Center for Coastal Studies

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Adaptive strategy biases in engineered ecosystems: Implications for plant community dynamics and the provisioning of ecosystem services to people
Krauss, Lauren; Rippy, Megan A. (2022-11-22)
1. Plant communities in green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) such as biofilters play an integral role in ecosystem services provisioning, such that many design manuals now feature plant lists that guide vegetation selection. 2. This study looks at the implications of those lists for biofilter plant communities and their services, focusing on (1) how plants are selected across US climate zones, (2) whether selected plants exhibit adaptive strategy biases (i.e. towards competitive, stress tolerant or ruderal strategies that might impact ecosystem services provisioning) and (3) whether human-induced selection or natural climatic processes underly any biases revealed. 3. Our results suggest that biofilter plant strategies are significantly biased towards stress tolerance or competitiveness (depending on the climate zone) and away from ruderalness relative to the broader pool of native and wetland-adapted native species. 4. Competitive bias was evident in humid-continental climates and stress-tolerant bias in hot coastal/arid climates, with some degree of anti-ruderal bias present across all zones. 5. These biases are correlated with human concerns related to water availability and climate (water conservation; p < 0.05, irrigation; p < 0.1, climate extremes; p < 0.1). They do not appear to reflect strict climatological limits (i.e. limits that are independent of preferences or design constraints imposed by people) because they are not also evident for native plants. 6. The benefits and costs of relaxing these biases are discussed, focusing on the implications for water quality, hydrologic, and cultural services provisioning and the dynamicity of GSI ecosystems, particularly their capacity to self-repair, a prerequisite for the development of self-sustaining GSI.
Addressing the Contribution of Indirect Potable Reuse to Inland Freshwater Salinization
Bhide, Shantanu V.; Grant, Stanley B.; Parker, Emily A.; Rippy, Megan A.; Godrej, Adil N.; Kaushal, Sujay S.; Prelewicz, Gregory; Saji, Niffy; Curtis, Shannon; Vikesland, Peter J.; Maile-Moskowitz, Ayella; Edwards, Marc A.; Lopez, Kathryn; Birkland, Thomas A.; Schenk, Todd (2021-02-02)
Inland freshwater salinity is rising worldwide, a phenomenon called the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). We investigate a potential conflict between managing the FSS and indirect potable reuse, the practice of augmenting water supplies through the addition of reclaimed wastewater to surface waters and groundwaters. From time-series data collected over 25 years, we quantify the contributions of three salinity sources—a wastewater reclamation facility and two rapidly urbanizing watersheds—to the rising concentration of sodium (a major ion associated with the FSS) in a regionally important drinking water reservoir in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Sodium mass loading to the reservoir is primarily from watershed runoff during wet weather and reclaimed wastewater during dry weather. Across all timescales evaluated, sodium concentration in the reclaimed wastewater is higher than in outflow from the two watersheds. Sodium in reclaimed wastewater originates from chemicals added during wastewater treatment, industrial and commercial discharges, human excretion, and down-drain disposal of drinking water and sodium-rich household products. Thus, numerous opportunities exist to reduce the contribution of indirect potable reuse to sodium pollution at this site, and the FSS more generally. These efforts will require deliberative engagement with a diverse community of watershed stakeholders and careful consideration of the local political, social, and environmental context.
Advances in Morphodynamic Modeling of Coastal Barriers: A Review
Hoagland, Steven W. H.; Jeffries, Catherine R.; Irish, Jennifer L.; Weiss, Robert; Mandli, Kyle; Vitousek, Sean; Johnson, Catherine M.; Cialone, Mary A. (ASCE, 2023-05-30)
As scientific understanding of barrier morphodynamics has improved, so has the ability to reproduce observed phenomena and predict future barrier states using mathematical models. To use existing models effectively and improve them, it is important to understand the current state of morphodynamic modeling and the progress that has been made in the field. This manuscript offers a review of the literature regarding advancements in morphodynamic modeling of coastal barrier systems and summarizes current modeling abilities and limitations. Broadly, this review covers both event-scale and long-term morphodynamics. Each of these sections begins with an overview of commonly modeled phenomena and processes, followed by a review of modeling developments. After summarizing the advancements toward the stated modeling goals, we identify research gaps and suggestions for future research under the broad categories of improving our abilities to acquire and access data, furthering our scientific understanding of relevant processes, and advancing our modeling frameworks and approaches.
