Post by SCERP Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program.
Post by SCERP Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program.

Post by SCERP Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program.

Post by SCERP Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program.

What is the SCERP?

Founded in 2003 as a partnership between Christopher Gobler and the Tamarind Foundation, the goal of SCERP ( Stony Brook - Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program) is to conduct research which will assist in protecting and restoring Long Island coastal ecosystems. Research is aimed toward ultimately minimizing the impacts of anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, harmful algal bloom, runoff, and pathogens on coastal resources and human health and maximizing the distribution of fisheries and foundational species in estuaries such as filter feeding bivalves, eelgrass, and salt marshes. A secondary goal of SCERP is to forge solutions to environmental problems by sharing research results with municipal agencies, non-government organizations, and the public. SCERP became part of Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in 2006.

 

Since 2003, marine science students and professors have conducted dozens of research projects on Long Island. Each spring, SCERP hosts its annual Environmental Symposium, which is a series of presentations of the most recent findings of SCERP and represents an opportunity for policy makers, non-government organizations, and the public to learn about recent research and new directions for SCERP. In addition to support from the Tamarind Foundation, additional support for SCERP projects have come from New York Sea Grant, New York State Department of Environmental Conversation, the Nature Conservancy, Suffolk County, and the Town and Village of Southampton.

The impacts of rising nitrogen levels in Suffolk County groundwater on coastal ecosystems

Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D., Professor, Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000

The past three decades has witnessed radical changes in groundwater and surface water quality on Long Island and these changes are linked. The recently released Suffolk County Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan reported rapid and large changes in the levels of nitrogen (N) in Suffolk County’s groundwater. From 1987 to 2005, N concentrations in the Upper Glacier aquifer rose from 3.12 mg per L to 4.34 mg/L while levels in the Magothy aquifer rose from 1.14 mg per L to 3.43 mg per L, increases of 40 and 200%, respectively. These are large changes for such a brief period of time (18 years) and the trend in the Magothy is particularly surprising, as the deeper Magothy aquifer, once considered safe from human contamination now contains more N than the Upper Glacier aquifer did only 18 years ago. Given this rate of increase and the seven years that have passed since 2005, it is likely that the Upper Glacial aquifer now contains 5 mg N per L brining it half way to the levels that are toxic. Even at the more moderate rate of increase found in the Upper Glacier aquifer during the study period (40% increase in 18 years) would result in the mean concentrations of N this aquifer exceeding the human health standard of 10mg per L by the year 2050. There are several lines of evidence that indicate these changes in groundwater nitrogen content are directly linked to the density of homes in Suffolk County. Since the large majority of homes in Suffolk County have cesspools or septic tanks, human waste from Suffolk County citizens enters into cesspools or septic tanks after which the N from this waste slowly leaches into our groundwater. Suffolk County’s Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan (CWRMP) has generated models that predict the amount of nitrogen in groundwater below residential communities based the density of homes per acre with one home per ¼ and ½ acre leading to a 13 and 7 mg N per L increase in groundwater N levels, respectively, 30 years after the developments are built. Given that current background N levels can be up to 3 mg per L, either of these densities could result in toxic levels of drinking water. Moreover, the CWRMP indicates most of western Suffolk County is comprised of neighborhood with homes on plots of ¼ acre or less. As such, these models match the 2050 predicted scenario above that groundwater in Western Suffolk County may be unfit for human consumption due to high nitrate levels (i.e. > 10 mg N per L) in the future. 

The differential time scales between land use changes and groundwater impacts are important to emphasize. It can take three decades or more for groundwater below a newly developed region to rise to its final, equilibrium N concentrations caused by the new development. In addition, it can take additional decades for groundwater originating from the middle of Long Island to discharge into coastal waters. As such, groundwater contaminated by the population boom that occurred during the second half of the twentieth century in Suffolk County is only now reaching our coastal ecosystems. As such, it is important to realize that decisions made today regarding development in Suffolk County will be felt by the next generation of residents, just as decisions made by the last generation is now impacting our coastal waters.

