Noise from shipping activity in North Atlantic coastal waters has been steadily increasing and is an area of growing conservation concern, as it has the potential to disrupt the behaviour of marine organisms. This study examines the impacts of ship noise on bottom foraging humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the western North Atlantic. Data were collected from 10 foraging whales using non-invasive archival tags that simultaneously recorded underwater movements and the acoustic environment at the...

Identifying mechanisms driving pathogen persistence is a vital component of wildlife disease ecology and control. Asymptomatic, chronically infected individuals are an oft-cited potential reservoir of infection but demonstrations of the importance of chronic shedding to pathogen persistence at the population level remain scarce. Studying chronic shedding using commonly collected disease data is hampered by numerous challenges, including short-term surveillance that focuses on single epidemics and acutely ill individuals, the subtle dynamical influence of chronic shedding...

NCRL subject guide 2020-12

SNP genotype dataSNP genotype data for 95 SNPs for juvenile and baseline samples.2014_2015_data.csvGeographic distance from escape event to each riverGeographic distance from escape event to each riverDistance_from_escape.csvRiver Axial Distances and Catch

Genetic studies of several marine species with high fecundity have produced “tiny” estimates (≤10−3) of the ratio of effective population size (Ne) to adult census size (N), suggesting that even very large populations might be at genetic risk. A recent study using close-kin mark-recapture methods estimated adult abundance at N ≈ 2 × 106 for southern bluefin tuna (SBT), a highly fecund top predator that supports a lucrative (~$1 billion/year) fishery. We used the same...

Using the historical Atlantic tropical cyclone record, this study examines the empirical relationships between climate state variables and Atlantic tropical cyclone counts. The state variables considered as predictors include indices of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation and Northern Atlantic Oscillation, and both “local” and “relative” measures of Main Development Region sea surface temperature. Other predictors considered include indices measuring the Atlantic Meridional Mode and the West African monsoon. Using all of the potential predictors in a...

Genetic differentiation has been observed in marine species even when no obvious barriers to gene flow exist, and understanding such differentiation is essential for effective fisheries management. Highly differentiated outlier loci can provide information on how genetic variation might contribute to local adaptation but may also be affected by historical demographic events. A locus which aligned to a predicted zona pellucida sperm-binding protein 3 gene (ZP3) in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) was previously identified as...

The 2014-2016 Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwave (MHW) induced the warmest 3-year period on record in the California Current Ecosystem. We tested whether larval fish assemblage structure, phenology and diversity dynamics were comparable to past warming events from 1951-2013. First, we hypothesized, based on past observations of biological effect of warming, that mesopelagic species with southern distributions relative to southern California and Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax (a coastal pelagic species) would increase during the MHW while...

Ecosystem dynamics at the north-west Antarctic Peninsula are driven by interactions between physical and biological processes. For example, baleen whale populations are recovering from commercial harvesting against the backdrop of rapid climate change, including reduced sea-ice extent and changing ecosystem composition. Concurrently, the commercial harvesting of Antarctic krill is increasing, with the potential to increase the likelihood for competition with and between krill predators and the fishery. However, understanding the ecology, abundance, and spatial distribution...

Fluctuations in the population abundances of interacting species are widespread. Such fluctuations could be a response to abiotic factors, biotic interactions, or a combination of the two. Correctly identifying the drivers are critical for effective population management. However, such effects are not always static in nature. Nonlinear relationships between abiotic factors and biotic interactions make it difficult to parse true effects. We used a type of nonlinear forecasting, empirical dynamic modeling, to investigate the context-dependent...

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a network of ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers that record direct solar absorption spectra of the atmosphere in the near-infrared. From these spectra, accurate and precise column-averaged abundances of atmospheric constituents including CO2, CH4, N2O, HF, CO, H2O, and HDO, are retrieved. This is the GGG2020 data release of observations from the TCCON station at Park Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Globally distributed, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is found in a range of offshore and coastal habitats. Using 15 microsatellite loci and mtDNA control region sequences, we investigated patterns of genetic differentiation among putative populations along the eastern US shoreline (the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, and Charleston Harbor, South Carolina) (microsatellite analyses: n = 125, mtDNA analyses: n = 132). We further utilized the mtDNA to compare these populations with those from the Northwest Atlantic,...

We use mitochondrial DNA (400bp), six microsatellites and 36 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 20 of which were linked, to investigate population structure of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the eastern and central North Pacific. SNP markers, reproducible across technologies and laboratories, are ideal for long-term studies of globally distributed species such as sperm whales, a species of conservation concern due to both historical and contemporary impacts. We estimate genetic differentiation among three strata in the...

The resiliency of populations and species to environmental change is dependent on the maintenance of genetic diversity, and as such quantifying diversity is central to combatting ongoing wide spread reductions in biodiversity. With the advent of next-generation sequencing, several methods now exist for resolving fine-scale population structure, but the comparative performance of these methods for genetic assignment has rarely been tested. Here we evaluate the performance of sequenced microsatellites and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)...

Coasts and estuaries contain among the most productive and ecologically important habitats in the world and face intense pressure from current and projected human activities, including coastal development. Seagrasses are a key habitat feature in many estuaries perceived to be in widespread decline owing to human actions. We use spatio-temporal models and a 41-year time series from 100s of km of shoreline which includes over 160 000 observations from Puget Sound, Washington, USA, to examine...

The spatial structure of ecological communities on tropical coral reefs across seascapes and geographies have historically been poorly understood. Here we addressed this for the first time using spatially expansive and thematically resolved benthic community data collected around five uninhabited central Pacific oceanic islands, spanning 6° latitude and 17° longitude. Using towed-diver digital image surveys over ~140 linear km of shallow (8 – 20 m depth) tropical reef, we highlight the autocorrelated nature of coral...

We tested the hypothesis that segregation in wintering areas promotes population differentiation in a sentinel North Pacific seabird, the rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata). We collected tissue samples for genetic analyses on five breeding colonies in the western Pacific Ocean (Japan) and 13 in the eastern Pacific Ocean (California to Alaska), and deployed light-level geologgers on 12 eastern Pacific colonies to delineate wintering areas. Loggers were deployed previously on one colony in Japan. There was strong...

The CCGG cooperative air sampling network effort began in 1967 at Niwot Ridge, Colorado. Today, the network is an international effort which includes regular discrete samples from the NOAA ESRL/GML baseline observatories, cooperative fixed sites, and commercial ships. Air samples are collected approximately weekly from a globally distributed network of sites. Samples are analyzed for Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen Gas (H2), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6); and by...

Southern Ocean ecosystems are rapidly changing due to climate variability. An apparent beneficiary of such change in the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is the gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua, which has increased its population size and expanded its range southward in the last 20 years. To better understand how this species has responded to large-scale changes, we tracked individuals during the non-breeding winter period from five colonies across the latitudinal range of breeding sites in the...

Discovering genetic markers associated with phenotypic or ecological characteristics can improve our understanding of adaptation and guide conservation of key evolutionary traits. The Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi) of the northern Great Basin Desert, USA, demonstrated exceptional tolerance to high temperatures in the desert lakes where it resided historically. This trait is central to a conservation hatchery effort to protect the genetic legacy of the nearly extinct lake ecotype. We genotyped full‐sibling families from...

Patagonia is an understudied area, especially when it comes to population genomic studies with relevance to fishery management. However, the dynamic and heterogeneous landscape in this area can harbor important but cryptic genetic population structure. Once such information is revealed, it can be integrated into the management of infrequently investigated species. Eleginops maclovinus is a protandrous hermaphrodite species with economic importance for local communities that is currently managed as a single genetic unit. In this...