Evaluation of New England Salt Marsh Support of the American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, and the Impacts of Hydrologic Restriction
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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 2019 EVALUATION OF NEW ENGLAND SALT MARSH SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN EEL, ANGUILLA ROSTRATA, AND THE IMPACTS OF HYDROLOGIC RESTRICTION Alyson L. Eberhardt University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Eberhardt, Alyson L., "EVALUATION OF NEW ENGLAND SALT MARSH SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN EEL, ANGUILLA ROSTRATA, AND THE IMPACTS OF HYDROLOGIC RESTRICTION" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 2486. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2486 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EVALUATION OF NEW ENGLAND SALT MARSH SUPPORT OF THE AMERICAN EEL, ANGUILLA ROSTRATA, AND THE IMPACTS OF HYDROLOGIC RESTRICTION BY ALYSON L. EBERHARDT BA, Drew University, 1997 MS, University of New Hampshire, 2004 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earth and Environmental Sciences December, 2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Ó 2019 Alyson L. Eberhardt ii This dissertation was examined and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earth and Environmental Sciences by: Dissertation Director, David M. Burdick, PhD Research Associate Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment William H. Howell, PhD Professor of Biological Sciences Adrienne I. Kovach, PhD Associate Professor of Natural Resources and the Environment Beverly Johnson, PhD Professor of Geology, Bates College Kenneth Oliveira, PhD Professor of Biology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth On 2 December 2019 Approval signatures are on file with the University of New Hampshire Graduate School. iii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to two strong women who have provided me with unwavering support – my grandmother, Josephine Lipinski, and my mother, Carol Eberhardt. iv Acknowledgements I am filled with gratitude for the many people who helped me complete this degree. I am lucky to be afforded this privilege. I am thankful to the many people who contributed, only a fraction of whom are named below. Thank you – First and foremost, to my husband, Kevin, without whose understanding, time, energy, and extraordinary parenting I would not have completed this. Kev, thank you for your unwavering support and endless patience. To Max and Amelie, you were both incredibly understanding and uplifting during the long months it took me to finish this dissertation. Thank you for supporting your mother and sharing my enthusiasm for eels. I love the three of you more than words can express. To my Mom and Dad, who have provided me with unconditional love and support, always. You both are always at the ready to offer words of encouragement during difficult times and to celebrate the successes with me. I am so fortunate and forever grateful. To my grandmother, Josephine, for continually inspiring me and for gifting me Poppy’s gear. It was an honor to wear his boots and waders throughout my fieldwork; it made my days in the mud feel extra special. To Pim/Muh, for your continued advice, support, listening, and friendship along this ride. I frequently reflect on how lucky I am to have you as a best friend. Jersey girls... To my mentor and advisor, David Burdick. You have incredible knowledge, and your commitment to sharing it across a broad range of audiences is one of the things I most admire about you. You have modeled for me how to simultaneously manage rigorous research, community connection, and meaningful student support. As my advisor, you deftly struck a v balance between providing both guidance and freedom. Thank you for taking a chance on me, Dave. To Michele Dionne, who was an incredible mentor to me as a researcher, an estuarine fish ecologist, a woman, and a mother. She played a critical role in shaping my research and in shaping my goals as a female scientist. Her death came far too early, but I like to think that her science lives on in my work. To my dissertation committee – Beverly Johnson, Ken Oliveira, Hunt Howell, and Adrienne Kovach. I truly appreciate your time, your expertise, your encouragement, and for sticking this out with me. To Erin and Julie, what would I do without the Drew Crew? It is a source of constant comfort to know that I have such strong, smart, fun women in my corner. To Lee Pollock, for seeding my early interests in marine ecology and modeling what true scientific curiosity and rigor look like. My sincere thanks to you and Sylvia, you are both so kind, passionate, smart, and supportive. How lucky am I to be reunited with the two of you! To Ray and Harriet, thank you for your continued support from afar. To UNH Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) Director Ken La Valley and Associate Director Amy Ouellette, my UNHCE supervisor Jeff Schloss, and my NH Sea Grant supervisor, Erik Chapman, for providing me with leave to complete my dissertation. A sabbatical was critical for me to complete this degree and I’m not sure that it would have happened without it. I am proud and lucky to work for organizations that place a high value on supporting the professional development of their employees. Thank you all. vi To my colleagues at NH Sea Grant and UNHCE for taking on some of my work while I was on leave, with special thanks to Wells Costello, for the incredible job he did running the Coastal Research Volunteer program. To the many people who helped with field data collection, stable isotope sample preparation, gut content analysis, and data analysis, including Chris Peter, Rob Vincent, Carol Eberhardt, Kevin Baum, Sandra Pimentel, Tuck O’Brien, Chris Cavalieri, Krystin Ward, Ernst Linder, and Nathan Furey. To Andy Ouimette at the UNH Stable Isotope Laboratory for assistance in stable isotope sample analysis. To Diane Foster, Director of UNH’s School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, for providing me with a workspace to complete my dissertation. To Lynne Cooper, Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science Doctoral Program Coordinator, and Jen Bourgeault, currently with the Globe Program and former NRESS Program Coordinator, for helping to keep me on track and for having the confidence that I would, in fact, complete this thing. To Jovana Milosavljevic-Ardeljan and Dean Cari Moorhead of the UNH Graduate School for providing critical opportunities to keep my writing moving forward. The Dissertation Retreats were critical for me to create space in my life to work on this over the years. Thank you for all your hard work to foster a structured and supportive environment to help me and others succeed. My research occurred on the traditional lands and waterways of the Pennacook, Abenaki, Wabanaki, Pentucket, and Agawam Peoples both past and present. I acknowledge, honor, and am grateful for the land and for the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. vii The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, New Hampshire Sea Grant Development Funds, the UNH Marine Program William R. Spaulding Endowment, and the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science Doctoral Program at UNH provided funding for this research. The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge granted permission to sample in Wells, ME, and Newbury, MA, respectively. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. xvi INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Project goals ................................................................................................................................ 5 Overview of experiments ............................................................................................................ 5 Chapter I. Stable isotope discrimination and turnover in multiple tissues of the American eel, Anguilla rostrata ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 8 METHODS ................................................................................................................................... 11 Fish feeding experiment ............................................................................................................ 11 Sample collection and isotope analysis ..................................................................................... 13 Data analysis ............................................................................................................................. 14 RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................