Molly Lutcavage

Bio: Molly Lutcavage is an academic researcher from University of Massachusetts Boston. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tuna & Thunnus. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 84 publications receiving 4563 citations. Previous affiliations of Molly Lutcavage include University of British Columbia & University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Lipid corrections in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses: comparison of chemical extraction and modelling methods

Abstract: Summary 1. Lipids have more negative δ 13 C values relative to other major biochemical compounds in plant and animal tissues. Although variable lipid content in biological tissues alters results and conclusions of δ 13 C analyses in aquatic food web and migration studies, no standard correction protocol exists. 2. We compared chemical extraction and mathematical correction methods for freshwater and marine fishes and aquatic invertebrates to better understand impacts of correction approaches on carbon ( δ 13 C) and nitrogen ( δ 15 N) stable isotope data. 3. Fish and aquatic invertebrate tissue δ 13 C values increased significantly following extraction for almost all species and tissue types relative to nonextracted samples. In contrast, δ 15 N was affected for muscle and whole body samples from only a few freshwater and marine species and had a limited effect for the entire data set. 4. Lipid normalization models, using C : N as a proxy for lipid content, predicted lipid-corrected δ 13 C for paired data sets more closely with parameters specific to the tissue type and species to which they were applied. 5. We present species- and tissue-specific models based on bulk C : N as a reliable alternative to chemical extraction corrections. By analysing a subset of samples before and after lipid extraction, models can be applied to the species and tissues of interest that will improve estimates of dietary sources using stable isotopes.

Results of pop-up satellite tagging of spawning size class fish in the Gulf of Maine: do North Atlantic bluefin tuna spawn in the mid-Atlantic?

Abstract: Twenty giant bluefin tuna were captured in September and October 1997 and tagged and released with pop-up satellite tags programmed to jettison from March through July, 1998. Seventeen tags success...

Movements of bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean recorded by pop-up satellite archival tags

Abstract: Pop-up satellite archival tags were implanted into 68 Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus Linnaeus), ranging in size from 91 to 295 kg, in the southern Gulf of Maine (n=67) and off the coast of North Carolina (n=1) between July 2002 and January 2003. Individuals tagged in the Gulf of Maine left that area in late fall and overwintered in northern shelf waters, off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina, or in offshore waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. In spring, the fish moved either northwards towards the Gulf of Maine or offshore. None of the fish crossed the 45°W management line (separating eastern and western management units) and none traveled towards the Gulf of Mexico or the Straits of Florida (known western Atlantic spawning grounds). The greatest depth recorded was 672 m and the fish experienced temperatures ranging from 3.4 to 28.7°C. Swimming depth was significantly correlated with location, season, size class, time of day, and moon phase. There was also evidence of synchronous vertical behavior and changes in depth distribution in relation to oceanographic features.

Understanding Environmental Influences on Movements and Depth Distributions of Tunas and Billfishes Can Significantly Improve Population Assessments

Abstract: The vulnerability of the highly mobile tunas (family Scombridae) and billfishes (fami- lies Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae) to various fishing gears and detection by aerial surveys is influenced by their depth distributions, travel speeds, residency times, and aggregation. As a result, understand- ing the effects of the physical environment on fish behavior is critical for robust population assess- ments. Numerous studies have attempted to understand the movements and habitat requirements of tunas and billfishes by correlating catch statistics with environmental conditions averaged over time and space. Such correlations do not necessarily elucidate the requisite relationships because the data are not gathered simultaneously, and because error terms are often too broad to demonstrate meaning- ful relationships. More important, using catch statistics to determine the effects of environmental conditions on catch statistics can never prove causation and result in tautology, unless independent measures of fish abundance are available. The situation is not necessarily improved when catch statis- tics are correlated with satellite-derived sea surface temperature data. Tunas and billfish fish do not always live at the surface and, more importantly, regularly move through vertical thermal gradients (1°C m -1 ) that are orders of magnitude steeper than horizontal gradients ( 1°C km -1 ). Sea surface temperature gradients per se are, therefore, unlikely to influence horizontal movements or aggrega- tion. Direct observations of tuna and billfish behaviors (collected via acoustic telemetry or electronic data-recording tags) can, however, be readily combined with information on their physiologically- based environmental tolerances, forage abundance, and appropriate oceanographic data. The result- ing models can correct both traditional catch-per-unit effort data and aerial survey data for differences in gear vulnerability, and thus significantly improve population assessments.

