0421 Poster Session I, Acadia/Bissonet, Friday 8 July 2016; SSAR VICTOR HUTCHISON STUDENT POSTER AWARD: CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT Mike Iacchetta, C

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

0421 Poster Session I, Acadia/Bissonet, Friday 8 July 2016; SSAR VICTOR HUTCHISON STUDENT POSTER AWARD: CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT Mike Iacchetta, C 0421 Poster Session I, Acadia/Bissonet, Friday 8 July 2016; SSAR VICTOR HUTCHISON STUDENT POSTER AWARD: CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT Mike Iacchetta, C. M. Gienger, A. Floyd Scott, Ben Beas Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN, USA The Effect of Cattle on Amphibian and Reptile Communities in West Tennessee We conducted ten years of reptile and amphibian surveys in western Tennessee to compare seasonal abundances of herpetofauna in habitats with access by cattle and habitats without access by cattle. Eighteen fishless ponds and their adjacent forested habitats were surveyed for amphibians and reptiles. Pond-dwelling amphibians were more abundant in habitats without cattle access, whereas, reptiles were more abundant in habitats with access by cattle. In cattle excluded habitats, Ambystoma talpoideum had a greater abundance and longer snout-vent length. In contrast, Diadophis punctatus were less abundance yet had longer snout-vent length in the same cattle excluded habitats. Areas with cattle access are associated with more open canopy habitat, which may create increased opportunities for thermoregulation in reptiles. Our results also suggest that cattle presence may alter the water quality of ponds and thus affect the abundance and body size of pond-dwelling amphibians. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0706 Fish Systematics I, Salon F-H, Saturday 9 July 2016 Katriina Ilves1, Hernán López-Fernández2 1Pace University, New York, NY, USA, 2Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada A Targeted Exon approach for (Neotropical) Cichlid Phylogenomics Here we present a targeted exon next-generation sequencing approach for investigating the evolutionary relationships of cichlid fishes (Cichlidae), with a particular focus on the Neotropical subfamily Cichlinae. A set of 923 primarily single-copy exons was identified and probes were designed through mining of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) genome. Sequence capture and assembly were robust, leading to a complete dataset of 415 exons for 141 species (147 terminals) of primarily Neotropical cichlids. Gene trees and species trees were calculated using alternative partitioning schemes and reconstruction methods and the resulting trees and approaches are compared and discussed. Overall, this approach yielded a well-resolved phylogeny of Neotropical cichlids that will be of utility for future assessments of the evolutionary and ecological processes within this diverse group of fishes. Furthermore, the general methodology employed here of exon targeting and capture should be applicable to any group of organisms with the availability of a reference genome. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0126 Fish Systematics I, Salon F-H, Saturday 9 July 2016 Katriina Ilves2, Maria Claudia Malabarba3, Hernán López-Fernández1 1Royal Ontario Museum/Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2Pace University, New York, New York, USA, 3Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Phylogenomics, Fossils and a Tip-dating approach to the Age of Neotropical Cichlids Given the importance of cichlids as models in the study of macroevolution, the timing of their divergence has been the focus of several recent studies, but no consensus on the age of the family or its main clades has been reached. Differences in fossil calibrations, molecular markers and dating methods are all likely contributing to current disagreements regarding the age of cichlids. Central to recent studies of cichlid age are Eocene South American fossils (~47 Ma) identified as belonging to each of the three main tribes of the Neotropical clade, Cichlinae. In this study we expand a previous morphological dataset to a matrix of 150 characters of osteology and squamation for 74 living taxa from all Cichlinae clades and 5 Neotropical cichlid fossils. We use a phylogenomic exon-based hypothesis of Neotropical cichlid relationships (Ilves et al. Unpubl) to constraint sets of 10 concatenated exons with the morphological dataset and analyze them under a total-evidence, tip-dating Bayesian framework. We compare dates obtained with widely used ETOL genes with dates obtained with other exons and explore the effect of root priors on cichlid age estimates. ______________________________________________________________________________ 1041 AES GRUBER AWARD, Balconies J & K, Thursday 7 July 2016 Johanna Imhoff, R. Dean Grubbs Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA Comparative Mercury Contamination in Demersal Deep Sea Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico As mid to upper trophic level predators, elasmobranchs are at risk of carrying high loads of bioaccumulating toxicants. Methylmercury (MeHg) is of particular concern in fishes because high levels of contamination can put humans at risk for reproductive and neurological problems via fish consumption. Research on MeHg contamination in deep sea sharks has