Dennis Allen - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dennis Allen

This data package is formatted as an ecocomDP (Ecological Community Data Pattern). For more infor... more This data package is formatted as an ecocomDP (Ecological Community Data Pattern). For more information on ecocomDP see https://github.com/EDIorg/ecocomDP. This Level 1 data package was derived from the Level 0 data package found here: https://pasta.lternet.edu/package/metadata/eml/knb-lter-nin/7/1. The abstract below was extracted from the Level 0 data package and is included for context: This data package consists of Epibenthos Sampling for North Inlet Stations Bread and Butter Creek, from 1981 to 1992, and Debidue Creek from 1981 to 1984, The purpose of the long term monitoring of Epibenthos was to determine seasonal and inter-annual changes in the taxonomic/life stage composition and abundance of small motile epibenthic invertebrates and fishes (1-20 mm in length) in the major sub- tidal habitats of North Inlet estuary.

Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2003

We conducted a series of experiments to determine the movements and fidelity of juvenile pinfish,... more We conducted a series of experiments to determine the movements and fidelity of juvenile pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides, in salt marsh creeks within North Inlet Estuary, SC. In Experiment 1, we investigated the fidelity of pinfish (40-100 mm SL) at four subtidal locations (9-617 m apart) along the axis of a major creek. We trapped and marked 2,297 individuals and recaptured 15-22% of the fishes released at each site, almost all of which (99.7%) had been marked at the same location of recapture up to 3 months earlier. In Experiment 2, we investigated pinfish movements between subtidal and intertidal areas. In the 8 weeks prior to sampling 2 intertidal creeks, we marked 950 juveniles in the adjacent subtidal areas. Sampling of the 2 flooded intertidal creeks showed that 9-20% of the pinfish collected bore marks, and all had been previously marked at the subtidal site immediately adjacent to the intertidal creek. Gut analysis of 60 individuals revealed that juveniles collected from the intertidal areas at high tide had consumed about ten times more food than those collected at the subtidal sites at low tide. In Experiment 3, we determined the fidelity of recently settled pinfish (<35 mm SL) and showed that 15% of the 434 marked pinfish remained in the same area; some were at liberty up to 7 weeks. In Experiment 4, we determined home range by tagging and recapturing juvenile pinfish at sites separated by 20 m along a 200 m subtidal transect. We estimated that during periods when the intertidal zone was not accessible, the average home range was 9.4 m with only 10% of tagged fish moving greater than 20 m during the 4 month study. Our results indicate that soon after recruitment to the estuary, pinfish establish strong fidelity for sites within salt marsh creeks and exhibit tidal periodicity in both movements and feeding.

Journal of Crustacean Biology

Hydrobiologia

Tidally-driven fluctuations lead to rapid variations in hydrological properties that can have pro... more Tidally-driven fluctuations lead to rapid variations in hydrological properties that can have profound effects on the dynamic and functions of salt marshes. During low tides, many nektonic species find refuge from predatory fish in shallow intertidal pools. The utilization of shallow pool refuges also exposes fishes to fitness costs that fluctuate between day and night. Yet, how aggregated fish using an intertidal pool modulate their schooling behavior over the diel cycle remains unknown. Using high-resolution imaging sonar (ARIS), we monitored an intertidal pool over a 3-day period and quantified fish abundance, size and schooling behavior relative to the diel and tidal cycles. Higher fish abundance was found during low tides than high tides when the section was connected with the subtidal waters. At low tide, no differences in fish abundance and size were detected in the pool between day and night, but larger schools formed at night than day. Our results suggest that biotic and ab...

Marine Biology, 2015

these keystone organisms to resist relocation by tidal currents and occupy certain areas for exte... more these keystone organisms to resist relocation by tidal currents and occupy certain areas for extended periods should be considered in decisions about proposed alterations to creeks and shorelines. Communicated by X. Irigoyen.

