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Data Type: Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dynamic responses and implications to coastal wetlands and the surrounding regions under sea level rise

Two distinct microtidal estuarine systems were assessed to advance the understanding of the coastal dynamics of sea level rise in salt marshes. A coupled hydrodynamic-marsh model (Hydro-MEM) was applied to both a marine-dominated (Grand Bay, Mississippi) and a mixed fluvial/marine (Weeks Bay, Alabama) system to compute marsh productivity, marsh migration, and potential tidal inundation from … Read more

Feasibility of a Regionwide Probability Survey for Coral Reef Fish in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Fishery‐independent surveys can provide accurate and precise data for stock assessments and spatial management to sustain fishery resources as a complementary or alternative source of information to fishery‐dependent sampling. Four years of underwater visual survey data collected in several local areas in the U.S. Caribbean were used in conjunction with detailed bathymetric and habitat maps … Read more

What Goes Up Must Come Down: Integrating Air and Water Quality Monitoring.

Excess nitrogen and phosphorus (“nutrients”) loadings continue to affect ecosystem function and human health across the U.S. Our ability to connect atmospheric inputs of nutrients to aquatic end points remains limited due to uncoupled air and water quality monitoring. Where connections exist, the information provides insights about source apportionment, trends, risk to sensitive ecosystems, and … Read more

The black coral fauna (Cnidaria: Antipatharia) of Bermuda with new records

The black coral fauna of Bermudan waters is poorly known, in large part due to the logistical challenges of surveying deep-water (>50 m) environments where most species occur. In 2016, the Nekton Expedition sought to survey the deep-water biodiversity around Bermuda using manned submersibles and mixed-gas technical SCUBA. A total of 28 black coral specimens … Read more

Models of habitat suitability, size, and age-class structure for the deep-sea black coral Leiopathes glaberrima in the Gulf of Mexico

Deep-sea corals are important components of the benthos in the Gulf of Mexico, because they provide structural complexity to associated species of fish and invertebrates, and they serve as proxies for environmental conditions on millennial time scales. In the Gulf of Mexico, large colonies of the black coral Leiopathes glaberrima have been estimated to be … Read more

Distribution of deep-water corals, sponges, and demersal fisheries landings in Southern California, USA: implications for conservation priorities

Deep-sea corals in Southern California are diverse and abundant but subject to multiple stressors, including bottom-contact fisheries using mobile and fixed gear. There is a need for more information on the distribution of these taxa in relation to the distribution of demersal fishing effort, and the distribution of marine protected areas, in order to improve … Read more

Growth and feeding of deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa from the California margin under simulated ocean acidification conditions

The global decrease in seawater pH known as ocean acidification has important ecological consequences and is an imminent threat for numerous marine organisms. Even though the deep sea is generally considered to be a stable environment, it can be dynamic and vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances including increasing temperature, deoxygenation, ocean acidification and pollution. Lophelia pertusa … Read more

Monitoring Approaches for Early Warning of Domoic Acid Events in Washington State

On the U.S. west coast, blooms of the potentially toxic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), resulting in economic impacts to coastal economies and public health concerns. The transfer of toxin, via filter feeding of Pseudo-nitzschia or ingestion of filter feeding organisms, to shellfish, crustaceans, seabirds, finfish, and marine mammals has led to … Read more