1975 • EXXON Corporation provides grant for study of the coral reef ecosystem at Carrie Bow Cay. 1977 • Excursion to Carrie Bow Cay by participants of the Third International Coral Reef Symposium.*. 1982 • Publication of The Atlantic Barrier Reef Ecosystem at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, 1: Structure and Communities.
Both were keen divers and (led by scientific diving officer Michael Lang) explored many of the reefs. Coral species limits: comparisons between Carrie Bow Cay and Panama for members of the Montastraea annularis complex. We will also focus on finding females, perhaps in the kelp grounds.
A study of the developmental mechanisms controlling zooid arrangement and identity in Siphonophora. Male x hermaphrodite matings appear to be an important component of the breeding system in the TC population; i.e., the population is essentially androboic.
A. Villareal
In addition to the proposed goals of the project, I was also interested in determining whether the rate of mineralization of larval skeletal elements (ie, endochondral ossification) among bony fish varies according to post-metamorphic lifestyle and swimming modes. As a preliminary exploration of this topic, a modified plankton net was removed on both the November 2002 and May 2003 trips and deployed as a standing collection net off the fore reef jetty. Fish larvae very close to metamorphosis were collected on both trips, with the majority collected on the nights leading up to new moon.
Preliminary cleaning and counterstaining of some samples in each lifestyle category supported the hypothesis that more active postmetamorphic lifestyles, which result in greater bone loading through faster or more sustained contraction of body musculature, are associated with earlier and more extensive endochondral bone development in later larval stages.
J. Buskey
J. Paul
Samples of the seaweed Thalassia testudinum were collected from nine sites in June 2001 (Carrie Bow Cay, Twin Cays, Man O'War Cay, Cat Cay and Manatee Cay) and again in February 2002 (Carrie Bow Cay, Twin Cays, Man O 'War Cay, Tobacco Range lagoon (new), Cat Cay and Manatee Cay). Several hundred specimens of the epiphytic species Sorites dominicensis were collected from Kajs Binjake in February 2002 and measured to construct growth. High-frequency variability in Belizean barrier reef thermal regimes: implications for coral physiology and reserve design.
The purpose of this field season was to return to some of the original sites where variation M occurred. After the poles were installed, Will Warham completed a photographic survey along the nylon rope attached to the poles. After very detailed shallow water mapping, this area has become a classic reef survey site.
These photos provide a measure of variability in coral species composition that can be directly compared to those obtained from the 1986 quadrats. The main focus of the 2002 research voyage was to measure the contribution of phytoplankton to ecosystem metabolism in Lair Channel on East Twin Cay. Our results suggest that floating algal mats, which rise from the bottom of the Lair Channel in the late afternoon, contribute significantly to the primary production of the Lair Channel.
In the mangrove root habitat of Twin Cays and along the Carrie Bow Cay barrier reef in Belize, there are several excellent examples of aggregative behavior in zooplankton, including the swarming behavior of the copepods Dioithona oculata and Acartia spinata, and water shoaling and shoaling. behavior of the mysid Mysidium columbiae. The pinnate colonies of Z niveum generate a unidirectional flow of seawater that passes the colony perpendicular to the stem; the convex side of the spring faces upstream. Contraction of the stem forces the zooids of Vorticella sp. and Z level towards the substrate at a high speed of 71 and 520 mm s-1, respectively.
Expansion of the species is 700 to 1000 times slower than contraction, and the surrounding seawater sticks to the cells and is therefore dragged along.
Vopel
Furthermore, the symbioses could be exposed to stress conditions created in the FTRS and detailed analyzes of changes in the specificity and maintenance of the symbiotic association could be documented. Swarmers were allowed to settle on the wall of the tube and on the gas permeable membrane, where a gradient of oxygen and sulfide was expected to develop during the nitrogen and sulfide treatments. Worms were not as abundant as the previous year, likely due to sandbar disruption by two hurricanes that had passed through CBC the year before.
Worms moved significantly faster from seawater in the central chamber into the outer chamber when the latter contained thiosulphate rather than normal seawater. In the reverse experiment (thiosulfate in the inner, seawater in the outer chamber), the worms moved more slowly than without any gradient, but the difference was not significant. One of the most frequently encountered species during the observations in the Caribbean Sea was a member of the family Peyssonneliaceae (Antonius, 1999).
