Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
Filter Total Items: 3374
Non-native marine fishes in Florida: Updated checklist, population status and early detection/rapid response
It has been ten years since the last comprehensive assessment of non-native marine fishes in Florida. Herein, we report sightings of 41 species from Florida coastal waters since the earliest reported sighting in 1984. Information is provided on the population status of each species (e.g., established, eradicated, unknown), and our early detection/rapid response program to remove these fish is desc
Authors
Pamela J. Schofield, Lad Akins
Acoustic tag retention rate varies between juvenile green and hawksbill sea turtles
Background
Biotelemetry has become a key tool for studying marine animals in the last decade, and a wide range of electronic tags are now available for answering a range of research questions. However, comparatively, less attention has been given to attachment methods for these tags and the implications of tag retention on study design, especially when designing a comparative study looking at mult
Authors
Thomas Selby, Brian Smith, Michael Cherkiss, Andrew Crowder, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Clayton Pollock, Kristen Hart
The state of the world’s mangrove forests: Past, present, and future
Intertidal mangrove forests are a dynamic ecosystem experiencing rapid changes in extent and habitat quality over geological history, today and into the future. Climate and sea level have drastically altered mangrove distribution since their appearance in the geological record ∼75 million years ago (Mya), through to the Holocene. In contrast, contemporary mangrove dynamics are driven primarily by
Authors
Daniel A. Friess, Kerrylee Rogers, Catherine E. Lovelock, Ken Krauss, Stuart E. Hamilton, Shing Yip Lee, Richard Lucas, Jurgenne Primavera, Anusha Rajkaran, Suhua Shi
Enhancing reproductive assessments of the Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris by establishing optimal time period and inhibin B baseline concentrations
The Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris occupies coastal and riverine habitats that may influence the species’ endogenous biological rhythms, including its reproductive potential. Inhibin B provides a biomarker of gonadal function and reproductive potential in humans and other eutherian mammals. This study examined the influence of size, sex, and time of year on inhibin B levels in mana
Authors
Dana L Wetzel, John Elliot Reynolds, Robert Bonde, Ryan W Schloesser, Leslie Schwierzke-Wade, William E Roudebush
Incorporating uncertainty and risk into decision making to reduce nitrogen inputs to impaired waters
This article aims to understand decision making under uncertainty and risk, with a case study on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Decision makers need to consider imperfect information on the cost and effectiveness of advanced nitrogen-removing on-site wastewater treatment systems as options to mitigate water quality degradation. Research included modeling nitrogen load reduction to impaired coastal water
Authors
David M. Martin, Fred Johnson
A generically parameterized model of lake eutrophication (GPLake) that links field-, lab- and model-based knowledge
Worldwide, eutrophication is threatening lake ecosystems. To support lake management numerous eutrophication models have been developed. Diverse research questions in a wide range of lake ecosystems are addressed by these models. The established models are based on three key approaches: the empirical approach that employs field surveys, the theoretical approach in which models based on first princ
Authors
Manqi Chang, Sven Teurlincx, Donald L. DeAngelis, Jan H. Janse, Tineke A. Troost, Dianneke van Wijk, Wolf M. Mooij, Annette B. G. Janssen
Immediate effects of hurricanes on a diverse coral/mangrove ecosystem in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the potential for recovery
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, two powerful storms that hit the U.S. Virgin Islands less than 2 weeks apart in September 2017, caused extensive damage to the natural resources on St. John. Damage was particularly severe in a unique mangrove/coral ecosystem in three bays within Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, a National Park Service marine protected area. Many Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mang
Authors
Caroline Rogers
Patterns of resource allocation in a coastal marsh plant (Schoenoplectus americanus) along a sediment-addition gradient
Reductions in sediment delivery to coastal marshes increase their vulnerability to relative sea-level rise. Sediment pulses from storm events and commercial dredge-spray operations (e.g., beneficial use) represent increasingly important sediment sources to otherwise sediment-deprived marshes. These sediments can stimulate plant growth by providing nutrient and elevation subsidies, with plant growt
Authors
Nigel A. Temple, James B. Grace, Julia A Cherry
Life history, genetics, range expansion and new frontiers of the lionfish (Pterois volitans, Perciformes: Pteroidae) in Latin America
Pterois volitans (lionfish) is a midsize predatory fish commonly found in waters of the western Pacific and Indian Ocean. The species was first documented in Dania Beach, Florida (northwestern Caribbean) in 1985. Since that time the species has expanded its range rapidly to the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. Since its introduction P. volitans has changed community
Authors
Edgardo Díaz-Ferguson, Margaret Hunter
Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
The relationship between dive behavior and oceanographic conditions is not well understood for marine predators, especially sea turtles. We tagged loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) with satellite-linked depth loggers in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a minimal amount of dive data for this species. We tested for associations between four measurements of dive behavior (total daily dive freque
Authors
Autumn Iverson, Ikuko Fujisaki, Margaret M. Lamont, Kristen Hart
Amphibian monitoring in hardwood forests: Optimizing methods for contaminant‐based compensatory restorations
Amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders provide important services in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and have been proposed as useful indicators of progress and success for ecological restoration projects. Limited guidance is available, however, on the costs and benefits of different amphibian monitoring techniques that might be applied to sites restored in compensation for contaminan
Authors
Bethany K. Kunz, Hardin Waddle, Nicholas S. Green
Indo-West Pacific species of Trachinotus with spots on their sides as adults, with description of a new species endemic to the Marquesas Islands (Teleostei: Carangidae)
Diagnoses, comparisons, photographs and distribution maps are given for three previously described Indo-West Pacific species of Trachinotus that develop spots on their sides as adults. A new species, Trachinotus macrospilus, is described from the Marquesas Islands where it is endemic and the only species of the genus present. It differs from the other spotted Indo-West Pacific species most noticea
Authors
William F. Smith-Vaniz, Stephen J. Walsh