The anthropogenic salt cycle
Kaushal, Sujay S.; Likens, Gene E.; Mayer, Paul M.; Shatkay, Ruth R.; Shelton, Sydney A.; Grant, Stanley B.; Utz, Ryan M.; Yaculak, Alexis M.; Maas, Carly M.; Reimer, Jenna E.; Bhide, Shantanu V.; Malin, Joseph T.; Rippy, Megan A. (SpringerNature, 2023-10-31)
Increasing salt production and use is shifting the natural balances of salt ions across Earth systems, causing interrelated effects across biophysical systems collectively known as freshwater salinization syndrome. In this Review, we conceptualize the natural salt cycle and synthesize increasing global trends of salt production and riverine salt concentrations and fluxes. The natural salt cycle is primarily driven by relatively slow geologic and hydrologic processes that bring different salts to the surface of the Earth. Anthropogenic activities have accelerated the processes, timescales and magnitudes of salt fluxes and altered their directionality, creating an anthropogenic salt cycle. Global salt production has increased rapidly over the past century for different salts, with approximately 300 Mt of NaCl produced per year. A salt budget for the USA suggests that salt fluxes in rivers can be within similar orders of magnitude as anthropogenic salt fluxes, and there can be substantial accumulation of salt in watersheds. Excess salt propagates along the anthropogenic salt cycle, causing freshwater salinization syndrome to extend beyond freshwater supplies and affect food and energy production, air quality, human health and infrastructure. There is a need to identify environmental limits and thresholds for salt ions and reduce salinization before planetary boundaries are exceeded, causing serious or irreversible damage across Earth systems.
Anticipating and adapting to the future impacts of climate change on the health, security and welfare of low elevation coastal zone (LECZ) communities in Southeastern USA
Allen, Thomas; Behr, Joshua; Bukvic, Anamaria; Calder, Ryan S. D.; Caruson, Kiki; Connor, Charles; D'Elia, Christopher; Dismukes, David; Ersing, Robin; Franklin, Rima; Goldstein, Jesse; Goodall, Jonathon; Hemmerling, Scott; Irish, Jennifer L.; Lazarus, Steven; Loftis, Derek; Luther, Mark; McCallister, Leigh; McGlathery, Karen; Mitchell, Molly; Moore, William B.; Nichols, C. Reid; Nunez, Karinna; Reidenbach, Matthew; Shortridge, Julie; Weisberg, Robert; Weiss, Robert; Donelson Wright, Lynn; Xia, Meng; Xu, Kehui; Young, Donald; Zarillo, Gary; Zinnert, Julie C. (MDPI, 2021-10-29)
Low elevation coastal zones (LECZ) are extensive throughout the southeastern United States. LECZ communities are threatened by inundation from sea level rise, storm surge, wetland degradation, land subsidence, and hydrological flooding. Communication among scientists, stakeholders, policy makers and minority and poor residents must improve. We must predict processes spanning the ecological, physical, social, and health sciences. Communities need to address linkages of (1) human and socioeconomic vulnerabilities; (2) public health and safety; (3) economic concerns; (4) land loss; (5) wetland threats; and (6) coastal inundation. Essential capabilities must include a network to assemble and distribute data and model code to assess risk and its causes, support adaptive management, and improve the resiliency of communities. Better communication of information and understanding among residents and officials is essential. Here we review recent background literature on these matters and offer recommendations for integrating natural and social sciences. We advocate for a cyber-network of scientists, modelers, engineers, educators, and stakeholders from academia, federal state and local agencies, non-governmental organizations, residents, and the private sector. Our vision is to enhance future resilience of LECZ communities by offering approaches to mitigate hazards to human health, safety and welfare and reduce impacts to coastal residents and industries.
Boulder dislodgement during coastal storms and tsunamis: Insights from a new ensemble model
Weiss, Robert; Irish, Jennifer L.; Goodman Tchernov, Beverly (American Geophysical Union, 2022-03-01)
Boulders are excellent candidate deposits to study coastal inundation events by storms and tsunamis due to their significant preservation potential. However, it is difficult to infer how and what forcing dislodged the boulder. We present a new model that enables ensemble and Monte-Carlo-type simulations to study the sensitivity of boulder, the fluid flow, and environmental parameters. Our examples show that boulder transport is complex and nonlinear, and to acknowledge the uncertainties of the boulder's preexisting transport conditions, a range of velocities and environmental parameters should be used to quantify the flow that caused boulder dislodgement.
Can Smart Stormwater Systems Outsmart the Weather? Stormwater Capture with Real-Time Control in Southern California
Parker, Emily A.; Grant, Stanley B.; Sahin, Abdullah; Vrugt, Jasper A.; Brand, Matthew W. (2022-01-14)
Stormwater capture systems have the potential to address many urban stormwater management challenges, particularly in water-scarce regions like Southern California. Here, we investigate the potential best-case limits of water supply and stormwater retention benefits delivered by a 10,000 m3 stormwater capture system equipped with real-time control (RTC) on a university campus in Southern California. Using a copula-based conditional probability analysis, two performance metrics (percent of water demand satisfied and the percent of stormwater runoff captured) are benchmarked relative to (1) precipitation seasonality (historical rainfall and a counterfactual in which the same average annual rainfall is distributed evenly over the year); (2) annual precipitation (dry, median, and wet years); and (3) three RTC algorithms (no knowledge of future rainfall or perfect knowledge of future rainfall 1 or 2 days in advance). RTC improves stormwater retention, particularly for the highly seasonal rainfall patterns in Southern California, but not water supply. Improvements to the latter will likely require implementing stormwater capture RTC in conjunction with other stormwater infrastructure innovations, such as spreading basins for groundwater recharge and widespread adoption of green stormwater infrastructure.