shown that MeHg concentration increases with the size of the shark, often exceeds recommended values for safe human consumption and generally increases with increasing trophic level and with dependence on benthic versus pelagic food webs. MeHg is one of several pollutants that are of particular concern after an oil spill. It has been hypothesized that oil spills create ideal conditions for blooms in the bacteria that methylate mercury. As mid to upper trophic level predators, deep sea sharks have the potential to bioaccumulate high concentrations of MeHg and their high longevity may facilitate the persistence of high levels of MeHg in the system for long periods of time. Therefore mercury analysis of coexisting deep sea sharks in a habitat near a source of anthropogenic pollution (i.e. the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill) could provide useful information on the roles of taxonomy and depth habitat in toxicological response of mesopredators after an oil spill. Methylmercury speciation and concentrations will be analyzed in six shark species that range from the continental shelf edge to the mid-slope and include both Carcarhiniformes (Mustelus canis, M. sinusmexicanus) and Squaliformes (Squalus cubensis, S. cf. mitsukurii, Centrophorus uyato, C. granulosus). ______________________________________________________________________________ 0723 AES Sawfishes Symposium, Salon E, Sunday 10 July 2016 Rima Jabado, Reem Al Baharna, Sultan Al Ali, Mohsin Al Ameri, Ayesha Al Blooshi Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates The Last Stand of the Critically Endangered Green Sawfish, Pristis zijsron, in the Arabian Gulf? Sawfishes represent one the most threatened group of marine fishes around the world. Historical declines have been documented throughout the geographic distribution of all five species and it has been suggested that they might be extinct as a functional component in Arabian Gulf coastal ecosystems. Interviews with fishermen were conducted across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between November 2015-April 2016 to determine the national status of sawfishes, gather information on encounters and abundance, as well as identify locations where populations might still be found. Based on pictures and rostra from various sources, the only species recorded in UAE waters is the green sawfish, Pristis zijsron. Fishermen confirmed sawfishes had drastically declined in the last 20 years yet the majority of respondents reported encounters in the last five to ten years. Sawfishes were not perceived to be a culturally significant resource and when caught were mainly used as a source of food, with their high value fins sold to traders and rostra retained as decorations in houses. The consensus was that sawfish used to be targeted but are now only caught as incidental catch primarily with gillnets and hook and line. While results of this study provide evidence of a large decline in sawfishes in the past 20 years, they highlight the importance of Abu Dhabi waters as a region where sawfishes are still encountered and provide an area where research, monitoring, as well as conservation and recovery efforts should be focused to avoid local extinction and restore robust populations. ______________________________________________________________________________ 0658 ASIH: Lessons From, and Visions For Symposium, Salon D, Sunday 10 July 2016 Donald Jackson1, Cindy Chu2, Nigel Lester2 1University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada Long-term (and Large-scale) Monitoring of Lake Fish Communities in Ontario Ontario has more than 250,000 lakes and managing these resources presents significant challenges given factors such as the very large spatial scale of Ontario, the diversity of natural environmental conditions, and the different demands and impacts on these systems (e.g. angling pressures) across Ontario. The Ontario government has several long-term monitoring programs across the province addressing various issues (fish populations, fish contaminants, water quality). We provide a brief overview of such programs and examine one, the Broad-scale Monitoring for Inland Lakes Program, in depth. This program samples approximately 150 lakes per year using a standardized protocol, with some lakes undergoing repeated sampling in a five-year cycle. We present issues related to how the program was started, how it is funded, and the design of the sampling program. We consider some challenges presented in developing and operating such a large program, in particular
Recommended publications
  • Estado Actual Y Monitoreo De Las Áreas Arrecifales En El Pacífico De
