Although 3-day-old larvae of <em>Crassostrea … Read more
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have been associated with fish and shellfish kills, ecosystem damage, human health impacts, and significant economic losses to the aquaculture and tourist industries throughout the world. The increase of HABs in recent years is generally related to direct and indirect anthropogenic activities (e.g. eutrophication, climate change).
The defensibility of field sampling data collected in support of natural resource damage assessments and other environmental investigations depends on rigorous quality assurance and control both in the field and laboratory. One important step in field procedures is the cleaning of sampling equipment between samples to minimize the carryover of contaminants. Large-scale sampling efforts during … Read more
Interest and growth in marine aquaculture are increasing around the world, and with it, advanced spatial planning approaches are needed to find suitable locations in an increasingly crowded ocean. Standard spatial planning approaches, such as a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), may be challenging and time consuming to interpret in heavily utilized ocean spaces. Spatial autocorrelation, … Read more
Topobathymetric lidar is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for benthic habitat mapping, enabling safe, efficient data acquisition over coral reefs and other fragile ecosystems. In 2014, a novel topobathymetric lidar system, the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar-B (EAARL-B), was used to acquire data in priority habitat areas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), spanning the … Read more
Increased natural and anthropogenic stresses have threatened the Earth’s ability to meet growing human demands of food, energy and water (FEW) in a sustainable way. Although much progress has been made in the provision of individual component of FEW, it remains unknown whether there is an optimized strategy to balance the FEW nexus as a … Read more