Discipline: Mathematics and Statistics
Subcategory:
DeWein Pelle - University of the Virgin Islands
Co-Author(s): Robert Stolz, Jonathan Jossart, and Richard Nemeth, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI
This project, is a continuation of a University of the Virgin Islands study conducted by Richard Nemeth, PhD and Jonathan Jossart, MS which sought to asses a probable location of habitation by the Myteroperca venenosa, yellowfin grouper, within the Grammanik Bank seasonal closure. The yellowfin grouper is a coral reef fish that is prevalent within the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the grouper species is believed to live in reef areas with significant depth; however, migration to shallower areas are seasonally common. Jonathan Jossart’s study utilized passive acoustic telemetry to track and monitor several factors of copious specimens. Subsequently, this current study seeks to utilize existing data to extend the abovementioned study through the application of several probability distribution functions (PDF’s), which are operations used to define the probability of any quantifiable information and its possible outcome, to analyze plausible location for fish spawning. Uniform distribution shows a constant prospect from two foci, or otherwise two locations, in a set area of relatable distribution. Multivariate-normal distribution, a generality of the univariate normal to two or more variables, was also applied. Utilizing these methods with the dataset, we were able to identify probable fish location. Furthermore, the completion of this project assists in the zoning of the Myteroperca venenosa for proper cultivation whilst finding an amendable agreement to allow sustainability for the fishing industry in an avid attempt to avoid the yellowfin grouper’s extinction within the Virgin Islands territory. In addition to this, the information is analyzed for migration causations; specifically, lunar and solar periods during the time the data was received. Moreover, telescoping the study on the aforementioned periods potentially delineates the immense influence on the biological behavior and habitation by the Myteroperca venenosa within U.S. Virgin Islands waters.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This project was funded by NSF HBCU-UP Grant #1137472 grant and the deploying and maintaining of an acoustic array was funded by numerous agencies including Puerto Rico Sea Grant (#R-31-1-06), NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy program (#NA09NMF4270068), the Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR #NSF-814417) and the Guy Harvey Research Institute.
Faculty Advisor: Robert Stolz, rstolz@uvi.edu
Role: The part of this research that I contributed was the analysis of the information gathered by Jonathan Jossart. Furthermore, to futher the understandings of the study, I constructed a probability distribution function within a MATLAB code.