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2015

The naked goby (Gobiosoma bosc), striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus), and eastern oyster (Crass... more The naked goby (Gobiosoma bosc), striped blenny (Chasmodes bosquianus), and eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) are common resident species in temperate Atlantic tidal waters. All three species produce planktonic larvae, and interactions between their early life stages likely influence recruitment success. Fish predation on oyster veligers requires co-occurrence as well as a match between prey behavior, size, and morphology and the ability of the predator to capture and engulf the veliger (prey). Wild plankton, oyster veligers, and wild plankton enriched with oyster veligers (mixed) were fed to cultured larval fishes during laboratory experiments. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) no fish species-specific differences in oyster veliger consumption exist within similar predator-prey development stage combinations, (2) postflexion blennies and gobies consume more veligers than preflexion fishes, (3) veligers reach a size refuge from fish predation by the umbo developmental stage. The resulting data provide a quantitative description of larval fish feeding behavior with respect to fish (preflexion, postflexion) and veliger (straight hinge, umbo) developmental stage. Selectivity for bivalve veligers as well as ontogenetic effects on the predator-prey interaction were examined. Fish nests were cultured to provide larval fish predators of known age. Overall, 70% of striped blennies and 59% of naked gobies consumed at least one prey item during the 3 h experiments. There were fish species-specific differences in oyster veliger consumption between striped blennies and naked gobies. Striped blennies consumed more prey items including a wider range of veliger ages than larval naked gobies of the same developmental stages, regardless of the prey treatment. Fish selectivity was high for copepod nauplii and bivalve veligers and usually low for polychaete larvae, barnacle nauplii, and diatoms. There was a significant positive relationship between standardized consumption and predator development stage in the wild treatment for both fishes and in mixed and veliger treatments for blennies. All fishes consumed straight hinge veligers more often than umbo stage veligers. The largest veligers appear to reach a predation refuge from both fishes. Larval gobies and blennies are generalist predators that use seasonal pulses of zooplankton prey within temperate estuaries. Potential mismatches between predator-prey spatial and temporal overlap that might reduce fish recruitment are likely offset by adult spawning strategies that result in multiple nests within a long spawning season.

A year-round survey of American eels, Anguilla rostrata, was performed in South Carolina (SC), US... more A year-round survey of American eels, Anguilla rostrata, was performed in South Carolina (SC), USA 15 years after the first infection by the nematode Anguillicoloides crassus was reported from Winyah Bay, SC. Prevalence, intensity, and abundance of A. crassus were determined. Overall, infection levels were higher than previous reports for eels in SC but comparable to more recent reports from other areas in North America. An integrative analysis was performed to determine if infection parameters varied with biotic and abiotic factors including time of year, sampling locations, eel total length, and salinity. The lack of seasonal effects on infection by the adult worm stage contrasts with studies from higher latitudes in North America and Europe and may be due to the warmer winter temperatures in southern latitudes. Significant variation in infection among localities reflects possible differences in abundance of intermediate and/or paratenic hosts and highlights the importance of iden...

Southeastern Naturalist, 2003

Depressional wetlands provide habitat for birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, an... more Depressional wetlands provide habitat for birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and rare plant species. In order to protect, restore, and manage depressional wetlands, it is important to know more about the vegetative composition and productivity of these systems. The species composition and aboveground productivity of three seasonally flooded depressional forested wetlands were studied on the coastal plain of South Carolina from January 2000 to January 2001. The dominant tree species in the depressions were Taxodium distichum [L.] Rich., Nyssa aquatica L., and Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora [Walt.] Sarg. Annual diameter at breast height (dbh) growth was measured for all trees >10 cm dbh in five 20 x 25 m plots within each depression, and changes in dbh were used to estimate annual biomass and stem production. Aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) was calculated for each wetland by summing stem and leaf litter production. There were no significant differences in ANPP among sites, ranging from 564-774 grams/m 2 /yr. These ANPP values are similar to values reported for slowly flowing forested wetland systems of the southern United States.

