Final Exam - Spring 2000

Biol 6020 - Estuarine Ecology

Joe Luczkovich

Directions: Take home exam, open book. Please turn in typed responses to these questions by 10 May 1999. Please work alone on these written responses.

  1. Definitions: Define these terms in a short paragraph (20 points total, 2 points each):

1. Meroplankton -

  1. Recruitment -
  2. Interaction (statistical) -
  3. Epibenthic sled -
  4. Partially mixed estuary -
  5. Catch per unit effort -
  6. Suspension feeder -
  7. Redfield ratios -
  8. Seiche -
  9. Nanophytoplankton -

II. Short Essay. (10 points each). Please write several paragraphs to answer each one. Be sure to provide references from course readings or other papers that you may uncover to support your answers.

  1. Describe how bioturbation can be an important factor in determining benthic community structure.
  2. What patterns of species diversity are apparent in estuarine communities (e.g., phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, nekton, marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses) with respect to abiotic factors such as temperature and salinity?
  3. How does habitat complexity benefit estuarine organisms? Describe some studies in which habitat complexity was associated with increased abundance or diversity of estuarine organisms.
  4. Describe the various methods used to sample estuarine nekton. Differentiate among the measures of estimating the effectiveness of sampling nekton: catch efficiency, recovery efficiency, and capture efficiency.
  5. Write a critique of the paper by Ortega and Sutherland (1992)[1], which was given to you by me this semester. What implications does this paper have for the restoration of NC's oyster fishery? If you were writing a management plan for the oyster stocks, what recommendations would you make to the Fishery commission about where to plant oyster shells, based on the data in this paper?
  6. What technical advances have been made and are now used in the study of microbial ecology and detritus in estuaries (i.e., what did Bob Christian tell you needed to be updated about Chapter 7 in the text)?
  7. Describe how network models are now being used to model estuarine food webs. What is a network model and how can it be used to study a food web? Any good examples of food web networks in the literature? What are some advantages and drawbacks of network models?
  8. What kind of changes have occurred in North Carolina's fisheries since records have been kept on fisheries? Which fisheries have increased catches and why? Which fisheries have declining catches and why?

[1] Recruitment and growth of the Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in North Carolina. Estuaries, 15(2): 158-170.