Publications

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Abstract not supplied at this time

We visually observed fish traps in situ to identify the habitats exploited by the U.S. Virgin Islands fishery and to document species composition and abundance in traps by habitat. Fishers set more traps in algal plains than in any other habitat around St. John. Coral reefs, traditionally targeted by fishers, accounted for only 16% of traps. Traps in algal plain contained the highest...

Abstract not supplied at this time

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica form the coldest and driest ecosystem on Earth. Within this region there are a number of perennially ice-covered (3–6 m thick) lakes that support active microbial assemblages and have a paucity of metazoans. These lakes receive limited allochthonous input of carbon and nutrients, and primary productivity is limited to only 6 months per year owing to...

Recent studies have shown that patterns of plant species richness and community biomass are best understood in a multivariate context. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a multivariate hypothesis about how herbaceous biomass and richness relate to gradients in soil conditions and woody plant cover in blackland prairies. Structural equation modeling was used to...

Along the southeastern coast of the United States, hardground systems support a high diversity of sub-tropical and tropical fishes. Many of these hardgrounds occur in deep (ca. ??? 50 m) waters and their fauna is still poorly described; however, with concentrated sampling in these deeper areas, new records of fishes continue to emerge. In the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and off North...

Amphibian declines and extinctions have been documented around the world, often in protected natural areas. Concern for this alarming trend has prompted the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service to document all species of amphibians that occur within U.S. National Parks and to search for any signs that amphibians may be declining. This study, an inventory of amphibian...

Millions of Nearctic-Neotropical landbirds move through the coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico each spring and autumn as they migrate across and around the Gulf. Migration routes in the Gulf region are not static and they shift year to year and season to season according to prevailing wind patterns. Using data from field and radar studies, we mapped patterns of migration movement and...

Specimens of the four study species were collected during cruises to outer-continental shelf reefs of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Age was estimated for all serranid species using whole otoliths and C. enchrysurus ages were determined from transverse sections of sagittal otoliths. Ring structure observed on otoliths was validated as having an annual periodicity for P. martinicensis...

Mangrove forests are important coastal ecosystems that provide a variety of ecological and societal services. These intertidal, tree-dominated communities along tropical coastlines are often described as “simple systems,” compared to other tropical forests with larger numbers of plant species and multiple understory strata; however, mangrove ecosystems have complex trophic structures...

Mangroves are tropical/subtropical communities of primarily tree species that grow in the intertidal zone. These tidal forests are important coastal ecosystems that are valued for a variety of ecological and societal goods and services. Major local threats to mangrove ecosystems worldwide include clearcutting and trimming of forests for urban, agricultural, or industrial expansion...