This study on reef placement involves two aspects: (1) the development of a bioenergetics model for red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus (Poey), in Gulf of Mexico waters off the coast of Alabama, where significant numbers of artificial reefs are thought to exist, and (2) a fuzzy rough set model by which parameters determined from the bioenergetics model can provide a decision tool for optimally sp...

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released 134 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico making it the largest oil spill in US history and exposing fish, birds, and marine mammals throughout the Gulf of Mexico to its toxicity. Fish eating waterbirds such as the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) were exposed to the oil both by direct contact with the oil and orally throug...

Evidence of fresh oil from the BP/Deepwater Horizon Mississippi Canyon-252 (MC-252) well was found in the northern Gulf of Mexico up to 1 year and 10 months after it was capped on 15 July 2010. Offshore and coastal samples collected after capping displayed ratios of biomarkers matching those of MC-252 crude oil. Pre- and post-capping samples were compared. Little weathering had occurred, based ...

Over the last several decades, the distribution of the black mangrove Avicennia germinans in the Gulf of Mexico has expanded, in part because it can survive the occasional freeze events and high soil salinities characteristic of the area. Vessel architecture may influence mangrove chilling and salinity tolerance. We surveyed populations of A. germinans throughout the Gulf to determine if vessel...

Abstract. In this work, we used a nonlinear, reduced gravity model of the Gulf of Mexico to study the effect of a seasonal variation of the reduced gravity parameter on ring-shedding behaviour. When small amplitudes of the seasonal variation are used, the distributions of ring-shedding periods are bi-modal. When the amplitude of the seasonal variation is large enough, the ring-shedding events s...

Increasing use of ecological models for management and policy requires robust evaluation of model precision, accuracy, and sensitivity to ecosystem change. We conducted such an evaluation of hypoxia models for the northern Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay using hindcasts of historical data, comparing several approaches to model calibration. For both systems we find that model sensitivity and p...

DNA sequence variation at a mitochondrial and a nuclear intron locus was surveyed within and among multiple populations of the inland silverside (Menidia beryllina) from the southeastern United States and revealed discordant phylogenetic patterns but similar patterns of population genetic variation across nuclear and mitochondrial loci. Mitochondrial variation was geographically structured, wit...

[1] Observations and model experiments are used to investigate the influence of El Niño/the Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on air-sea interaction in the north Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. In one experiment, observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical Pacific are specified as boundary conditions in an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), while SSTs over the rema...

The midsummer drought (MSD) is a diminution in rainfall experienced during the middle of the rainy season in southern Mexico and Central America, as well as in the adjacent Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific seas. The aim of this paper is to describe the regional characteristics of the MSD and to propose some possible forcing mechanisms. Satellite and in situ data are used to form a...

One of the greatest feats of avian migration is the non-stop crossing of extensive areas of inhospitable habitat such as deserts and seas. Differences in spring and autumn migration routes have been reported in species that cross such barriers, and are thought to have evolved in response to seasonal variation in prevailing wind direction. We tested the hypothesis that migration routes vary seas...