Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Jordaan, Adrian. | Frisk, Michael G | Cerrato, Robert M
Date
2015-12-01
Keywords
Fisheries and aquatic sciences | Community Assemblage, Multivariate Statistics
Department
Department of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77784
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Understanding the temporal and spatial trends in community structure of a bay is critical to elucidating drivers of ecosystem change and developing management policies. In order to analyze the spatial and temporal trends in the fish and mobile invertebrate assemblage of Peconic Bay, New York, we utilized data from the NYDEC bottom trawl survey. Beginning in 1987, the survey has been conducted monthly from May through October and averaged 381 stations annually. Twenty two taxa were analyzed using multivariate semivariance on Hellinger transformed abundance data. Temporal trends in community structure revealed strong seasonal patterns typical of a temperate estuarine system. However, a long-term pattern was observed where assemblage became gradually more dissimilar as the time interval between surveys was increased. Using multivariate regression tress and redundancy analysis, an abrupt shift in the dominant species abundances was observed in the year 2000 and was linked to long-term climatic indices, especially the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation. The latter was in a cold period since 1968, but switched to a warm period in 1995. This dramatic shift in abundances might have been caused by warming temperatures in the bay through either bottom-up (e.g. | a change in plankton biomass) or top-down controls, such as predation. Since recruitment can play a large role in the status of a species population, four species of young-of-the-year fish were studied to identify spatial utilization within the bay, as well as any habitat preferences. GIS mapping was used to visualize patterns of abundance throughout the bay from 2006 to 2012, while generalized additive models were used to detect habitat preferences. Clear spatial patterns and habitat preferences were observed in northern puffer, scup, weakfish, and winter flounder young-of-the-year. The Shannon index of diversity and species richness was also calculated for each tow to discern areas of the Bay that species might disproportionally utilize as habitat. Certain areas within the Peconic Bay were observed to contain greater species diversity, and these areas should be considered in future management and restoration decisions by environmental groups and fishery managers. | 179 pages
Recommended Citation
Abruzzo, Tyler Rose, "Analyzing Spatial and Temporal Trends in the Community Structure of the Peconic Bay Estuary" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3562.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3562