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Please note different location for this week's MBF602 student seminars! MBF602 Friday 9/9/11 MSC343, 12 noon Student Speaker: Sharein El-Tourky Spatial and Temporal Patterns in the Production,
Abundance, and Distribution of Farranula
gracilis in the Florida Straits The steady decline in
fishing stocks, despite implementation of fisheries management strategies,
indicates the necessity for more comprehensive ecosystem models that
incorporate accurate ecosystem trophic transfer rates. Enhancing the accuracy
of these rates is dependent on identifying the trophic interactions at the
earliest stage of fish development; the larval stage. At this stage of fish
development, mortality rates are high and resource limitation often determines larval
survival. Thus, quantifying available secondary production in the context of
available primary production is crucial. In the Florida Straits, there is a
paucity of data on primary and secondary production and the temporal and spatial
distribution of secondary producers. My objectives are to quantify patterns in space and time for the secondary production of Farranula gracilis, a copepod species electively
fed upon by larval billfish (Llopiz and Cowen, 2008) and larval reef fish
(Sponaugle et al., 2009; 2010). In order to accomplish these objectives my
dissertation research will (1.) determine the temporal and
spatial distribution of F.gracilis in
the Florida Straits from samples collected during the 2003-2004 Billfish
Project, (2.) estimate secondary
production rates of F. gracilis by
measuring microrespiration and egg production rates, and (3.) establish
patterns of secondary and primary production during annual surveys in the shoreward
front of the Florida Current.
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