Microsatellites are the markers of choice for a variety of population genetic studies. The recent advent of next-generation pyrosequencing has drastically accelerated microsatellite locus discovery by providing a greater amount of DNA sequencing reads at lower costs compared to other ...

Mesophotic hard corals (MHC) are increasingly threatened by a growing number of anthropogenic stressors, including impacts from fishing, land-based sources of pollution, and ocean acidification. However, little is known about their geographic distributions (particularly around the Pacific islands) because it ...

This report presents seasonal distribution maps of selected seabird species off the Pacific coast of Washington. Maps were created to support state-led marine spatial planning by identifying ecologically important areas for seabirds. Seabird distribution maps were constructed by predicting relative ...

Hawaii's coastal marine resources have declined dramatically over the past 100 years due to multiple anthropogenic stressors including overfishing, coastal development, pollution, overuse, invasive species and climate change. It is now becoming evident that ecosystem-based management, in the form of ...

The NCCOS Regional Ecological Assessments (REA) and NOAA National Benthic Inventory (NBI) include observations of water quality, sediment quality, fish and shellfish tissue chemical contaminants, and benthic infaunal abundance obtained from studies conducted since 1991 by NOAA and partnering institutions ...

This report presents the results of a National Assessment Workshop held in August 1998 to address the problem of estuarine eutrophication. The assessment was based primarily on the results of the National Estuarine Eutrophication Survey, conducted by NOAA from 1992 ...

Underwater video and photographs were acquired between 28 July 2016 and 9 August 2016 at nearly 600 sites throughout the lagoon to document the presence and percent-cover of benthic substrate and cover types. Two sets of independent data were collected, ...

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) works in partnership with other federal agencies and coastal states to conduct assessments of ecological condition and potential stressor impacts throughout our Nation’s estuaries, coastal-ocean waters, and NOAA protected areas; carry out ...

In 2004, shallow-water benthic habitats were mapped in Saipan Lagoon, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Since then, habitats in the lagoon have likely changed because of coral bleaching events and recent typhoons. Local resource managers requested an updated map ...

Ulvalean algae (Chlorophyta) are most commonly described from intertidal and shallow subtidal marine environments worldwide, but are less well known from mesophotic environments. Their morphological simplicity and phenotypic plasticity make accurate species determinations difficult, even at the generic level. Here, ...