A transcriptomic analysis of land-use impacts on the oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in the South Atlantic bight.

Increasing utilization and human population density in the coastal zone is widely believed to place increasing stresses on the resident biota, but confirmation of this belief is somewhat lacking. While we have solid evidence that highly disturbed estuarine systems have dramatic changes in the resident biota (black and white if you will), we lack tools that distinguish the shades of grey. In part, this lack of ability to distinguish shades of grey stems from the analytical tools that have been applied to studies of estuarine systems, and perhaps more important, is the insensitivity of the biological end points that we have used to assess these impacts. In this study, we will present data on the phenotypic adjustments as measured by transcriptomic signatures of a resilient organism (oysters) to land-use practices in the surrounding watershed using advanced machine-learning algorithms. We will demonstrate that such an approach can reveal subtle and meaningful shifts in oyster gene expression in response to land use. Further, the data show that gill tissues are far more responsive and provide superior discrimination of land-use classes than hepatopancreas and that transcripts encoding proteins involved in energy production, protein synthesis and basic metabolism are more robust indicators of land use than classic biomarkers such as metallothioneins, GST and cytochrome P-450.

Effects of changing land use on the microbial water quality of tidal creeks.

Population growth along the southeastern United States coast has precipitated the conversion of forested watersheds to suburban and urban ones. This study sampled creeks representing forested, suburban, and urban watersheds along a longitudinal gradient for indicators of water quality, including traditional indicator bacteria (fecal coliforms and enterococci) and alternative viral indicators (male-specific and somatic coliphages). Tested microorganisms were generally distributed with highest concentrations in creek headwaters and in more developed watersheds. The headwaters also showed the strongest predictive relationship between indicator concentrations and urbanization as measured by impervious cover. A seasonal pattern was observed for indicator bacteria but not for indicator viruses. Coliphage typing indicated the likely source of contamination was nonhuman. Results suggest that headwater creeks can serve as sentinel habitat, signaling early warning of public health concerns from land-based anthropogenic activities. This study also implies the potential to eventually forecast indicator concentrations under land use change scenarios.

Assessing coastal waters of American Samoa: territory-wide water quality data provide a critical "big-picture" view for this tropical archipelago.

The coastal waters of American Samoa's five high islands (Tutuila, Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, and Ta'u) were surveyed in 2004 using a probabilistic design. Water quality data were collected from the near-shore coastal habitat, defined as all near-shore coastal waters including embayments, extending out to 1/4 mile off-shore. Hydrography and water column samples were collected, and water quality data were compared to the Territorial water quality standards for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), Enterococcus, chlorophyll a, water clarity, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. All station measurements for pH, DO, and Enterococcus satisfied the local water quality standards, although some fraction of the Territory could not be assessed for either DO or Enterococcus. With respect to chlorophyll a, 66 +/- 18% of Territory coastal waters complied with the standard, while 34 +/- 18% failed to comply with the standard. For water clarity, 54 +/- 18% of the Territorial waters complied with the standard while 42 +/- 7% failed to comply. Territorial waters satisfied the standards for total nitrogen and phosphorus 72 +/- 17% and 92 +/- 10%, respectively. These data provide the first "big-picture" view of water quality in the near shore region around the high islands of American Samoa. While the picture is encouraging, these data suggest emerging water quality concerns.

Development of a data management framework in support of southeastern tidal creek research.

The NOAA Center of Excellence for Oceans and Human Health Initiative (OHHI) at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is developing a data management framework that supports an integrated research program across scientific disciplines. The primary focus of the database is to support environmental research focused on tidal creek watershed systems. Specifically, the current data holdings include physical water quality parameters, nutrients, pathogens, chemical contaminants, benthic and nekton species abundances and human dimensions data from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina dating to 1994. These data are not from a single long-term research project but are derived from several state and federal research programs and integrated into a common database model to support current research being conducted under the OHHI program at HML. The Tidal Creek database was developed with the intent to support a well documented and open system, thus metadata elements from common metadata standards including the Dublin Core ISO 15836:2003 and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC-STD-001-1998) are components of the database model. The result is a semantic database framework with descriptive ancillary data at the record level including methods, investigator names, date, locations and other descriptive elements. The primary users of the database are project personnel to meet analytical needs. The database is also available through a number of web-based applications that are designed to give users the necessary information to evaluate and access data. In addition, data can be accessed with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards, and species records and abundances are being made available to the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). Overall, the Tidal Creek database summarizes the response of tidal creeks and watersheds to coastal development, and serves as a repository for environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic data in the Southeast.

Assessing the effects of non-point source pollution on American Samoa's coral reef communities.

Surveys were completed on Tutuila Island, American Samoa, to characterize reef development and assess the impacts of non-point source pollution on adjacent coral reefs at six sites. Multivariate analyses of benthic and coral community data found similar modern reef development at three locations; Aoa, Alofau, and Leone. These sites are situated in isolated bays with gentle sloping foundations. Aoa reefs had the highest estimates of crustose coralline algae cover and coral species richness, while Leone and Alofau showed high abundances of macroalgae and Porites corals. Aoa has the largest reef flat between watershed discharge and the reef slope, and the lowest human population density. Masefau and Fagaalu have a different geomorphology consisting of cemented staghorn coral fragments and steep slopes, however, benthic and coral communities were not similar. Benthic data suggest Fagaalu is heavily impacted compared with all other sites. Reef communities were assessed as bio-criteria indicators for waterbody health, using the EPA aquatic life use support designations of (1) fully supportive, (2) partially supportive, and (3) non-supportive for aquatic life. All sites resulted in a partially supportive ranking except Fagaalu, which was non-supportive. The results of this rapid assessment based upon relative benthic community measures are less desirable than long-term dataset analyses from monitoring programs, however it fills an important role for regulatory agencies required to report annual waterbody assessments. Future monitoring sites should be established to increase the number of replicates within each geological and physical setting to allow for meaningful comparisons along a gradient of hypothesized pollution levels.

Assessing the ecological condition of a coastal plain watershed using a probabilistic survey design.

Using a probabilistic survey design, we assessed the ecological condition of the Florida (U.S.A.) portion of the Escambia River watershed using selected environmental and benthic macroinvertebrate data. Macroinvertebrates were sampled at 28 sites during July-August 1996, and 3414 individuals were identified. Taxonomic data were distilled into the 8 m of the Stream Condition Index (SCI), developed specifically for Florida waterways, and sites were classified on an ordinal scale as very good, good, poor, and very poor. The weighted cumulative distribution function of the SCI showed that 8% (+/- 7) of the stream and river miles in this landscape were in very good condition, while 25% (+/- 7), 51% (+/- 16), and 16% (+/- 15) were in good, poor, and very poor condition, respectively. The only environmental parameter significantly correlated with SCI was dissolved oxygen (DO), and two sites classified as very poor had oxygen levels around or below 2 mg L(-1). However, other sites exhibited similarly low SCI values without the attendant low DO, implying that factors determining site condition were complex and multivariate. The results of this survey corroborate Federal and state assessments demonstrating that many locations within this watershed exhibit significant degradation.