In conclusion, corals in the fore-reef zone have the largest mean size and the highest mean coverage (15.6%) of the PEY-syndrome; 72% of back- and fore-reef corals are infected with M. For corals with predation scars, there is great variation in predation area per colony. Note the enlarged abdomen and the replacement of the main chela with another smaller type of chela (m) in the larger nut.
CARICOMP provides long-term, standardized, synoptic monitoring data critical to understanding the productivity, structure and function of the region's three major coastal ecosystems: coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses. These events have contributed to a significant loss of coral cover in the CARICOMP transects, of approximately 19%. In the presence of added nitrate, denitrination rates exceeded nitrogen fixation by orders of magnitude.
Data from these experiments will be compared with each other and with similar fertilization experiments underway in mangrove forests in the Indo-West Pacific.
Megonigal
We proposed to test the following hypotheses: Increased availability of a limiting nutrient will change nutrient conservation patterns in mangrove forests (mangrove ecosystems will become more "leaky" as a result of eutrophication of the coastal zone); Nutrient cycling patterns are open in the early stages of mangrove succession and close as the ecosystem develops (early successional mangrove forests will be more “flowy” than mature, undisturbed stands); and after disturbance, regenerating forests retain nutrients strongly (successional forests retain a maximum amount of their nutrients and have greater net primary productivity potential than mature forests). We are comparing plant growth, nutrient cycling processes, and animal–plant interactions in response to nutrient enrichment in mangrove forests in Twin Cays, Indian River Laguna, and Bocas del Toro. Identical biological, physical and chemical measurements were made at all sites, including forest composition and structure and soil chemistry (eg pH, redox potentials, salinity, sulphide levels and nutrient concentrations).
These experiments are essential for understanding the global impact of eutrophication on mangrove systems. The structural heterogeneity of mangrove forests is high and results in a wide variety of habitats for flora and fauna. We assessed forest structure and plant function over changes in tree height occurring in the mangroves of Twin Cays, Belize, and investigated how changes in nutrient availability, imposed by a long-term fertilization experiment, affected forest structure and plant function. .
Forest structure, measured as the leaf area index (LAI, m leaf area per m soil area), was greatest in tall marginal forest and least in dwarf stands. Fertilizing dwarf stands with phosphorus (P) for six years resulted in similar LAI to tall marginal forests. Increasing the capacity of stems to conduct water (larger diameters of xylem vessels) is a necessary requirement for achieving high levels of transpiration and plant productivity.
We predict that enrichment of mangrove forests with P will increase forest productivity but reduce the structural diversity of heterogeneous mangrove forests. Understanding these interactions allows us to predict changes in mangrove forest structure along tidally maintained gradients in salinity and inundation, and with cultural eutrophication. Our work is ongoing and focused on Bocas del Toro, Panama, Twin Cays, Belize and Ft.
Mangrove canal network model: assessment of prop root epibiont and epifaunal biomass in the Lair and Main canals of Twin Cays.
M. Scharler
Monika Bright, Department of Zoology, Department of Marine Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria. Don Davis, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Entomology), Washington, DC. Maria Faust, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Botany), Washington, D.C.20560.
Frank Ferrari, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Geoff Keel, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Invertebrate Zoology), Washington, D.C. Maslakova, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Zoölogie van gewervelde dieren), Washington, D.C.
Michelle Nestlerode, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Systematic Biology (Invertebrate Zoology), Washington, D.C. Jorg Ott, Institute of Zoology, Department of Marine Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria John Pandolh, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Paleobiology), Washington, D.C. Dave Pawson, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Washington, D.C.
Molly Ryan, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Invertebrate Zoology), Washington, D.C. Anja Schulze, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Unfeathered Zoology), Washington, D.C. David Smith, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Vertebrate Zoology), Washington, DC.
Ken Tighe, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Washington, D.C. George Venable, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Systematic Biology (Entomology), Washington, D.C. Linda Ward, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Washington, D.C.
