Reiss Christian S.

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Reiss
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Christian S.
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  • Article
    Biophysical mechanisms of larval fish ingress into Chesapeake Bay
    (Inter-Research, 2005-11-21) Hare, Jonathan A. ; Thorrold, Simon R. ; Walsh, Harvey J. ; Reiss, Christian S. ; Valle-Levinson, Arnoldo ; Jones, Cynthia M.
    Selective tidal stream transport is hypothesized as a dominant mechanism by which larvae of marine animals move through estuarine openings. For larvae moving from the shelf to estuarine habitats, selective tidal stream transport proposes that larvae are higher in the water column during flood tide and lower in the water column during ebb tide. Although a number of studies conclude that selective tidal stream transport is the mechanism responsible for larval ingress, few studies consider alternative mechanisms or consider passive explanations for tidal patterns in larval distributions. We examined the biophysical mechanisms responsible for larval ingress into Chesapeake Bay using an Eulerian approach. We made flux calculations for 3 species and partitioned flux estimates among 3 different ingress mechanisms (wind forcing, residual bottom inflow and tidal). For the Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus (Sciaenidae), all 3 mechanisms of ingress contributed to the net up-estuary flux of larvae, but tidal mechanisms become more important for larger sizes. Net up-estuary flux of the Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus (Clupeidae) was dominated by residual bottom inflow and wind forcing. Ingress of the summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus (Paralichthyidae) was dominated by tidal mechanisms, and the importance of tides increased with developmental stage. We found little evidence for the hypothesis that tidal patterns in larval distributions resulted from passive processes (water mass-specific distributions, buoyancy, vertical mixing), thereby supporting the hypothesis that tidal patterns resulted from active behaviors. However, our estimates of vertical mixing were not direct and additional work is needed to examine the role of vertical mixing in influencing vertical distributions in areas with strong tides. We conclude that a combination of wind forcing, residual bottom inflow, and selective tidal stream transport are responsible for the ingress of larval fishes into Chesapeake Bay, and that the relative importance of the 3 mechanisms differs among species and changes with larval development.
  • Article
    Spatial and isotopic niche partitioning during winter in chinstrap and Adélie penguins from the South Shetland Islands
    (Ecological Society of America, 2015-07-29) Hinke, Jefferson T. ; Polito, Michael J. ; Goebel, Michael E. ; Jarvis, Sharon ; Reiss, Christian S. ; Thorrold, Simon R. ; Trivelpiece, Wayne Z. ; Watters, George M.
    Closely related species with similar ecological requirements should exhibit segregation along spatial, temporal, or trophic niche axes to limit the degree of competitive overlap. For migratory marine organisms like seabirds, assessing such overlap during the non-breeding period is difficult because of long-distance dispersal to potentially diffuse foraging habitats. Miniaturization of geolocation devices and advances in stable isotope analysis (SIA), however, provide a robust toolset to quantitatively track the movements and foraging niches of wide ranging marine animals throughout much of their annual cycle. We used light-based geolocation tags and analyzed stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from tail feathers to simultaneously characterize winter movements, habitat utilization, and overlap of spatial and isotopic niches of migratory chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and Adélie (P. adeliae) penguins during the austral winter of 2012. Chinstrap penguins exhibited a higher diversity of movements and occupied portions of the Southern Ocean from 138° W to 30° W within a narrow latitudinal band centered on 60° S. In contrast, all tracked Adélie penguins exhibited smaller-scale movements into the Weddell Sea and then generally along a counter-clockwise path as winter advanced. Inter-specific overlap during the non-breeding season was low except during the months immediately adjacent to the summer breeding season. Intra-specific overlap by chinstraps from adjacent breeding colonies was higher throughout the winter. Spatial segregation appears to be the primary mechanism to maintain inter- and intra-specific niche separation during the non-breeding season for chinstrap and Adélie penguins. Despite low spatial overlap, however, the data do suggest that a narrow pelagic corridor in the southern Scotia Sea hosted both chinstrap and Adélie penguins for most months of the year. Shared occupancy and similar isotopic signatures of the penguins in that region suggests that the potential for inter-specific competition persists during the winter months. Finally, we note that SIA was able to discriminate eastward versus westward migrations in penguins, suggesting that SIA of tail feathers may provide useful information on population-level distribution patterns for future studies.
  • Article
    Natural iron enrichment around the Antarctic Peninsula in the Southern Ocean
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2010-01-05) Ardelan, M. V. ; Holm-Hansen, O. ; Hewes, C. D. ; Reiss, Christian S. ; Silva, N. S. ; Dulaiova, Henrieta ; Steinnes, E. ; Sakshaug, E.
    As part of the US-AMLR program in January-February of 2006, 99 stations in the South Shetland Islands-Antarctic Peninsula region were sampled to understand the variability in hydrographic and biological properties related to the abundance and distribution of krill in this area. Concentrations of dissolved iron (DFe) and total acid-leachable iron (TaLFe) were measured in the upper 150 m at 16 of these stations (both coastal and pelagic waters) to better resolve the factors limiting primary production in this area and in downstream waters of the Scotia Sea. The concentrations of DFe and TaLFe in the upper mixed layer (UML) were relatively high in Weddell Sea Shelf Waters (~0.6 nM and 15 nM, respectively) and low in Drake Passage waters (~0.2 nM and 0.9 nM, respectively). In the Bransfield Strait, representing a mixture of waters from the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), concentrations of DFe were ~0.4 nM and of TaLFe ~1.7 nM. The highest concentrations of DFe and TaLFe in the UML were found at shallow coastal stations close to Livingston Island (~1.6 nM and 100 nM, respectively). The ratio of TaLFe:DFe varied with the distance to land: ~45 at the shallow coastal stations, ~15 in the high-salinity waters of Bransfield Strait, and ~4 in ACC waters. Concentrations of DFe increased slightly with depth in the water column, while that of TaLFe did not show any consistent trend with depth. Our Fe data are discussed in regard to the hydrography and water circulation patterns in the study area, and with the hypothesis that the relatively high rates of primary production in the central regions of the Scotia Sea are partially sustained by natural iron enrichment resulting from a northeasterly flow of iron-rich coastal waters originating in the South Shetland Islands-Antarctic Peninsula region.