While groundwater above 10 mg nitrate per L is toxic to humans, our coastal ecosystems are far more sensitive to N. For example, surface water nitrate concentrations during much of the year are typically 0.01mg per L or 500 times lower than the average nitrate concentrations in Upper Glacial aquifer groundwater which discharges into our coastal ecosystems. As such, even small amounts of contaminated groundwater discharging in coastal ecosystems can have a very large effect on that ecosystem. Nearly all N in groundwater is nitrate, a form that is immediately assimilated by marine plants and algae once it enters Suffolk County’s estuaries since N is the “limiting element” in Suffolk County estuaries (Gobler et al 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). The concentrations of nitrate in groundwater are currently orders of magnitude higher than those in our estuaries (Gobler et al 2002, 2004, 2005) and thus are likely to profoundly affect these systems. In 2008 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) declared the entire South Shore Estuary Reserve system on Long Island an ‘impaired water body’ (303d listing). This is a region stretching more than 100 km and including all of Suffolk County’s south shore estuaries including South Oyster Bay, Great South Bay, Moriches Bay, and Shinnecock Bay. NYSDEC cites algal blooms and N loading as the reasons these water bodies are impaired. Recently, Kinney and Valiela (2011) completed a N budget for Great South Bay and determined that the primary source of N to this impaired water body is wastewater from septic tanks and cesspools delivered via groundwater flow. Since half of this system is sewered, the importance of wastewater as a N source is likely even greater in eastern SSER bays such as Moriches and Shinnecock Bay which are no sewered. 

Rising levels of N in groundwater and discharging into our coastal zones are now impacting our coastal ecosystems. The first impact is the stimulation of harmful algal blooms, also known as brown tides and red tides. While there were no reported blooms of harmful algae in Suffolk County in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, since 1985, five distinct groups of harmful algal bloom (HAB) have emerged in Suffolk County’s coastal waters: 1. Brown tides caused by Aureococcus anophagefferens in the SSER (Gobler et al 2005), 2. Toxic cyanobacteria blooms in eutrophic, freshwater lakes (Gobler et al 2007), 3. Paralytic shellfish poison (PSP)-producing red tides caused by Alexandrium fundyense in the harbors of Long Island Sound (Hattenrath et al 2010), 4. Diarrhetic shellfish poison (DSP)-producing red tides caused by Dinophysis acuminata in the harbors of Long Island Sound (Gobler et al in prep), 5. Fish-killing red tides caused by Cochlodinium polykrikoides in the Peconic Estuary and Eastern Shinnecock Bay (Gobler et al 2008). In four of five cases, direct and indirect links have been made between nitrogen loading and the occurrence of these harmful algal blooms (Gobler et al 2005, Gobler et al 2007, Gobler et al 2012, Hattenrath et al 2010; Davis et al 2009, 2010). In the fifth case (DSP), the occurrence of this toxic red tide in a region with extremely high N loads and other red tides stimulated by wastewater nitrogen (Hattenrath et al 2010) suggests N is may be the ultimate cause of this event as well. While these HABs are generally unsightly, several synthesize toxic compounds that endanger human health. The most dangerous of these, saxitoxin is the compound which is responsible for PSP, causes shellfish bed closures on the north and south shores of Long Island. In a study of the most intense PSP event in the history of NY and perhaps the US east coast, the isotopic nitrogen content of Alexandrium fundyense cells causing the PSP event were found to be an exact match for the isotopic N content of human waste (Hattenrath et al 2010). Stated another way, these cells were using waste water N to cause the PSP event. Recent surveys of the organism that produces saxitoxin, Alexandrium fundyense, have detected cells throughout Long Island’s coastal waters (north shore, east end, south shore) and have found the greatest accumulations in regions with the highest N loading rates: Northport Harbor, Meetinghouse Creek, Weesuck Creek, and the Forge River. Hence, as N loading rates from groundwater continue to increase, PSP events and other harmful algal blooms are likely to expand to other regions as their N loading rates approach those of places where PSP occurs today.

Harmful algae are likely not the only harbinger of increases in groundwater N loading on estuaries. Eelgrass is a critical benthic habitat that sustains robust fisheries but is highly sensitive to N loads (Wall et al 2008). As N levels in groundwater have increased, thousands of acres of eelgrass have vanished from eastern and south shore estuaries. These losses are related to the dense algal blooms that described above that make waters turbid, prevent light from penetrating to the bottom of bays, and kill eelgrass (Gobler et al 2005). Bivalve shellfish have traditionally represented the largest fishery in Suffolk County. In 1980, two of three hard clams eaten east of the Mississippi River came from Great South Bay and the largest bay scallop fishery was in the Peconic Estuary on eastern Long Island. Since that time, tandings of hard clams and bay scallops have diminished 99% since this time, in part due to N-stimulated harmful algal blooms (Gobler et al 2005, Kreuter et al 2008).

The changes in groundwater N are primarily driven by human population expansion, some of which may have occurred decades ago (Kinney and Valiela 2011). As such, proactive measures to restrict the amounts of N loading to groundwater in Suffolk County now should limit the continued negative ecological impacts on estuaries in the future.

