Molecular Identification of Nematode Gut Contents 

Quinn D. Martin, Byron J. Adams

A working group funded by the LNO examined the animal data in the EcoTrends database with the following objectives:
• To provide strategic insight into the products that might arise from use of extant animal-based data in the EcoTrends archive;
• To identify lacunae in data that compromise the development of new insights or understanding;
• To identify shortcomings in metadata that compromise development of new insights or understanding;

Ecological processes in salt marshes of the southeastern U.S. have historically been considered to be controlled largely by bottom-up forces (i.e. nutrient cycling, salinity, productivity), however, recent studies have demonstrated that top-down pressures such as herbivory and predation can be just as or more influential in the regulation of these ecological processes. Barrier islands of the southeastern U.S. support dense populations of top order consumers such as the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).

Patterns of phenology for plants and animals control ecosystem processes, determine land surface properties, control biosphere-atmosphere interactions, and affect food production, health, conservation, and recreation. Although phenological data and models have applications related to scientific research, education and outreach, agriculture, tourism and recreation, human health, and natural resource conservation and management, until recently there was no coordinated effort to understand phenology at the national scale.