UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2018 - 20192

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    THE EFFECT OF SUMMER STORM EVENTS AS A DISTURBANCE ON THE MOVEMENT BEHAVIORS OF BLACK SEA BASS IN THE SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC BIGHT
    (2019) Wiernicki, Caroline Jane; Secor, David H; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Storm events are a key disturbance in the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB), driving thermal, hydrodynamic, and acoustic perturbations on demersal fish communities. Black sea bass are a model MAB species as their sedentary behavior exposes them to storm disturbances. I coupled biotelemetry with an oceanographic model, monitoring black sea bass movement behaviors during the summer-fall of 2016-2018. Storm-driven changes in bottom temperature (associated with rapid destratification) had the greatest effects on fish movement and evacuation rates, while the cumulative effects of consecutive storms had little to no observed effect. Storms also generate substantial noise, but the hearing frequencies of black sea bass are currently unknown. I conducted a quantitative literature analysis on fish hearing based on swim bladder elaboration, successfully classifying detected sound frequency ranges among fishes, including black sea bass. Climate change will likely alter the intensity of MAB storms, prioritizing research on their impacts to fish communities.
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    TROPHIC ECOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITION OF BLACK SEA BASS CENTROPRISTIS STRIATA IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC BIGHT
    (2018) La Rosa, Ginni Alice; Woodland, Ryan J; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Black sea bass Centropristis striata (Linnaeus, 1758) is a valuable Middle Atlantic Bight fisheries species, but spatial patterns in condition and diet during summer residence at inshore reefs remain largely unknown. I examined a suite of potential drivers of physiological condition and trophic niche of C. striata using morphometric, stomach contents, and stable isotope indicators. Regional differences in liver tissue lipid content and standard condition indices covaried with additional biotic and abiotic factors. I show that liver tissue must be corrected for lipid content prior to interpreting liver carbon stable isotope data and I provide a correction equation for this species. Both spatial and biological factors explained observed patterns in diet and trophic niche metrics. An understanding of the factors that underlie spatial and temporal patterns in condition and trophic ecology provides insights necessary to help inform ecologically-focused management decisions.