Literature Cited
Davis, TW, Harke MJ, Marcoval MA, Goleski J.A., Berry, D.L. Gobler CJ. 2010. Effects of nitrogenous compounds and phosphorus on the growth of toxic and non-toxic strains of Microcystis during cyanobacterial blooms. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 61:149-162

Davis, T.W., Berry, D.L., Boyer, G.L. Gobler, C.J., 2009. The effects of temperature and nutrients on the growth and dynamics of toxic and non-toxic strains of Microcystis during cyanobacteria blooms. Harmful Algae 8: 715–725

Gobler CJ, Burson, A., Tang, Y., The role of nitrogenous nutrients in the occurrence of the harmful dinoflagellate blooms caused by Cochlodinium polykrikoides in Long Island estuaries (NY, USA). In prep for Harmful Algae

Gobler CJ, Berry, D.L., O.R. Anderson, Burson, A., Koch, F., Rodgers, B.S., Moore L.K., Goleski J.A., Allam, B., Bowser, P., Tang, Y., Nuzzi, R. 2008. Characterization, dynamics, and ecological impacts of harmful Cochlodinium polykrikoides blooms on eastern Long Island, NY, USA. Harmful Algae 7: 293–307

Gobler, C.J., Davis, T.W., Coyne K.J., Boyer, G.L. 2007. Interactive influences of nutrient loading, zooplankton grazing and microcystin synthetase gene expression on cyanobacterial bloom dynamics in a eutrophic New York lake. Harmful Algae 6: 119–133

Gobler, C.J., S.A. Sañudo-Wilhelmy, Buck, N.J, and Sieracki, M.E. 2006. Nitrogen and silicon
limitation of phytoplankton communities across an urban estuary: The East River-Long Island Sound system. Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science 68: 127-138

Gobler, C.J., Lonsdale, D.J., Boyer, G.L. 2005. A synthesis and review of causes and impact of harmful brown tide blooms caused by the alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens. Estuaries 28: 726-749

Gobler, C. J., Boneillo, G.E., Debenham C., Caron, D.A. 2004. Nutrient limitation, organic matter cycling, and plankton dynamics during an Aureococcus anophagefferens bloom. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 35:31-43

Gobler, C.J., Buck.N.J., and Renaghan, M.J. 2002. Impacts of nutrients and grazing
mortality on the abundance of Aureococcus anophagefferens during a New York Brown Tide bloom. Limnology and Oceanography 47: 129-141

Hattenrath TK, Anderson DA, Gobler CJ. 2010. The influence of nutrients and climate on the dynamics and toxicity of Alexandrium fundyense blooms in a New York (USA) estuary. Harmful Algae 9: 402–412

Kinney, E.L., Valieila, I. 2011. Nitrogen loading to Great South Bay: Land use, sources, retention, and transport from land to bay. In press Journal of Coastal Research

Kraeuter, J.N., Klinck, J.M., Powell, E.N., Hofmann, E.E., Buckner, S.C., Grizzle, R.E., Bricelj V.M., 2008. Effects of the fishery on the northern quahog (=hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria L.) population in Great South Bay, New York: A modeling study. Journal of Shellfish Research 27, 653-666.

Wall, C.C., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2008. The facilitation of seagrass (Zostera marina) productivity by suspension-feeding bivalves. Marine Ecology Progress Series 357: 165–174

2013 Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program

“Hurricanes, Heatwaves & Harmful Algal Blooms: What is the fate of Long Islands coastal ecosystems as they confront the new normal?”

You are cordially invited to attend the 2013 Stony Brook Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Program (SCERP).The Symposium is an opportunity for Long Island residents, as well as government and non-government agencies, to learn about the most recent research findings and near term research plans of SCERP. 

Friday, April 5th, 2013

Duke Lecture Hall-Chancellors Hall

Southampton Campus at 7:00pm

Research posters will be presented by students before and after the lecture.

The lecture will be followed by a reception.

Outreach by, and outcomes of, the Stony Brook Southampton

Coastal and Estuarine Research Program (SCERP)

 

Since a major objective of SCERP is to conduct research which will improve the health of, and services provided by, coastal ecosystems, SCERP has formed a series of partnerships with government and non-government organizations including:

Politicians: Senator Charles Schumer, Representatives Israel and Bishop.

Governing bodies: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Suffolk County Department of Health, Southampton Town, East Hampton Town, Brookhaven Town, Southampton Village, Peconic Estuary Program, South Shore Estuary Reserve.

