Cultural Eutrophication Is Reflected in the Stable Isotopic Composition of the Eastern Mudsnail, Nassarius obsoletus.

In aquatic ecosystems, biological indicators are used in concert with nutrient concentration data to identify habitat impairments related to cultural eutrophication. This approach has been less commonly implemented in coastal areas due to the dominance of physical conditions in structuring biological assemblage data. Here, we describe the use of the stable isotopic composition of (Say), the eastern mudsnail, as an indicator of cultural eutrophication for 40 locations in coastal estuaries in New York. We found N enrichment in mudsnail tissue where watersheds had high population densities, land use patterns were more urbanized, and when sampling sites were adjacent to wastewater treatment plant discharges. Stable carbon isotopes were responsive to salinity and watershed forest cover, with more saline sites reflecting a predominantly C or algal carbon isotopic signature and more forested sites a lighter isotopic signature reflecting greater inputs of C terrestrial detrital carbon. Mudsnail nitrogen isotopic composition had a high level of separation between more affected and pristine watersheds (from 6.6 to 14.1‰), highlighting its utility as an indicator. We thus propose that stable isotope values of estuarine biota, such as the eastern mudsnail, can be used in concert with water quality data to identify areas where improvements in water quality are needed and can also be used to identify sources of detrital carbon to estuarine environments.

Genome Modeling System: A Knowledge Management Platform for Genomics.

In this work, we present the Genome Modeling System (GMS), an analysis information management system capable of executing automated genome analysis pipelines at a massive scale. The GMS framework provides detailed tracking of samples and data coupled with reliable and repeatable analysis pipelines. The GMS also serves as a platform for bioinformatics development, allowing a large team to collaborate on data analysis, or an individual researcher to leverage the work of others effectively within its data management system. Rather than separating ad-hoc analysis from rigorous, reproducible pipelines, the GMS promotes systematic integration between the two. As a demonstration of the GMS, we performed an integrated analysis of whole genome, exome and transcriptome sequencing data from a breast cancer cell line (HCC1395) and matched lymphoblastoid line (HCC1395BL). These data are available for users to test the software, complete tutorials and develop novel GMS pipeline configurations. The GMS is available at https://github.com/genome/gms.

NPCC4: Concepts and tools for envisioning New York City's futures.

This chapter of the New York City Panel on Climate Change 4 (NPCC4) report discusses the many intersecting social, ecological, and technological-infrastructure dimensions of New York City (NYC) and their interactions that are critical to address in order to transition to and secure a climate-adapted future for all New Yorkers. The authors provide an assessment of current approaches to "future visioning and scenarios" across community and city-level initiatives and examine diverse dimensions of the NYC urban system to reduce risk and vulnerability and enable a future-adapted NYC. Methods for the integration of community and stakeholder ideas about what would make NYC thrive with scientific and technical information on the possibilities presented by different policies and actions are discussed. This chapter synthesizes the state of knowledge on how different communities of scholarship or practice envision futures and provides brief descriptions of the social-demographic and housing, transportation, energy, nature-based, and health futures and many other subsystems of the complex system of NYC that will all interact to determine NYC futures.

NPCC4: Climate change and New York City's flood risk.

This chapter of the New York City Panel on Climate Change 4 (NPCC4) report provides a comprehensive description of the different types of flood hazards (pluvial, fluvial, coastal, groundwater, and compound) facing New York City and provides climatological context that can be utilized, along with climate change projections, to support flood risk management (FRM). Previous NPCC reports documented coastal flood hazards and presented trends in historical and future precipitation and sea level but did not comprehensively assess all the city's flood hazards. Previous NPCC reports also discussed the implications of floods on infrastructure and the city's residents but did not review the impacts of flooding on the city's natural and nature-based systems (NNBSs). This-the NPCC's first report focused on all drivers of flooding-describes and profiles historical examples of each type of flood and summarizes previous and ongoing research regarding exposure, vulnerability, and risk management, including with NNBS and nonstructural measures.

NPCC4: Climate risk and equity-advancing knowledge toward a sustainable future | Conclusions.

This chapter provides an overview of the major themes, findings, and recommendations from NPCC4. It presents summary statements from each chapter of the assessment which identify salient and pressing issues raised and provides recommendations for future research and for enhancement of climate resiliency. The chapter also outlines a set of broader recommendations for future NPCC work and identifies some key topics for the next assessment.

High nutrient loads amplify carbon cycling across California and New York coastal wetlands but with ambiguous effects on marsh integrity and sustainability.

Eutrophic conditions in estuaries are a globally important stressor to coastal ecosystems and have been suggested as a driver of coastal salt marsh loss. Potential mechanisms in marshes include disturbance caused by macroalgae accumulations, enhanced soil sulfide levels linked to high labile carbon inputs, accelerated decomposition, and declines in belowground biomass that contribute to edge instability, erosion, and slumping. However, results of fertilization studies have been mixed, and it is unclear the extent to which local environmental conditions, such as soil composition and nutrient profiles, help shape the response of salt marshes to nutrient exposure. In this study, we characterized belowground productivity and decomposition, organic matter mineralization rates, soil respiration, microbial biomass, soil humification, carbon and nitrogen inventories, nitrogen isotope ratios, and porewater profiles at high and low marsh elevations across eight marshes in four estuaries in California and New York that have strong contrasts in nutrient inputs. The higher nutrient load marshes were characterized by faster carbon turnover, with higher belowground production and decomposition and greater carbon dioxide efflux than lower nutrient load marshes. These patterns were robust across marshes of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that varied in plant species composition, soil flooding patterns, and soil texture. Although impacts of eutrophic conditions on carbon cycling appeared clear, it was ambiguous whether high nutrient loads are causing negative effects on long-term marsh sustainability in terms of studied metrics. While high nutrient exposure marshes had high rates of decomposition and soil respiration rates, high nutrient exposure was also associated with increased belowground production, and reduced levels of sulfides, which should lead to greater marsh sustainability. While this study does not resolve the extent to which nutrient loads are negatively affecting these salt marshes, we do highlight functional differences between Atlantic and Pacific wetlands which may be useful for understanding coastal marsh health and integrity.