    PASO PACÍFICO NICARAGUA Proyecto ATN/ME-13732-NI ARTURO AYALA BOCOS Estado actual y monitoreo de las áreas arrecifales en el Pacífico de Nicaragua 2015 VERSIÓN: 01 PÁGINA 1 de 62 Managua, octubre de 2015. PASO PACÍFICO NICARAGUA Proyecto ATN/ME-13732-NI ARTURO AYALA BOCOS Elaborado por: Arturo Ayala Bocos Fecha de Elaboración 5/11/2015 Revisado por: Para uso del Proyecto Fecha de Revisión 12/10/2015 Aprobado por: Para uso del Proyecto Fecha de Aprobación 12/10/2015 CUADRO DE REVISIONES VERSIÓN: 01 PÁGINA 2 de 62 PASO PACÍFICO NICARAGUA Proyecto ATN/ME-13732-NI ARTURO AYALA BOCOS VERSIÓN: 01 PÁGINA 3 de 62 PASO PACÍFICO NICARAGUA Proyecto ATN/ME-13732-NI ARTURO AYALA BOCOS Tabla de contenido i. Introducción ................................................................................................................................ 8 ii. Antecedentes .............................................................................................................................. 1 iii. Objetivo general .......................................................................................................................... 3 iv. Objetivos específicos ................................................................................................................... 3 v. Área de estudio ........................................................................................................................... 4 6.1 Composición íctica de los arrecifes ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Gymnuridae 575
    click for previous page Rajiformes: Gymnuridae 575 GYMNURIDAE Butterfly rays by J.D. McEachran, TexasA&MUniversity, USA and M.R. de Carvalho, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA iagnostic characters:Medium to large-sized stingrays (maximum disc width over 2 m).Body strongly de- Dpressed, with head, trunk, and broadly expanded pectoral fins forming rhomboid disc. Disc at least 1.5 times broad as long. Tail very slender and short (shorter than disc), distinctly demarcated from disc.Pec- toral fins continuous along sides of head, not forming subrostral lobes or cephalic fins.Eyes and spira- cles on top of head. Some species have spiracular tentacles. Snout obtuse and angular. Nasal curtains are broadly expanded and continuous across narrow isthmus in front of mouth and are smooth-edged (with rare exceptions). Mouth is slightly arched and lacks papillae on floor. Jaws bear many small teeth in bands. Cau- dal fin always absent, dorsal fin absent in all Western Central Atlantic representatives. Pectoral fins extend distinctly posterior to origin of pelvic fins. Pelvic fins are moderately laterally expanded and not divided into anterior and posterior lobes. Some species have 1 or more long, serrated spines. Tail with longitudinal folds on upper and/or lower surfaces. Skin of upper side naked in most species, but with a variable num- ber of tubercles in large individuals of others. Colour: dorsal surface grey, light green, olive, purple, or dark brown, sometimes with a reddish cast, often marked with spots or lines; ventral surface white, sometimes with a bronze or rusty cast. disc at least 1.5 times broad as long smooth nasal curtain nostril tail slender and short mouth detail of mouth Habitat, biology, and fisheries: Butterfly rays are cosmopolitan in tropical and warm-temperate waters, usu- ally inhabiting sandy and muddy bottoms in shallow coastal waters, including estuaries and river mouths.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography Database of Living/Fossil Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii, Holocephali) Papers of the Year 2016
    www.shark-references.com Version 13.01.2017 Bibliography database of living/fossil sharks, rays and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii, Holocephali) Papers of the year 2016 published by Jürgen Pollerspöck, Benediktinerring 34, 94569 Stephansposching, Germany and Nicolas Straube, Munich, Germany ISSN: 2195-6499 copyright by the authors 1 please inform us about missing papers: [email protected] www.shark-references.com Version 13.01.2017 Abstract: This paper contains a collection of 803 citations (no conference abstracts) on topics related to extant and extinct Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) as well as a list of Chondrichthyan species and hosted parasites newly described in 2016. The list is the result of regular queries in numerous journals, books and online publications. It provides a complete list of publication citations as well as a database report containing rearranged subsets of the list sorted by the keyword statistics, extant and extinct genera and species descriptions from the years 2000 to 2016, list of descriptions of extinct and extant species from 2016, parasitology, reproduction, distribution, diet, conservation, and taxonomy. The paper is intended to be consulted for information. In addition, we provide information on the geographic and depth distribution of newly described species, i.e. the type specimens from the year 1990- 2016 in a hot spot analysis. Please note that the content of this paper has been compiled to the best of our abilities based on current knowledge and practice, however,
    [Show full text]
  • Shiloh National Military Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment
    National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Shiloh National Military Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment Natural Resource Report NPS/SHIL/NRR—2017/1387 ON THE COVER Bridge over the Shiloh Branch in SHIL. Photo courtesy of Robert Bird. Shiloh National Military Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment Natural Resource Report NPS/SHIL/NRR—2017/1387 Andy J. Nadeau Kevin Benck Kathy Allen Hannah Hutchins Anna Davis Andrew Robertson GeoSpatial Services Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota 890 Prairie Island Road Winona, Minnesota 55987 February 2017 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado, publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics. These reports are of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information.
