Blueback Herring Alosa aestivalis populations throughout the East Coast have declined precipitously since the late 1980s and were listed as a Species of Concern in 2006 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Natural resource agencies are attempting to restore this species to viable and sustainable levels with fry stockings cultured in hatcheries. To evaluate the long-term contribution of stockings to populations, agencies need an accurate method to track these stocking efforts. Genetic parentage-based tagging is recognized as a feasible means of assessing hatchery contribution of stocked fish to rivers of interest. However, Blueback Herring lack a reliable set of genetic markers to conduct parentage-based tagging. To this end, we analyzed previously described microsatellites as well as new microsatellite markers identified through NextGeneration sequencing to create a suite of 14 Blueback Herring markers useful for parentage-based tagging. The markers were successful in parentage analysis for Blueback Herring collected from the Chowan River, North Carolina. An additional challenge in the management of Blueback Herring is the ability to phenotypically distinguish Blueback Herring from the closely related Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus. Furthermore, recent studies provide evidence that these two species, collectively referred to as river herring, may be hybridizing with one another in some systems. Microsatellite marker AsaC334 can be utilized to discriminate between the two species, as well as to identify their F1 hybrids, thereby providing another genetic tool for hatchery management.

The phyllosphere hosts a variety of microorganisms, including bacteria, which can play a positive role in the success of the host plant. Bacterial communities in the phylloplane are influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors, including host plant surface topography and chemistry, which change in concert with microbial communities as the plant leaves develop and age. We examined how Zea mays leaf microbial community structure changed with plant age. Ribosomal spacer length (ARISA) and scanning electron microscopic (size trait) imaging strategies were used to assess microbial community composition across maize plant ages, using a novel staggered experimental design. Significant changes in community composition were observed for both molecular and imaging analyses, and the two analysis methods provided complementary information about bacterial community structure within each leaf developmental stage. Both taxonomic and cell-size trait patterns provided evidence for niche-based contributions to microbial community development on leaves.

Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus (Figure 1) are an invasive species found in high abundance throughout the Chesapeake Bay (Bunch et al., 2018;Fabrizio et al., 2018). Originally introduced to establish a fishery, Blue Catfish expanded throughout the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem (Schloesser et al., 2011). Blue Catfish have been documented in excess of 5 feet and 100 pounds (Graham, 1999). Size combined

Background: The phyllosphere hosts a variety of microorganisms, including bacteria, which can play a positive role in the success of the host plant. Bacterial communities in the phylloplane are influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors, including host plant surface topography and chemistry, which change in concert with microbial communities as the plant leaves develop and age. Methods: We examined how the Zea mays L. leaf microbial community structure changed with plant age. Ribosomal spacer length and scanning electron microscopic imaging strategies were used to assess microbial community composition across maize plant ages, using a novel staggered experimental design. Results: Significant changes in community composition were observed for both molecular and imaging analyses, and the two analysis methods provided complementary information about bacterial community structure within each leaf developmental stage. Conclusions: Both taxonomic and cell-size trait patterns provided evidence for niche-based contributions to microbial community development on leaves.

Predation on early life stages of Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus (ATS) may be a constraint to species recovery. Due to the difficulty in assessing consumption of early life stages with traditional diet analysis methods, we pursued an alternative DNA‐based approach. We extracted total gut content from gastrointestinal tracts of 23 fish species (593 samples) within the tidal‐fresh Pamunkey River fish assemblage collected from known ATS spawning grounds during prime spawning periods (September‐October) in 2016. High‐throughput DNA sequencing was used to amplify two markers for each sample: mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene. DNA sequences were compared to custom, SILVA 132, and NCBI databases. Results showed presence of ATS DNA in 22 samples (4%) across multiple native and nonnative tidal‐fresh fishes. The highest percentage of consumption occurred in samples from Common Carp Cyprinus carpio (11.5) and Striped Bass Morone saxatilis (12.5). Six percent of Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus samples had target DNA. Considering there were no bony structures or tissue resembling ATS during morphological evaluation, DNA detections were likely from partially‐fully digested eggs or early developing days‐old larvae. High‐throughput sequencing is capable of detecting consumption of ATS.

Holosteans (gars and bowfins) represent the sister lineage to teleost fishes, the latter being a clade that comprises over half of all living vertebrates and includes important models for comparative genomics and human health. A major distinction between the evolutionary history of teleosts and holosteans is that all teleosts experienced a genome duplication event in their early evolutionary history. As the teleost genome duplication occurred after teleosts diverged from holosteans, holosteans have been heralded as a means to bridge teleost models to other vertebrate genomes. However, only three species of holosteans have been genome-sequenced to date, and sequencing of more species is needed to fill sequence sampling gaps and provide a broader comparative basis for understanding holostean genome evolution. Here we report the first high quality reference genome assembly and annotation of the longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus). Our final assembly consists of 22,709 scaffolds with a total length of 945 bp with contig N50 of 116.61 kb. Using BRAKER2, we annotated a total of 30,068 genes. Analysis of the repetitive regions of the genome reveals the genome to contain 29.12% transposable elements, and the longnose gar to be the only other known vertebrate outside of the spotted gar and bowfin to contain CR1, L2, Rex1, and Babar. These results highlight the potential utility of holostean genomes for understanding the evolution of vertebrate repetitive elements, and provide a critical reference for comparative genomic studies utilizing ray-finned fish models.

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The phyllosphere hosts a variety of microorganisms, including Background bacteria, which can play a positive role in the success of the host plant. Bacterial communities in the phylloplane are influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors, including host plant surface topography and chemistry, which change in concert with microbial communities as the plant leaves develop and age.: We examined how the L. leaf microbial community MethodsZea mays structure changed with plant age. Ribosomal spacer length and scanning electron microscopic imaging strategies were used to assess microbial community composition across maize plant ages, using a novel staggered experimental design.: Significant changes in community composition were observed for Results both molecular and imaging analyses, and the two analysis methods provided complementary information about bacterial community structure within each leaf developmental stage.: Both taxonomic and cell-size trait patterns provided evidence for Conclusions niche-based contributions to microbial community development on leaves.