Stable isotope dynamics in elasmobranch fishes

Abstract: Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses have improved our understanding of food webs and movement patterns of aquatic organisms. These techniques have recently been applied to diet studies of elasmobranch fishes, but isotope turnover rates and isotope diet-tissue discrimination are still poorly understood for this group. We performed a diet switch experiment on captive sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) as a model shark species to determine tissue turnover rates for liver, whole blood, and white muscle. In a second experiment, we subjected captive coastal skates (Leucoraja spp.) to serial salinity reductions to measure possible impacts of tissue urea content on nitrogen stable isotope values. We extracted urea from spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) white muscle to test for effects on nitrogen stable isotopes. Isotope turnover was slow for shark tissues and similar to previously published estimates for stingrays and teleost fishes with low growth rates. Muscle isotope data would likely fail to capture seasonal migrations or diet switches in sharks, while liver and whole blood would more closely reflect shorter term movement or shifts in diet. Nitrogen stable isotope values of skate blood and skate and dogfish white muscle were not affected by tissue urea content, suggesting that available diet-tissue discrimination estimates for teleost fishes with similar physiologies would provide accurate estimates for elasmobranchs.

Influence of Diet On the Distribtion of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals

Abstract: The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman Filter

Abstract: In this book, Andrew Harvey sets out to provide a unified and comprehensive theory of structural time series models. Unlike the traditional ARIMA models, structural time series models consist explicitly of unobserved components, such as trends and seasonals, which have a direct interpretation. As a result the model selection methodology associated with structural models is much closer to econometric methodology. The link with econometrics is made even closer by the natural way in which the models can be extended to include explanatory variables and to cope with multivariate time series. From the technical point of view, state space models and the Kalman filter play a key role in the statistical treatment of structural time series models. The book includes a detailed treatment of the Kalman filter. This technique was originally developed in control engineering, but is becoming increasingly important in fields such as economics and operations research. This book is concerned primarily with modelling economic and social time series, and with addressing the special problems which the treatment of such series poses. The properties of the models and the methodological techniques used to select them are illustrated with various applications. These range from the modellling of trends and cycles in US macroeconomic time series to to an evaluation of the effects of seat belt legislation in the UK.

The Ensemble Kalman Filter: Theoretical formulation and practical implementation

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive presentation and interpretation of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and its numerical implementation. The EnKF has a large user group, and numerous publications have discussed applications and theoretical aspects of it. This paper reviews the important results from these studies and also presents new ideas and alternative interpretations which further explain the success of the EnKF. In addition to providing the theoretical framework needed for using the EnKF, there is also a focus on the algorithmic formulation and optimal numerical implementation. A program listing is given for some of the key subroutines. The paper also touches upon specific issues such as the use of nonlinear measurements, in situ profiles of temperature and salinity, and data which are available with high frequency in time. An ensemble based optimal interpolation (EnOI) scheme is presented as a cost-effective approach which may serve as an alternative to the EnKF in some applications. A fairly extensive discussion is devoted to the use of time correlated model errors and the estimation of model bias.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation

Abstract: The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has been described by some as a long-lived El Nino-like pattern of Pacific climate variability, and by others as a blend of two sometimes independent modes having distinct spatial and temporal characteristics of North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability. A growing body of evidence highlights a strong tendency for PDO impacts in the Southern Hemisphere, with important surface climate anomalies over the mid-latitude South Pacific Ocean, Australia and South America. Several independent studies find evidence for just two full PDO cycles in the past century: “cool” PDO regimes prevailed from 1890–1924 and again from 1947–1976, while “warm” PDO regimes dominated from 1925–1946 and from 1977 through (at least) the mid-1990's. Interdecadal changes in Pacific climate have widespread impacts on natural systems, including water resources in the Americas and many marine fisheries in the North Pacific. Tree-ring and Pacific coral based climate reconstructions suggest that PDO variations—at a range of varying time scales—can be traced back to at least 1600, although there are important differences between different proxy reconstructions. While 20th Century PDO fluctuations were most energetic in two general periodicities—one from 15-to-25 years, and the other from 50-to-70 years—the mechanisms causing PDO variability remain unclear. To date, there is little in the way of observational evidence to support a mid-latitude coupled air-sea interaction for PDO, though there are several well-understood mechanisms that promote multi-year persistence in North Pacific upper ocean temperature anomalies.