    [Show full text]
  • Percidae: Etheostoma Raneyi) in Disjunct Watersheds of Northern Mississippi
    University of Mississippi eGrove Faculty and Student Publications Biology 1-1-2020 Cryptic diversity among Yazoo Darters (Percidae: Etheostoma raneyi) in disjunct watersheds of northern Mississippi Ken A. Sterling USDA Forest Service Stuart V. Nielsen Florida Museum of Natural History Andrew J. Brown Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo Melvin L. Warren USDA Forest Service Brice P. Noonan University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/biology_facpubs Recommended Citation Sterling KA, Nielsen SV, Brown AJ, Warren, Jr. ML, Noonan BP. 2020. Cryptic diversity among Yazoo Darters (Percidae: Etheostoma raneyi) in disjunct watersheds of northern Mississippi. PeerJ 8:e9014 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9014 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty and Student Publications by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cryptic diversity among Yazoo Darters (Percidae: Etheostoma raneyi) in disjunct watersheds of northern Mississippi Ken A. Sterling1, Stuart V. Nielsen2, Andrew J. Brown3, Melvin L. Warren, Jr.1 and Brice P. Noonan4 1 USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Stream Ecology Laboratory, Oxford, MS, United States of America 2 Division of Herpetology, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, United States of America 3 Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo, Monroe, LA, United States of America 4 Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS, United States of America ABSTRACT The Yazoo Darter, Etheostoma raneyi (Percidae), is an imperiled freshwater fish species endemic to tributaries of the Yocona and Little Tallahatchie rivers of the upper Yazoo River basin, in northern Mississippi, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Fishes from Complex a Offerings of Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City, Mexico)
    Archaeofauna 27 (2018): 21-36 Fishes from Complex A offerings of Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City, Mexico) ANA FABIOLA GUZMÁN Subdirección de laboratorios y Apoyo Académico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Moneda 16, Col. Centro, Ciudad de México, CP 06060, México, e-mail: [email protected], and Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala, Ciudad de México, CP 11340, México. (Received 1 September 2016; Revised 25 January 2017; Accepted 10 February 2017) RESUMEN: El presente trabajo aborda los restos de peces encontrados en las once ofrendas que integran el Complejo A, depositadas alrededor del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlán, el cual fuera el principal edificio ceremonial de la cultura mexica. El estudio de más de 35,000 restos muestra que se usaron 391 individuos de 63 especies y 35 familias. Siete especies fueron particularmen- te importantes por la cantidad de individuos y su frecuencia de uso, aunque el único atributo en común a las 11 ofrendas, es el pez sierra (Pristis). Sólo fueron ofrendados peces marinos, predominando las formas del Atlántico. La mayoría de los peces fueron depositados con una preparación taxidérmica para eliminar la columna vertebral. Las ofrendas colocadas en el relleno constructivo fueron marcadamente menos diversas respecto de las otras ofrendas colocadas en cistas. Aunque se pudieron relacionar algunas especies mencionadas por Sahagún con las ofren- dadas, las fuentes etnohistóricas proporcionan poca información de los peces y su uso, de ahí la importancia de un apropiado rescate y estudio de los restos de peces como fuente primaria y casi exclusiva de las relaciones entre el hombre mesoamericano y este recurso.
    [Show full text]
  • Genomic, Ecological, and Morphological Approaches to Investigating Species Limits: a Case Study in Modern Taxonomy from Tropical Eastern Pacific Surgeonfishes
    Received: 28 November 2018 | Revised: 13 February 2019 | Accepted: 13 February 2019 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5029 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Genomic, ecological, and morphological approaches to investigating species limits: A case study in modern taxonomy from Tropical Eastern Pacific surgeonfishes William B. Ludt1 | Moisés A. Bernal2 | Erica Kenworthy3 | Eva Salas4 | Prosanta Chakrabarty3 1National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Abstract Washington, District of Columbia A wide variety of species are distinguished by slight color variations. However, mo- 2 Department of Biological Sciences, 109 lecular analyses have repeatedly demonstrated that coloration does not always cor- Cooke Hall, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York respond to distinct evolutionary histories between closely related groups, suggesting 3Ichthyology Section, 119 Foster Hall, that this trait is labile and can be misleading for species identification. In the present Museum of Natural Science, Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State study, we analyze the evolutionary history of sister species of Prionurus surgeon- University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP), which are distinguished by the presence 4 FISHBIO, Santa Cruz, California or absence of dark spots on their body. We examined the species limits in this system Correspondence using comparative specimen‐based approaches, a mitochondrial gene (COI), more William B. Ludt, National Museum of than 800 nuclear loci (Ultraconserved Elements), and abiotic niche comparisons. The Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. results indicate there is a complete overlap of meristic counts and morphometric Email: [email protected] measurements between the two species. Further, we detected multiple individuals Funding information with intermediate spotting patterns suggesting that coloration is not diagnostic.