The Journal of Parasitology, 1978

The internal and external anatomy of Mysidobdella borealis from the western North Atlantic is des... more The internal and external anatomy of Mysidobdella borealis from the western North Atlantic is described. Individual leeches are small, not exceeding 15 mm in length, and have a deeply cupped oral sucker attached by an unusually long and tapered nuchal constriction. One pair of eyes is present on the nuchal constriction. The caudal sucker is small and nearly terminal. The most unusual feature of the internal anatomy is the presence of a medial, unpaired seminal receptacle which opens through the ventral body wall in segment XII. The leech occurs in Arctic seas and along the east coast of Canada and the United States as far south as southern New Jersey. It is most abundant during winter and early spring along the east coast of the United States where it has been found on the mysid, Neomysis americana. In Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick, Canada it has been collected from spring through fall, but not during winter, possibly because its host, Mysis stenolepis migrates into deep water during the colder months. In the laboratory, leeches would not attach to any other commonly collected arthropod including 2 additional species of mysids, nor would they attach to any of 28 species of local finfish with which leeches were isolated. Cocoons are not deposited on the mysid host, but evidence is presented suggesting that leeches probably feed on the mysids. Associations between leeches and arthropods are well documented (Meyer and Barden, 1955; Epshtein, 1959, 1961a,b, 1962; Sawyer and White, 1969; Dukina et al., 1974), but in most cases little is known about the exact nature of the host-symbiont bond. Initial leech-arthropod associations were probably fortuitous, although the leech surely gained benefit of dispersal. In soft substrate areas arthropods afford a hard surface to which leeches, after leaving the normal fish host, can attach and possibly also deposit cocoons. This has been shown conclusively for Myzobdella lugubris Leidy on the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, by Daniels and Sawyer (1975), and is probably also true for Notostomum cyclostomum Johansson which deposits cocoons on the crab, Paralithodes camschaticus, in Alaska (Moore and Meyer, 1951) and Johanssonia arctica (Johansson) which deposits cocoons on the crab, Chionoecetes tanneri, off the Oregon coast. All these leeches also have known fish hosts. In other associations, which appear more specialized, the leech has been reported as an obligate parasite of the

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 1996

Dissolved and particulate materials and living organisms are exchanged between estuaries and the ... more Dissolved and particulate materials and living organisms are exchanged between estuaries and the sea. Net material fluxes, import or export, appear to depend on physical and biological processes within both estuarine and coastal ecosystems. In temperate zone lagoonal systems, the marsh-estuarine continuum hypothesis can provide a reasonable synthetic explanation of transport based on the level of ecosystem maturity within the system. The relative importance of riverine and lagoonal material exchanges with the coastal ocean are at present entirely speculative and make the estimation of the regional influences of material transports between estuaries and the coastal ocean uncertain. Organismic exchanges depend on both passive and active behavior mechanisms and are species specific. Few quantitative estimates of organismic fluxes exist and the role of non-commercial invertebrates and fish in these fluxes are unknown.

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2004

... b, Marine Science Program, Coastal Carolina University, PO Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528, USA.... more ... b, Marine Science Program, Coastal Carolina University, PO Box 261954, Conway, SC 29528, USA. ... play a role for nutrient cycling through the transformation of nutrients from one chemical form to another and/or the flux of nutrients between organisms (Vanni, 2002), habitats or ...

Journal of Crustacean Biology, 1984

Page 1. JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY, 4(1): 25-34, 1984 POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE MYSID SHRIMP ... more Page 1. JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY, 4(1): 25-34, 1984 POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE MYSID SHRIMP MYSIDOPSIS BIGELO WI WM TATTERSALL IN A TEMPERATE ESTUARY Dennis M. Allen ABSTRACT ...

Journal of Coastal Research, 2008

... many other services that assured continuity and high quality. We also thank JM Grego and the ... more ... many other services that assured continuity and high quality. We also thank JM Grego and the staff at the University of South Carolina Statistical Consulting Laboratory. The study was supported with funding from the National ...

Hydrobiologia, 1982

The life history pattern, behavior, and distribution of the mysid crustacean, Heteromysisformosa,... more The life history pattern, behavior, and distribution of the mysid crustacean, Heteromysisformosa, was studied in a temperate salt marsh. This mysid occurred in epibenthic sled collections every month, but was most abundant from June through November. Marsh creeks with irregular bottoms supported the largest populations, although some individuals occurred in other estuarine habitats and shallow ocean areas. Heteromysisformosa remains hidden on the bottom during the day and swims over open bottom at night. Many young fishes feed on H. formosa, especially at night. Seasonal changes in mysid abundance were related to the life history pattern. Reproduction was continuous from April through October. Overwintering populations of immature mysids were small. Female H. formosa were capable of reproducing more than one time. The number of young per brood ranged from 7 to 32 and was related to total adult body length.

Estuaries and Coasts, 2013

ABSTRACT

Estuaries, 1996

Page 1. Estuaries Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 659-673 September 1996 Zooplankton Dynamics in an Intertidal... more Page 1. Estuaries Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 659-673 September 1996 Zooplankton Dynamics in an Intertidal Salt-Marsh Basin DORaAN S. HOUSER DENNlS M. ALLEN 2 Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research ...