Data and Reports Explorer

Reef-building corals inhabiting the mesophotic zone (30-150 m) not only survive but thrive in light-limiting environments. Similar to shallow corals, mesophotic corals also exhibit coral fluorescence. Because fluorescent proteins (FPs) absorb high-energy light and emit lower-energy light, FPs could play an important role in mesophotic coral physiology and ecology. For ...

Presents a science overview of the major forest management issues involved in the recovery of anadromous salmonids afected by timber harvest in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The synthesis reviews salmonid habitat requirements and potential effects of logging, describes the technical foundation of forest practices and restoration, analyzes current federal ...

Mesophotic coral ecosystems are an almost entirely unexplored and undocumented environment that likely contains vast reservoirs of undescribed biodiversity. Twenty-four macroalgae samples, representing four genera, were collected from a Hawaiian mesophotic reef at water depths between 65 and 86 m in the 'Au'au Channel, Maui, Hawaii. Algal tissues were surveyed ...

Ciguatera fish poisoning is a common form of seafood poisoning caused by toxins (ciguatoxins) that accumulate in demersal (reef) food webs. The precursors of ciguatoxins are produced by dinoflagellates of the genus Gambierdiscus, and enter the food web via herbivory and detritivory. The Gambierdiscus genus was recently revised and new ...

The Gap Analysis of Marine Ecosystem Data project is a review of available geospatial data which can assist in marine natural resource management for eight park units. The project includes the collection of geospatial information and its incorporation in a single consistent geodatabase format. In addition to the collection of ...

This report presents the findings of a survey initiative conducted to gauge the social values of ecosystem services of the visitors, seasonal residents, and permanent residents of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (Reserve). In order to gauge the perceived values of ecosystem services user groups hold for the site, ...

Mesophotic corals (light-dependent corals in the deepest half of the photic zone at depths of 30 - 150 m) provide a unique opportunity to study the limits of the interactions between corals and endosymbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium. We sampled Leptoseris spp. in Hawaii via manned submersibles across a ...

Understanding the connectivity of reef organisms is important to assist in the conservation of biological diversity and to facilitate sustainable fisheries in these ecosystems. Common methods to assess reef connectivity include both population genetics and biophysical modelling. Individually, these techniques can offer insight into population structure; however, the information acquired ...

Resolving the genetic connectivity of coral reef taxa is necessary to understand the community dynamics of these increasingly threatened ecosystems. Herein, we assess the fine scale genetic connectivity of six populations of the Atlantic giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta (Schmidt, 1870), using microsatellite markers. This survey included populations from across ...

Despite the devastating impact of the lionfish (Pterois volitans) invasion on NW Atlantic ecosystems, little genetic information about the invasion process is available. We applied Genotyping by Sequencing techniques to identify 1,220 single nucleotide polymorphic sites (SNPs) from 162 lionfish samples collected between 2013 and 2015 from two areas chronologically ...

The Benthic Organisms of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary geodatabase is a collection of information on the distribution of benthic organisms within the sanctuary compiled from multiple sources. It contains information on the distribution of benthic habitats from the Unified Florida Reef Tract Map version 1.1, the distribution of ...

This dataset is a point shapefile showing the distribution of species richness, Shannon's Diversity (H), and Shannon's Evennes (J) along the Florida Keys (Key Biscayne to Key West based on data collected from 1980 through 2010. Point estimates of species richness, Shannon's diversity (H), and Evenness were derived from Reef ...

The deep reef refugia hypothesis proposes that deep reefs can act as local recruitment sources for shallow reefs following disturbance. To test this hypothesis, nine polymorphic DNA microsatellite loci were developed and used to assess vertical connectivity in 583 coral colonies of the Caribbean depth-generalist coral Montastraea cavernosa. Samples were ...

The upper insular slope of southwest Puerto Rico is defined as extending from the shelf break at ~20 m water depth down to a depth of ~160 m where there is a pronounced change in geomorphic character and the basal slope begins. The upper slope is divided into two geomorphic ...

This report characterizes the land-use around the Mussel Watch Program (MWP) monitoring sites in the Great Lakes. Land-use is an important parameter in the assessment of the nearshore environment, as contaminant monitoring sites are influenced by point and non-point source pollution, which in turn is a factor of the land-use ...

The current report summarizes Great Lakes mussel tissue contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) data obtained between 2013-2015. The study design informs MWP management, stakeholders and general public about the frequency of occurrence, and the magnitude of CECs in mussels. We tested multiple bivalve species and sediment samples for accumulation of ...

Green Bay has sometimes been referred to as the largest freshwater “estuary” in the world. Its watershed, much of it in intensive agriculture, comprises one-third of the Lake Michigan basin and delivers one-third of the lake's total phosphorus load. At one time, the major tributary, the Fox River, was considered ...

This data set comprises maps of predicted long-term groundfish biodiversity hotspot probabilities off the Pacific Coast of Oregon. Predicted hotspot probabilities are given for four biodiversity indices: 1) relative abundance, 2) relative biomass, and 3) species number for all groundfishes, and 4) relative abundance for only nearshore groundfishes. The nearshore ...

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 ...

Alteration of estuarine shorelines associated with increased urbanization can significantly impact biota and food webs. This study determined the impact of shoreline alteration on growth and movement of the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus in a tributary of the Delaware Coastal Bays. Fundulus heteroclitus is abundant along the east coast of ...