Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Ocean Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Nicole Jane Poulton. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-33). / The colonization dynamics and life histories of pioneer species are vital components in understanding the early succession of nascent hydrothermal vents. The reproductive ecology of pioneer species at deep-sea hydrothermal vents may provide insight into their dispersal, population connectivity, and ability to colonize after disturbance. An opportunity to study the reproductive traits of two pioneer gastropod species, Ctenopelta porfera and Lepetodrilus tevnianus, presented itself in 2006 after an eruption on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) eliminated vent communities near 9°50'N. Standard histological techniques were used to determine whether reproductive characteristics, such as timing of gamete release, fecundity, or time to maturation, differed from other vent gastropods in ways that might explain arrival of these two species as early colonizers. Both species exhibited two-component oocyte size frequency distributions that indicated they were quasi-continuous reproducers with high fecundity. In C. porifera, the oocyte size distributions differed slightly between two collection dates, suggesting that environmental cues may introduce some variability in gamete release. In samples collected within one year of the estimated eruption date, individuals in populations of both C. porfera and L. tevnianus were reproductively mature. The smallest reproducing C. porifera were 4.2 mm (males) and 5.4 mm (females) in shell length, whereas reproductive L. tevnianus were smaller (2.3 and 2.4 mm in males and females respectively). Most Cporifera in the population were large (> 6.0 mm) compared to their settlement size and reproductively mature. In contrast, most L tevnianus were small (< 1.0 mm) and immature. Reproductive traits of the two species are consistent with opportunistic colonization, but are also similar to those of other Lepetodrilus species and peltospirids at vents, and do not explain why these particular two species were the dominant pioneers. It is likely that their larvae were in high supply immediately after the eruption due to oceanographic transport processes from remote source populations. / by Skylar Bayer. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1987. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND LINDGREN. / Vita. / Includes bibliographies. / by Leslie Karen Rosenfeld. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Gorka Sancho. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-199). / by Marjorie Frances Oleksiak. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1987. / Bibliography: v. 2, leaves 376-381. / by Martin Benno Blumenthal. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-54). / At deep-sea hydrothermal vents chemolithoautotrophic microbes mediate the transfer of geothermal chemical energy to higher trophic levels. To better understand these underlying processes and the organisms catalyzing them, this research used DNA Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) combined with Catalyzed Activated Reporter Deposition-Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (CARD-FISH) to identify the microorganisms chemoautotrophically supporting the food web at a diffuse flow hydrothermal vent. Both anaerobic and aerobic shipboard incubations containing various augmented electron donor and acceptor species showed that Epsilonproteobacteria were the dominant chemoautotrophs with greater than 70% of the cells counted within the first 24 hours. 13C DNA SIP identified unique organisms not previously characterized from low temperature diffuse flow venting: green sulfur bacteria (Chlorobi-like organisms) possibly utilizing photoautotrophy, aerobic Lutibacter litoralis-like organisms growing under anaerobic conditions, and Epsilonproteobacterial Thioreductor sp. at temperatures above maximum known tolerances. This research illustrates both the promise and pitfalls of the SIP technique applied to hydrothermal systems, concluding that timing of the incubation experiments is the critical step in eliminating undesired 13C labeling. These results set the stage for a more thorough future examination of diffuse flow microorganisms by presenting interesting questions that second generation experiments could be designed to answer. / by Kevin Patrick Richberg. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Joint Program in Biological Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. / Predictions of chlorophyll concentration from satellite ocean color are an indicator of phytoplankton primary productivity, with implications for foodweb structure, fisheries, and the global carbon cycle. Current models describing the relationship between optical properties and chlorophyll do not account for much of the optical variability observed in natural waters, because of the presence of seawater constituents that do not covary with phytoplankton pigment concentration. In an attempt to better understand variability in these models, the contributions of seawater constituents to ocean optical properties were investigated. A combination of Mie theory and flow cytometry was used to determine the diameter, complex refractive index (n+n'i), and optical cross-sections of individual particles, based on a method developed in the laboratory using phytoplankton cultures. Individual particle measurements were used to interpret variability in concurrently measured bulk optical properties in New England continental shelf waters in two seasons. The summed contribution to scattering of individual particles in the size range of 0.1-50 Cpm accounted for approximately the entire scattering coefficient measured independently using bulk methods. In surface waters in both seasons, the large diameters and n' of eukaryotic phytoplankton caused them to be the main particle contributors to both absorption and scattering. Minerals were the main contributor to backscattering, bb, in the spring, whereas in the summer both minerals and detritus contributed to bb. Synechococcus and heterotrophic bacteria were less important optically, contributing <11% each to attenuation in either season. / (cont.) The role of seawater constituents in determining remote sensing reflectance, Rrs, was determined using radiative transfer theory. Seasonal differences in the spectral shape of Rrs were contributed to approximately equally by eukaryotic phytoplankton absorption, dissolved absorption, and non-phytoplankton bb. A higher inverse wavelength dependence of non-phytoplankton bb in the summer was caused by the contribution of small detritus, in contrast to larger minerals in the spring. Measurements of bb and Rrs were compared to values from bio-optical models based on chlorophyll concentration. Differences in measured and modeled bb and Rrs were caused by higher dissolved absorption and higher backscattering efficiencies and scattering by non-phytoplankton than were assumed by the model. / by Rebecca E. Green. / Ph.D.

The study of geodesics is of intrinsic significance in the study of the geometry of space-time. In this thesis null, space-like and time-like geodesics are studied in the case of the space-times of Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordstrouml;m and Kerr black holes. These space-times have been investigated with varying degrees of thoroughness in many articles and some books. However, there are some significant gaps in these treatments and the central aim of this thesis is to fill these gaps where necessary. Moreover, the following topics are covered for the first time. 1. In Chapter 4 a thorough treatment of the space-like geodesics of the Schwarzschild solutions has been given. These geodesics are the trajectories of Tachyons (faster than light particles) and are treated in a complete manner. This has been done by obtaining exact solutions and solving them numerically. 2. In Part II all solutions for geodesics for a Reissner-Nordstrouml;m black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like, null and space-like geodesics and orbit of a charged particle. 3. In Chapter 14 all solutions for geodesics in the equatorial plane of a Kerr black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like, null and space-like geodesics. 4. The study of special types of non-equatorial geodesics for a Kerr black hole have been given in complete detail, i.e. time-like (Chapter 17), null (Chapter 15) and space-like (Chapter 16). This has been done in order to distinguish the qualitatively different types of solutions. Calculation of the explicit formulas, which describe these geodesics, as well as numerically computed diagrams representing the geodesics have been incorporated in these studies. The following subjects have been also treated: 5. Solutions for the geodesics in Reissner-Nordstrouml;m black holes with |Q_*| gt;= M, which are black holes with one (|Q_*| = M) or no horizon (|Q_*|gt; M) (Chapter 8). 6. Solutions of geodesics in extreme and fast Kerr black holes, i.e. black holes with a = M (extreme) and a gt; M (fast). As in the case of |Q_*| gt; M, fast black holes have naked singularities (Chapter 14). 7. Some general observations about orbit types of the Kerr black holes regarding relationships between parameters such as angular momentum, energy, Carter constant and mass and angular momentum of black holes (Chapter 13). 8. Some corrections to errors found in the literature. While it has not been possible to cover all different cases which occur for possible relations amongst the parameters specifying a general black hole, interesting geodesics have, however, been studied and a more thorough presentation of the properties of geodesics has now been given.

Density functional theory is used to calculate the core excitation spectra of titanium structures. Specifically, the core-hole approximation is used. In this scenario, the excitation energies of core electrons are calculated using the approximation that the core energy level be frozen throughout the relaxation process of the orbitals. This allows a more acurate determination of the resulting X-ray spectra. The method described has been implemented in an NWChem module.