    [Show full text]
  • Cusk Eels, Brotulas [=Cherublemma Trotter [E
    FAMILY Ophidiidae Rafinesque, 1810 - cusk eels SUBFAMILY Ophidiinae Rafinesque, 1810 - cusk eels [=Ofidini, Otophidioidei, Lepophidiinae, Genypterinae] Notes: Ofidini Rafinesque, 1810b:38 [ref. 3595] (ordine) Ophidion [as Ophidium; latinized to Ophididae by Bonaparte 1831:162, 184 [ref. 4978] (family); stem corrected to Ophidi- by Lowe 1843:92 [ref. 2832], confirmed by Günther 1862a:317, 370 [ref. 1969], by Gill 1872:3 [ref. 26254] and by Carus 1893:578 [ref. 17975]; considered valid with this authorship by Gill 1893b:136 [ref. 26255], by Goode & Bean 1896:345 [ref. 1848], by Nolf 1985:64 [ref. 32698], by Patterson 1993:636 [ref. 32940] and by Sheiko 2013:63 [ref. 32944] Article 11.7.2; family name sometimes seen as Ophidionidae] Otophidioidei Garman, 1899:390 [ref. 1540] (no family-group name) Lepophidiinae Robins, 1961:218 [ref. 3785] (subfamily) Lepophidium Genypterinae Lea, 1980 (subfamily) Genypterus [in unpublished dissertation: Systematics and zoogeography of cusk-eels of the family Ophidiidae, subfamily Ophidiinae, from the eastern Pacific Ocean, University of Miami, not available] GENUS Cherublemma Trotter, 1926 - cusk eels, brotulas [=Cherublemma Trotter [E. S.], 1926:119, Brotuloides Robins [C. R.], 1961:214] Notes: [ref. 4466]. Neut. Cherublemma lelepris Trotter, 1926. Type by monotypy. •Valid as Cherublemma Trotter, 1926 -- (Pequeño 1989:48 [ref. 14125], Robins in Nielsen et al. 1999:27, 28 [ref. 24448], Castellanos-Galindo et al. 2006:205 [ref. 28944]). Current status: Valid as Cherublemma Trotter, 1926. Ophidiidae: Ophidiinae. (Brotuloides) [ref. 3785]. Masc. Leptophidium emmelas Gilbert, 1890. Type by original designation (also monotypic). •Synonym of Cherublemma Trotter, 1926 -- (Castro-Aguirre et al. 1993:80 [ref. 21807] based on placement of type species, Robins in Nielsen et al.
    [Show full text]
  • An Annotated Checklist of the Chondrichthyan Fishes Inhabiting the Northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea
    Zootaxa 4803 (2): 281–315 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2020 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4803.2.3 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:325DB7EF-94F7-4726-BC18-7B074D3CB886 An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyan fishes inhabiting the northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea CHRISTIAN M. JONES1,*, WILLIAM B. DRIGGERS III1,4, KRISTIN M. HANNAN2, ERIC R. HOFFMAYER1,5, LISA M. JONES1,6 & SANDRA J. RAREDON3 1National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Mississippi Laboratories, 3209 Frederic Street, Pascagoula, Mississippi, U.S.A. 2Riverside Technologies Inc., Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Mississippi Laboratories, 3209 Frederic Street, Pascagoula, Missis- sippi, U.S.A. [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2687-3331 3Smithsonian Institution, Division of Fishes, Museum Support Center, 4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland, U.S.A. [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8295-6000 4 [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8577-968X 5 [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5297-9546 6 [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2228-7156 *Corresponding author. [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5093-1127 Abstract Herein we consolidate the information available concerning the biodiversity of batoid fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, including nearly 70 years of survey data collected by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Mississippi Laboratories and their predecessors. We document 41 species proposed to occur in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • Using Molecular Identification of Ichthyoplankton to Monitor
    Molecular Identification of Ichthyoplankton in Cabo Pulmo National Park 1 Using molecular identification of ichthyoplankton to monitor 2 spawning activity in a subtropical no-take Marine Reserve 3 4 5 6 Ana Luisa M. Ahern1, *, Ronald S. Burton1, Ricardo J. Saldierna-Martínez2, Andrew F. Johnson1, 7 Alice E. Harada1, Brad Erisman1,4, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza1, David I. Castro Arvizú3, Arturo R. 8 Sánchez-Uvera2, Jaime Gómez-Gutiérrez2 9 10 11 12 1Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California 13 San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA 14 2Departamento de Plancton y Ecología Marina, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, 15 Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CP 23096, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico 16 3Cabo Pulmo National Park, Baja California Sur, Mexico 17 4The University of Texas at Austin, Marine Science Institute, College of Natural Sciences, 18 Port Aransas, Texas, USA 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 *Corresponding author: [email protected] 1 Molecular Identification of Ichthyoplankton in Cabo Pulmo National Park 26 ABSTRACT: Ichthyoplankton studies can provide valuable information on the species richness 27 and spawning activity of fishes, complementing estimations done using trawls and diver surveys. 