Elizabeth City State UniversityMeets

University of Rhode Island November 15, 2011

OUTLINE

• Introduction• Importance of Math in the Sciences• Research 1 – The effects of size on the survival

and growth for Acropora palmata fragments transplanted for restoration (M. Fergurson)

• Research 2 - … (R. Dauksis)• Questions and answers• More research

Meghan Ferguson

Russell Dauksis

Elizabeth McLean PhD Student Environmental SciencesUniversity of Rhode Island

Sponge Overgrowth: the Paradigm of the Liana

Substrate effects on the growth of the sponge

Testing for significance

• The average growth of D. anchorata and I. birotulata on P. americana had no significant difference, t (26)=1.07, p>0.05.

However, there was a significant difference for their growth on P. flexuosa, t (23)=2.52, p<0.05 (FIG 3B).

Growth of the sponge along the soft coral axis

Testing for significance

• The average growth of D. anchorata was not significant, t (25)=0.85, p>0.05 P. americana (M=2.32, SE=2.44) P. flexuosa (M=3.31, SE= 3.59).

However, the average growth of I. birotulata differed on the two octocoral species , t (24)=2.55, p<0.05 with higher growth on P. americana (M=1.57, SE=0.68) when compared to P. flexuosa (M=0.68, SE=1.05).