A diverse assemblage of exquisitely-preserved fossil animals and plants were collected from Sawmill Sink blue hole in Abaco, Bahamas. More than 40 species have been identified including extinct tortoise, an extant crocodile, and birds that no longer live in The Bahamas. This study addresses the mechanisms that preserve fossils in blue holes and discusses paleoecological implications from faunal diversity and sediment composition. Blue holes are waterilled caves with surface openings that may trap animals and surface-driven vegetation. In Sawmill Sink the talus cone within the halocline acts as a substrate on which organics collect that drive microbe ecology. Their byproducts, hydrogen sulfide and anoxia, inhibit biological destruction and delay necrolysis. Low tidal flow and quiescent water conditions further enhance stability of the depositional environment. In addition, subaerial conditions during glacial lowstands allowed owls to roost; their deposits formed a rich assemblage of small fossil vertebrates.

No description available.

San Salvador Island is a small Bahamian island located in the subtropics just north of the Tropic of Cancer. Due to its subtropical location, the island is influenced by both mid-latitude and tropical weather patterns. These weather patterns vary in scale from localized convective uplift to synoptic-scale systems. This study compares satellite-derived estimates of precipitation and rain gauge observations from June 2019 through September 2021 to evaluate the relationship between the two datasets. This study then uses the satellite-derived estimates of precipitation over a 20-year period to quantify annual and seasonal variability in precipitation on San Salvador. Corroborating past research, the island exhibits a bimodal pattern of precipitation during the year, but rainfall is highly variable across seasons and between years. Atmospheric fields from a reanalysis dataset indicate the North Atlantic subtropical high influences summertime rainfall, but a relationship between upper-level wind patterns and rainfall is less clear.

The Third Island is a novella about a Puerto Rican woman of Spanish descent who faces her biggest fear—death. Death comes in many forms and for Laura Maria De La Esperanza Castel, it comes in the form of a man with whom she thinks she is in love. Vacationing on an island in the Bahamas, novelist Laura Castel finds that the only way to survive is to overcome her fear and reject being controlled by the figure who is trying to take her. She overcomes many obstacles and is taught about self-sufficiency, the history of repression of minorities groups or of the misunderstood, and the importance of protecting those who are not able to protect themselves.

Flank margin caves are karst features that develop in the freshwater/saline mixing zone within the carbonate islands of the Bahamas. The flank margin caves that are currently exposed developed during the last interglacial sea level highstand (+6 m; ~125 ka). Initially small ovid chambers, the caves increase in size to about 100 m2, then interconnect with adjacent chambers to form medium-sized caves. At about 1000 m2, these medium-size caves interlink forming large caves that are laterally extensive, vertically restricted, do not penetrate the fresh-water lens a significant amount, and run parallel to the axis of the ridge in which they formed. Small caves have a much smaller area to perimeter ratio than do large caves. As cave chambers grow and interconnect, perimeters become much more complex, and the number of bedrock columns in the cave increases. These results have implications for water resource management, and porosity modeling.

Caves on carbonate islands are useful indicators of past sea level because cave formation is dependent on sea-level controlled freshwater lens position (flank margin caves), or form in direct contact with coastal processes (sea caves). Sea-level curves present a useful proxy for glacioeustatic and paleoclimate studies, so caves offer useful data. Once a flank margin cave is breached, it may be modified and eroded by waves. This overprinting leads to morphology similar to that of sea caves. While both indicate past sea level, they reveal differing information about the amount of denudation that has occurred to expose them (a paleoclimate indicator), so differentiation of these cave types is important. This study presents some of the first sea cave data from carbonate islands, and makes morphological comparisons between flank margin caves and sea caves from the Bahamas, California, and Maine. Using morphometric techniques, these caves can be distinctly identified.

No description available.

No description available.

