Vivek Veluvali, Haverford College

Class Year:

2024

Mentor:

Vyacheslav Lyubchich, Ph.D. Genevieve Nesslage, Ph.D.

Abstract:

Atlantic Menhaden and Striped Bass are key economic and ecological species in the Chesapeake Bay; however, the effects of increasingly frequent rare weather events on both species are unclear. This study aims to first identify rare weather and fish catch per unit effort events and then identify linkages between the two. Isolation forest and density-based clustering algorithms were used on residuals generated from Loess and Fourier smoothing to identify rare events, and 𝜒2 tests were used to identify significant relationships. The results showed a strong relationship between rare minimum temperature events and catch per unit effort events but  a less prominent relationship with precipitation and catch per unit effort. More research into the role of positive versus negative anomalies is needed to better assess the relationships and implications of climate change.

Location:

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory