Urban Ocean (Coastal Ocean Near Centers of Urban Populations)
SS9.01:
Ecosystem Science Practiced in an Urbanized Estuary:
South San Francisco Bay
Organizer: James E. Cloern, U.S. Geological Survey
(jecloern@usgs.gov)
South San Francisco Bay is a coastal basin surrounded by
the urban watershed between San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
This urbanized estuary has been the site of sustained observation
and research since April 1969 when the USGS began a program
of hydrographic sampling that has continued and expanded
to include partnerships with local agencies and academic
scientists. This series of talks will illustrate an approach
of ecosystem science built around the integration of data
from monitoring and field experiments with conceptual and
numerical models to explore dynamics of a coastal ecosystem
influenced by natural forcings and human activities. Lessons
from long term study of South San Francisco Bay illustrate
the general importance of, for example: topographic controls
on circulation and ecosystem functions; the coastal ocean
as a source of estuarine variability; light limitation of
primary production in a turbid nutrient-rich environment;
short-timescale variability of suspended sediments from tidal
and wind wave re-suspension; ecosystem benefits of waste
treatment mandated by the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act; benthic-pelagic
coupling mediated by bivalve suspension feeders; disturbance
by alien species; river flow as a mechanism of physical-biological
variability; and system responses to periodic, tidally influenced,
salinity stratification.
SS9.02:
Sources, Transport, and Fate of Contaminants in the Southern
California Bight
Organizers: Burton Jones, University of Southern
California (bjones@usc.edu)
and Libe Washburn, University of California, Santa Barbara
(washburn@icess.ucsb.edu)
The Southern California Bight is a heavily urbanized section
of the coastal ocean, where over 20 million people live along
the coastal corridor. Many pollutant sources have existed
within this region, some of which continue to deliver chemical
and biological contaminants to the coastal waters. For example,
wastewater outfalls have historically provided significant
contributions of coastal pollution, while storm water-water
discharges from the region’s rivers and creeks are
now recognized to be major contributors of pollution to the
coastal margin. Once contaminants enter the coastal ocean,
a variety of oceanographic processes contribute to their
transport, dispersion, and fate. We invite submissions that
discuss observations and/or models of the sources, transport,
and eventual fate of these coastal pollutants.
SS9.03:
Developing Ecosystem-based Products for Ocean and Estuarine
Management
Organizers: Elizabeth Turner, NOAA Coastal Ocean
Program (elizabeth.turner@noaa.gov)
and Andrew Pershing, Cornell University (ajp9@cornell.edu)
The delivery of comprehensive information products and technologies
applicable to specific ocean and coastal management issues
remains a challenge for ocean science programs. In general,
ecosystem studies have been committed to producing data and
information products such as technical reports, peer-reviewed
publications, data bases, and numerical and conceptual models,
with little, or only passing, consideration for their relevance
to management problems. This session will present results
of scientific studies that are directly applicable and transferable
to management issues. Contributions are sought that highlight
prediction, assessment, or hindcasting of ocean/estuarine
ecosystem conditions and their effects on marine management
issues, as well as papers that describe the transfer of information
from ecosystem studies into the management arena.
SS9.04:
Understanding the Physiological and Community Ecology
of Invasive Species
Organizer: Doug Miller, University of Delaware,
College of Marine Studies (dmiller@udel.edu)
Introduction of non-indigenous species is a necessary but
not a sufficient condition for bioinvasion. Expansion or
extinction of a new species depends critically on its ability
to grow, reproduce and disperse in the new habitat. Physiological
responses to the environment (survival, growth and reproductive)
as well as ecological interactions (behavioral and trophic)
in part determine an invader’s fate. This special session
highlights research examining such aspects of invasive and
nuisance species in the context of the habitat and biological
community into which they are introduced. Are environmental
tolerances and/or native species in fact constraints on what
would otherwise be successful invasions? Does one invader
facilitate another? Do potential invaders have commonalities
in biology and ecological roles that determine their success?
Can we predict likely invader species and identify those
habitats most at risk? We welcome presentations representing
a wide variety of taxonomic groups and the full range of
marine and freshwater ecosystems.
SS9.06:
Dynamics of Pathogens in Marine Systems
Organizers: Alexandria B. Boehm, Stanford University
(aboehm@stanford.edu)
and Rachel T. Noble, University of North Carolina (rtnoble@email.unc.edu)
Allochthonous and autochthonous pathogens at urban estuaries
and beaches are a growing concern for managers of coastal
waters in the United States. Their presence potentially creates
health threats for swimmers, contamination of aquatic food
sources, aesthetically unpleasant waters, and economic hardships
for surrounding communities that depend on aquaculture and
tourism. In addition, many sources of fecal pathogens are
also rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, making them directly
linked to eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and dramatic
aquatic ecosystem disruption. The identification of pathogen
sources and their mitigation requires a multi-disciplinary
understanding of coastal ecosystems, biochemistry, oceanography,
engineering, and hydrology. The purpose of this session is
to bring together researchers who specialize in understanding
sources of pathogens, their fate and transport, and potential
means for mitigation of fecal contamination in coastal waters.
Research in the following areas is relevant to this session:
- Rates of inactivation and degradation of water-borne
pathogens in the coastal ocean.
- Interaction of water-borne pathogens with abiotic and
biotic marine ecosystem components, including marine sediment.
- Ecology of bacterial pathogens in coastal waters.
- Environmental reservoirs of pathogens in estuaries and
the coastal ocean.
- Techniques for rapid detection of pathogens in sea water.
- Evaluation of marine bathing water policies.
- Water quality indicator and pathogen relationships.
- Modeling microbial pollution at urban beaches.
- Dilution, fate, and transport of pathogens and indicator
species in coastal waters.
SS9.07:
Oceans and Human Health
Organizer: Sunny Jiang, University of California
(sjiang@uci.edu)
The objective of this special session is to explore the links
between the ocean and human health. The recent Request for
Application, issued jointly by the National Institute of
Environmental Health and the National Science Foundation,
best summarizes this need: Oceans have become conduits for
a number of environmental threats to human health. At the
same time, oceans harbor diverse organisms that show great
promise for providing new drugs to combat cancer and fight
infectious diseases. To guard against such health threats
and to take advantage of the medicinal benefits that oceans
might provide, the impacts of the oceans on human health
must be more fully explored and new research efforts directed
to this area. This session encourages submission of research
papers including but not limited to the following three areas.
1) Harmful algal blooms (HABs) 2) Water- and vector-borne
diseases 3) Marine-derived pharmaceuticals and probes.
|