The Bahamas has many of the challenges that come with being a small island state. The archipelagic nature of the country brings with it the necessity to duplicate service efforts to accommodate all citizens in the development process; this factor puts a strain on the government's resources, and the need for civil society to fill the gaps that exist and partner with government is more pronounced. This study is pursued to examine the relationship between civil society and government in small island states such as The Bahamas. To accomplish this, the study reviews six civil society organizations, from three different sectors — health, education and environment. An organization from each sector was chosen, formed either during the colonial period or post-colonial, to examine the nature of the organization's relationship with government at two different points in time, in an effort to see whether the relationship differs based on the particular non-profit sector (health, education or environment) or time of origin (colonial or post-colonial). This relationship is reviewed through the lens of three variables: the nature of the financial relationship the policy relationship, and structure relationship. The relationship will be viewed through the lens of social origins theory as developed by Lester Salamon (2002) et. al. The research will be based on data collected using the same instrument applied by Salamon et al in the initial study, but the variables will be applied at the level of an organization, rather than a sector. Data is also drawn from interviews with persons associated with each organization. A review of the type of relationship government has with these civil society groups (and the implications of those relationships on performance) may provide insight in the way government should seek to foster and manage relationships with such organizations in the future for the growth and development of the country. / Ph. D. / The Bahamas has many of the challenges that come with being a small island state. The archipelagic nature of the country brings with it the necessity to duplicate service efforts to accommodate all citizens in the development process; this factor puts a strain on the government’s resources, and the need for civil society to fill the gaps that exist and partner with government is more pronounced. This study is pursued to examine the relationship between civil society and government in small island states such as The Bahamas. To accomplish this, the study reviews six civil society organizations, from three different sectors – health, education and environment. An organization from each sector was chosen, formed either during the colonial period or post-colonial, to examine the nature of the organization’s relationship with government at two different points in time, in an effort to see whether the relationship differs based on the particular non-profit sector (health, education or environment) or time of origin (colonial or post-colonial). This relationship is reviewed through the lens of three variables: the nature of the financial relationship the policy relationship, and structure relationship. The relationship is discussed through the lens of social origins theory that has a key thrust that the shape and size of the civil society sector can be predicted when examining the social class and power relationships seen in the society. Most of the studies done in the past have been on larger countries and this exploratory examination of civil society in a small state confronted with vulnerabilities provides insight on how government can foster relationships with civil society.

Ecologists have long questioned why fluctuating populations tend to persist rather than go extinct. Populations that persist indefinitely are regulated by mechanisms that cause demographic density dependence, which works to bound fluctuation above zero. In a series of studies, I have sought to determine the processes and mechanisms that regulate local populations of coral-reef fish. In the Exuma Keys, Bahamas, fairy basslets (Gramma loreto) live in aggregations on the undersides of coral-reef ledges. These aggregations often constitute local populations because movement between aggregations is rare. The largest individuals occupy prime feeding positions near the front of ledges and force smaller individuals remain near the back where they have lower feeding rates. Based on these initial observations, I designed two experimental studies of the demographic consequences of variation in basslet density. In the first study, I manipulated the density of newly-settled fish to explore the effects of high recruitment on population size. Populations with experimentally elevated recruitment converged in density with unmanipulated populations, primarily due to density-dependent mortality. I found no evidence that density dependence was caused by intraspecific competition; rather it appeared to be due to a short-term behavioral response by predators (aggregative and/or type 3 functional response). In a second study, I manipulated the densities of adults among populations with a standard average density of newly-settled fish. Two measures indicated that the intensity of competition increased at higher densities of adults, which likely made small fish more susceptible to predation, thereby causing density-dependent mortality. Long-term observations indicated that basslet populations were regulated at temporal scales exceeding two generations. At Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, I also examined how patterns of recruitment of coral-reef fishes were modified across a range of natural recruit densities in the presence and absence of resident predators. Predators decreased recruitment and increased mortality for all species, but these effects varied considerably among species. The results of each of these studies stress the importance of both competitive and predatory mechanisms in modifying patterns of abundance established at the time of larval settlement, as well as regulating local population size. / Graduation date: 2002