Marine Bio Lab Practical

Micropogonias undulatus

Trachipterus jacksonensis.

Cynoscion arenarius.

Harengula jaguana.

Solea solea

Paralichthys lethostigma

Synodus lucioceps

Anchoa mitchilli

Porichthys

Prionotus carolinus.

Leiostomus xanthurus

Trinectes maculatus

Sciaenops ocellatus

Ariopsis felis

Uroteuthis noctiluca

Menticirrhus americanus

Lutjanus campechanus

Sparidae

Rivers entering the bay

Bay exiting into GOM between Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan

Sediment deposited on bay bottom by river flow

Conductivity-Temperature-Depth

Measures salinity, temperature, depth, and dissolved oxygen of water at each of the sampling locations

The changes in salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, or other parameters as functions of depth

the act of lowering, then raising a meter through the water column each time

a zone located beneath the surface in which a rapid decrease in temperature occurs relative to the change in depth

density gradient

water temperature is a critical factor in determining water density, so the thermocline and pycnocline are directly related

A water column that has ‘layers’ because of the large density difference across the thermocline

parts per thousand (ppt) 0/00

35 ppt

A sharp change in salinity with depth

Water that has different salinity layers and has a strong halocline

hand-held device for measuring salinity

1.025 g/ml

zooplankton

remain planktonic for their entire life cycle

Have both planktonic and benthic stages of life, and are usually larval stages of larger organism

muddy/clay typically hypoxic or anoxic in summer

nekton are capable of swimming/fighting against a water current of at least 1 knot on their own. Plankton cannot swim against a current of 1 knot.

consists of representatives of seven plant divisions, all algae, plus a \n photosynthetic group of bacteria (the cyanobacteria).

diatoms and dinoflagellates

consists of members of almost all 35 animal phyla

Sea oats, seaside morning glory, American beach grass, seashore dropseed, pennywort, smooth cordgrass and others

Brown pelican, laughing gull, great blue heron, red-winged blackbird, grackle, snowy egret, great egret, least tern, osprey, black skimmer, clapper rail

Spartina, juncus, saltwort and glasswort, seashore dropseed, seaside morning glory and others

Root mats, rhizomes, less surface area above ground to support, skinny body to handle wind, no leaves/small leaves to deal with salt content, larger roots or taproot for water retention, etc.

Periwinkle snails (suction to spartina to avoid washing away), fiddler crabs (burrow), hermit crabs, bird species, ragworm, capitellid worm, and others

Males are larger. Females have a darker abdomen on ventral side and more pairs of pleopods

American oysters are commercially beneficial, they filter pollutants and sediment out of the water, and create oyster reefs which are important habitats

Thalassia testudinum (turtle grass), Halodula wrightii (manatee grass)

manatee grass