Drainage enhancement effects on a waterlogged Rhode Island (USA) salt marsh.

Drainage enhancement (e.g., ditch digging, open-marsh water management, runnelling) has long been used to reduce tidal marsh soil waterlogging and surface ponding to promote salt hay production and mosquito control. Now it is also being used as a tool to enhance marsh resilience to sea-level rise despite a lack of studies that evaluate its effectiveness as an intervention approach. We therefore conducted a controlled field experiment to evaluate short-term responses to drainage enhancement of a Rhode Island (USA) salt marsh. Drainage enhancement elicited rapid physical changes in portions of the marsh including declines in water levels and marsh elevation, but the biological components examined (e.g., vegetation and bird community composition) were largely unaffected. In two of the four areas monitored, marsh surface inundation duration declined from > 75% to 3-10% and low water levels dropped by 20 cm. Mean annual marsh surface elevation in monitoring plots increased 5 mm one year after drainage enhancement but dropped to 11 mm below initial conditions after three years. The decline in elevation varied among habitats, with the greatest decline (18 mm) found in areas dominated by Spartina alterniflora and/or bare ground. Vegetation community composition and % cover and heights of dominant species were unchanged, but areas that were initially bare had fully revegetated after three years. Drainage enhancement also had no effects on bird community composition or marsh sparrow (Ammodramus spp.) density. Our study provides evidence that drainage enhancement can relieve waterlogging and some of its impacts without any apparent adverse effects on the composition and abundance of existing vegetation and bird communities. At the same time, it can induce a loss of marsh platform elevation that has the potential to offset declining water levels and inhibit high marsh enhancement. Finally, unanticipated findings from our study provide evidence that the effects of larger-scale drivers such as sea-level rise may predominate over localized responses to drainage enhancement itself.

Passive data collection and use in healthcare: A systematic review of ethical issues.

INTRODUCTION: Passive data refers to data generated without the active participation of the subject. This includes data from global positioning systems and accelerometers or metadata on phone call and text activity. Although the potential healthcare applications are far-reaching, passive data raises numerous ethical challenges. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a systematic review to identify all ethical concerns, normative standpoints, and underlying arguments related to the use of passive data in healthcare. RESULTS: Among the various challenges discussed in the ethical literature, informational privacy, informed consent, and data security were the primary focus of the current debate. Other topics of discussion were the evaluation and regulation of products, equity in access, vulnerable patient groups, ownership, and secondary use. CONCLUSION: No clear ethical framework has been established that stimulates passive data-driven innovation while protecting patient integrity. The consensus in the ethical literature, as well as the parallels with similar concerns and solutions in other fields, can lay a foundation for the construction of an ethical framework. The future debate should focus on conflicts between two or more ethical, technical, or clinical values to ensure a safe and effective implementation of passive data in healthcare.

Indicators of nutrient pollution in Long Island, New York, estuarine environments.

Roughly eight million people live on Long Island, including Brooklyn and Queens, and despite improvements in wastewater treatment, nearly all its coastal waterbodies are impaired by excessive nitrogen. We used nutrient stoichiometry and stable isotope ratios in estuarine biota and soils to identify water pollution hot spots and compare among potential indicators. We found strong gradients in δ15N values, which were correlated with watershed land cover, population density, and wastewater discharges. Weaker correlations were found for δ13C values and nutrient stoichiometric ratios. Structural equation modeling identified contrasts between western Long Island, where δ15N values depended on watershed population density, and eastern Long Island where δ15N values reflected agriculture and sewage discharges. These results illustrate the use of stable isotopes as water quality indicators, and establish a baseline against which the efficacy of strategies to reduce nutrients can be measured.

The relationship between observational scale and explained variance in benthic communities.

This study addresses the impact of spatial scale on explaining variance in benthic communities. In particular, the analysis estimated the fraction of community variation that occurred at a spatial scale smaller than the sampling interval (i.e., the geographic distance between samples). This estimate is important because it sets a limit on the amount of community variation that can be explained based on the spatial configuration of a study area and sampling design. Six benthic data sets were examined that consisted of faunal abundances, common environmental variables (water depth, grain size, and surficial percent cover), and sonar backscatter treated as a habitat proxy (categorical acoustic provinces). Redundancy analysis was coupled with spatial variograms generated by multiscale ordination to quantify the explained and residual variance at different spatial scales and within and between acoustic provinces. The amount of community variation below the sampling interval of the surveys (< 100 m) was estimated to be 36-59% of the total. Once adjusted for this small-scale variation, > 71% of the remaining variance was explained by the environmental and province variables. Furthermore, these variables effectively explained the spatial structure present in the infaunal community. Overall, no scale problems remained to compromise inferences, and unexplained infaunal community variation had no apparent spatial structure within the observational scale of the surveys (> 100 m), although small-scale gradients (< 100 m) below the observational scale may be present.