28 Zooplankton samples were collected weekly between January and December 2014 in Cabo 29 Pulmo National Park, Gulf of California, Mexico (n=48). Fish larvae and particularly eggs are 30 difficult to identify morphologically, therefore the DNA barcoding method was employed to 31 identify 4,388 specimens, resulting in 157 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) corresponding 32 to species. Scarus sp., Halichoeres dispilus, Xyrichtys mundiceps, Euthynnus lineatus, 33 Ammodytoides gilli, Synodus lacertinus, Etrumeus acuminatus, Chanos chanos, Haemulon 34 flaviguttatum, and Vinciguerria lucetia were the most abundant and frequent species recorded.
    [Show full text]
  • Geological Survey of Alabama Calibration of The
    GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA Berry H. (Nick) Tew, Jr. State Geologist ECOSYSTEMS INVESTIGATIONS PROGRAM CALIBRATION OF THE INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY FOR THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ICHTHYOREGION IN ALABAMA OPEN-FILE REPORT 1210 by Patrick E. O'Neil and Thomas E. Shepard Prepared in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................ 1 Introduction.......................................................... 2 Acknowledgments .................................................... 6 Objectives........................................................... 7 Study area .......................................................... 7 Southern Plains ichthyoregion ...................................... 7 Methods ............................................................ 9 IBI sample collection ............................................. 9 Habitat measures............................................... 11 Habitat metrics ........................................... 12 The human disturbance gradient ................................... 16 IBI metrics and scoring criteria..................................... 20 Designation of guilds....................................... 21 Results and discussion................................................ 23 Sampling sites and collection results . 23 Selection and scoring of Southern Plains IBI metrics . 48 Metrics selected for the
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    06_250317 part1-3.qxd 12/13/05 7:32 PM Page 15 Phylum Chordata Chordates are placed in the superphylum Deuterostomia. The possible rela- tionships of the chordates and deuterostomes to other metazoans are dis- cussed in Halanych (2004). He restricts the taxon of deuterostomes to the chordates and their proposed immediate sister group, a taxon comprising the hemichordates, echinoderms, and the wormlike Xenoturbella. The phylum Chordata has been used by most recent workers to encompass members of the subphyla Urochordata (tunicates or sea-squirts), Cephalochordata (lancelets), and Craniata (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). The Cephalochordata and Craniata form a mono- phyletic group (e.g., Cameron et al., 2000; Halanych, 2004). Much disagree- ment exists concerning the interrelationships and classification of the Chordata, and the inclusion of the urochordates as sister to the cephalochor- dates and craniates is not as broadly held as the sister-group relationship of cephalochordates and craniates (Halanych, 2004). Many excitingCOPYRIGHTED fossil finds in recent years MATERIAL reveal what the first fishes may have looked like, and these finds push the fossil record of fishes back into the early Cambrian, far further back than previously known. There is still much difference of opinion on the phylogenetic position of these new Cambrian species, and many new discoveries and changes in early fish systematics may be expected over the next decade. As noted by Halanych (2004), D.-G. (D.) Shu and collaborators have discovered fossil ascidians (e.g., Cheungkongella), cephalochordate-like yunnanozoans (Haikouella and Yunnanozoon), and jaw- less craniates (Myllokunmingia, and its junior synonym Haikouichthys) over the 15 06_250317 part1-3.qxd 12/13/05 7:32 PM Page 16 16 Fishes of the World last few years that push the origins of these three major taxa at least into the Lower Cambrian (approximately 530–540 million years ago).
    [Show full text]