Non-government organizations: The Nature Conservancy, Peconic Bay Keeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Northport Water Quality Improvement Committee, Cornell Cooperative Extension, East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery, Atlantis Marine World, Riverhead Foundation, Lake Agawam Conservation Association, Eastern Long Island Coastal Conservation Alliance, Save the Forge, Mill Pond and Little Fresh Pond citizen groups, and citizens.

These partnerships have lead to policy changes including drafting of a Fisheries Disaster Declaration for Great South Bay with Senator Charles Schumers office, the placement of multiple estuaries on New York State's impaired water bodies list, to closure of water bodies unsafe for human use, and the development of management strategies to improve coastal water quality. Finally, research conducted by SCERP has been published in many of the world's top, international, peer-reviewed journals (see publications page)

.

Current Research Focus Areas

 

-Harmful Algal Blooms: Causes and controls
-Effects of ocean acidification on coastal ocean organisms
-Eutrophic coastal ecosystems: Problems and solutions
-Promoting robust and successful bivalve shellfish populations
-Eelgrass beds: Distribution, biodiversity, and controls on growth
-Wetlands and marshes: Their role retaining or transporting land-derived materials
-Impacts of power plants on coastal ecosystems

Recent SCERP Publications

Baumann H, Talmage SC, Gobler CJ. 2012. Reduced early life growth and survival in a fish as a direct response to elevated CO2 levels. Nature Climate Change 2: 38–41

Gobler CJ, Sunda WG. 2012. Ecosystem disruptive algal blooms of the brown tide species, Aureococcus anophagefferens and Aureoumbra lagunensis. Harmful Algae. 14: 36–45

Kudela RM, Gobler CJ. 2012. Harmful dinoflagellate blooms caused by Cochlodinium sp.: Global expansion and ecological strategies facilitating bloom formation. Harmful Algae. 14: 71–86

Tang YZ, Gobler CJ., 2012. Scrippsiella trochoidea from the northeast coast of US cause elevated mortality in bivlave larvae. Marine Biology 159: 199-210

Wall, C.C., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2012 Survival and suspension feeding by loggerhead sponges (Spheciospongia vesparium) during harmful cyanobacterial blooms in a shallow sub-tropical lagoon, Florida Bay, FL, USA. In press with Marine Ecology Progress Series

Anglès S., Esther Garcés E., Hattenrath-Lehmann TK,* Gobler CJ. 2012. In situ life-cycle stages of Alexandrium fundyense during bloom development in Northport Bay (New York, USA). In press to Harmful Algae.

Gobler CJ, Burson, A., Koch, F., Tang, Y., Mulholland MR. 2012. The role of nitrogenous nutrients in the occurrence of harmful algal blooms caused by Cochlodinium polykrikoides in New York estuaries (USA). In press to Harmful Algae.

Gobler CJ. and 32 co-authors. 2011. Niche of harmful alga Aureococcus anophagefferens revealed through ecogenomics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108:4352–4357.

Talmage SC, Gobler CJ. 2011. Effects of elevated temperature and carbon dioxide on the growth and survival of larvae and juveniles of three species of Northwest Atlantic bivalves. PLoS One. Volume 6 | Issue 10 | e26941

Wurch, L., Haley, S. Orchard, E. Gobler CJ., Dhyrman S.D. 2011. Nutrient-regulated transcriptional responses in the brown tide forming alga Aureococcus anophagefferens. Environmental Microbiology 13(2):468-81

Jiang X, Lonsdale DJ, Gobler CJ. 2011. Rapid gain and loss of evolutionary resistance to the harmful dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides in the copepod Acartia tonsa. Limnology and Oceanography 56: 947-954

Hattenrath-Lehmann TK Gobler CJ. 2011. Allelopathic inhibition of competing phytoplankton by North American strains of the toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium fundyense: evidence from field experiments, laboratory experiments, and bloom events. Harmful Algae 11: 106–116

Harke MJ, Gobler CJ, Shumway SE. 2011. Suspension feeding by the Atlantic slipper limpet (Crepidula fornicata) and the northern quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria) in the presence of cultured and wild populations of the harmful brown tide alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens. Harmful Algae 10: 503–511

Tang YZ, Gobler CJ., 2011.Allelopathic effects of the green macroalgae, Ulva lactuca, on seven common harmful algal bloom species. Harmful Algae 10: 480–488

Friedland KD, Lynch PD, Gobler CJ. 2011. Time series mesoscale response of Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus to variation in plankton abundances. Journal of Coastal Research, 27 :1148–1158 

Wall, C.C., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2011. The growth of estuarine resources (Zostera marina, Mercenaria mercenaria, Crassostrea virginica, Argopecten irradians, Cyprinodon variegatus) in response to nutrient loading and enhanced suspension feeding by adult shellfish. Estuaries and Coasts 34: 1262-1277

Gobler CJ. and 32 co-authors. 2011. Niche of harmful alga Aureococcus anophagefferens revealed through ecogenomics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

 

Tang YZ, Gobler CJ., 2011.Allelopathic effects of the green macroalgae, Ulva lactuca, on seven common harmful algal bloom species. In press, Harmful Algae

 

Wall, C.C., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2011. The growth of estuarine resources (Zostera marina, Mercenaria mercenaria, Crassostrea virginica, Argopecten irradians, Cyprinodon variegatus) in response to nutrient loading and enhanced suspension feeding by adult shellfish. In press to Estuaries and Coasts

 

Tang YZ, Koch, F., Gobler CJ., 2010. Most harmful algal bloom species are vitamin B1 and B12 auxotrophs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 107: 20756–20761

 

Talmage SC, Gobler CJ. 2010. Effects of past, present, and future ocean carbon dioxide concentrations on the growth and survival of larval shellfish. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 107: 17246-17251

 

Jiang X, Lonsdale DJ, Gobler CJ. 2010. Density-dependent nutritional value of the dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides to the copepod Acartia tonsa. Limnology and Oceanography 55: 1643–1652
Tang YZ, and Gobler CJ. 2010. Allelopathic effects of Cochlodinium polykrikoides isolates and blooms from the estuaries of Long Island, New York, USA on co-occurring phytoplankton. Marine Ecology Progress Series 406:19-31

 

Hattenrath TK, Anderson DA, Gobler CJ. 2010. The influence of nutrients and climate on the dynamics and toxicity of Alexandrium fundyense blooms in a New York (USA) estuary. Harmful Algae 9: 402–412

 

Tang YZ, and Gobler CJ. 2009. Cochlodinium polykrikoides blooms and clonal isolates from the northwest Atlantic coast cause rapid mortality in larvae of multiple shellfish species. Marine Biology 156: 2601-2611

 

Jiang X, Tang YZ, Lonsdale DJ, Gobler CJ. 2009. Deleterious consequences of a red tide dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef for the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa Dana. Marine Ecology Progress Series 390: 105–116

 

Talmage SC, Gobler CJ. 2009. The effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations on the metamorphosis, size, and survival of larval hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), bay scallops(Argopecten irradians),andEastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica). Limnology and Oceanography 54: 2072–2080

 

Davis, T.W., Berry, D.L., Boyer, G.L. Gobler, C.J., 2009. The effects of temperature and nutrients on the growth and dynamics of toxic and non-toxic strains of Microcystis during cyanobacteria blooms. Harmful Algae 8: 715–725

 

Koch, F., Gobler CJ., 2009. The effects of tidal export from salt marsh ditches on estuarine water quality and plankton communities, Estuaries and Coasts 32: 261-275

 

Tang YZ, Gobler CJ. 2009. Characterization of the toxicity of Cochlodinium polykrikoides isolates from Northeast US estuaries to finfish and shellfish. Harmful Algae 8:454-462

 

Carroll JC, Gobler CJ, Peterson BP. 2008 Resource limitation of eelgrass in New York estuaries: Light limitation and nutrient stress alleviation by hard clams. Marine Ecology Progress Series 369:39-50

 

Wall, C.C., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2008. The facilitation of seagrass (Zostera marina) productivity by suspension-feeding bivalves. Marine Ecology Progress Series 357: 165–174

 

Gobler CJ, Berry, D.L., O.R. Anderson, Burson, A., Koch, F., Rodgers, B.S., Moore L.K., Goleski J.A., Allam, B., Bowser, P., Tang, Y., Nuzzi, R. 2008. Characterization, dynamics, and ecological impacts of harmful Cochlodinium polykrikoides blooms on eastern Long Island, NY, USA. Harmful Algae 7: 293–307

 

Weiss, M.B., Curran, P.B., Peterson, B.J., Gobler, C.J., 2007. The influence of plankton composition and water quality on hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria L.) populations across Long Island’s south shore lagoon estuaries. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 345:12–25

 

Gobler, C.J., Davis, T.W., Coyne K.J., Boyer, G.L. 2007. Interactive influences of nutrient loading, zooplankton grazing and microcystin synthetase gene expression on cyanobacterial bloom dynamics in a eutrophic New York lake. Harmful Algae 6: 119–133

2011 Symposium Video Links

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmJAB2jFCII

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6EyoLemxNY

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4fATS-mqM