Capturing complexity: Environmental change and relocation in the North Slope Borough, Alaska
Garland, Anne; Bukvic, Anamaria; Maton-Mosurska, Anuszka (Elsevier, 2022-12)
This paper explores the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about emerging hazards, environmental change, and relocation among community groups in Utqiaġvik (Barrow) of the North Slope Borough (NSB), Alaska. This region has been experiencing accelerating erosion and warmer temperatures, permafrost thawing, more frequent and intense storm surges, and increased maritime traffic and extractive industries with ice loss, with direct or cascading effects on the mixed ethnic and indigenous communities. This paper used engagement activities (Participatory Applied Theater) and qualitative approaches (focus groups) during three consecutive summers 2016-2018 to evaluate the risk perceptions and interpretations towards coastal changes and relocation as an adaptive response in this U.S. strategic yet remote location. Each focus group session started with risk ranking activities about regional hazards to assess knowledge and perceptions of risk, followed by an interactive script reading of an Iñupiat disaster legend to facilitate discussion about risk reduction options and engagement with the survey questions. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software Nvivo and a hybrid coding strategy. Results indicate that relocation is considered by some participants but is not planned for nor implemented by community groups, families, or the local government to reduce the hazard risks. However, widespread recognition of accelerated hazards and environmental changes, and the need for adaptation could lead to consideration of relocation in the future. This study provides a case of disaster risk reduction in a remote place with unique place-specific characteristics (e.g., particular forms of subsistence, corporate monopolies, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and social organizations), but also shaped by significant external influences, accompanied by a changing landscape of risk from the slow and rapid onset of environmental changes.
Changing impacts of Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone tsunamis in California under future sea-level rise
Dura, Tina; Garner, Andra J.; Weiss, Robert; Kopp, Robert E.; Engelhart, Simon E.; Witter, Robert C.; Briggs, Richard W.; Mueller, Charles S.; Nelson, Alan R.; Horton, Benjamin P. (Springer Nature, 2021-12-08)
The amplification of coastal hazards such as distant-source tsunamis under future relative sea-level rise (RSLR) is poorly constrained. In southern California, the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone has been identified as an earthquake source region of particular concern for a worst-case scenario distant-source tsunami. Here, we explore how RSLR over the next century will influence future maximum nearshore tsunami heights (MNTH) at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Earthquake and tsunami modeling combined with local probabilistic RSLR projections show the increased potential for more frequent, relatively low magnitude earthquakes to produce distant-source tsunamis that exceed historically observed MNTH. By 2100, under RSLR projections for a high-emissions representative concentration pathway (RCP8.5), the earthquake magnitude required to produce >1 m MNTH falls from ~Mw9.1 (required today) to Mw8.0, a magnitude that is ~6.7 times more frequent along the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone.
Considering COVID-19 through the Lens of Hazard and Disaster Research
Ritchie, Liesel A.; Gill, Duane A. (MDPI, 2021-06-30)
Decades of social science research have taught us much about how individuals, groups, and communities respond to disasters. The findings of this research have helped inform emergency management practices, including disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us—researchers or not—have attempted or are attempting to make sense of what is going on around us. In this article, we assert that we need not examine the pandemic in a vacuum; rather, we can draw upon scholarly and practical sources to inform our thinking about this 21st century catastrophe. The pandemic has provided an “unfortunate opportunity” to revisit what we know about disaster phenomena, including catastrophes, and to reconsider the findings of research from over the years. Drawing upon academic research, media sources, and our own observations, we focus on the U.S. and employ disaster characteristics framework of (1) etiology or origins; (2) physical damage characteristics; (3) disaster phases or cycles; (4) vulnerability; (5) community impacts; and (6) individual impacts to examine perspectives about the ways in which the ongoing pandemic is both similar and dissimilar to conceptualizations about the social dimensions of hazards and disasters. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic is not merely a disaster; rather, it is a catastrophe.
Early Holocene Greenland-ice mass loss likely triggered earthquakes and tsunami
Steffen, Rebekka; Steffen, Holger; Weiss, Robert; Lecavalier, Benoit S.; Milne, Glenn A.; Woodroffe, Sarah A.; Bennike, Ole (2020-09-15)
Due to their large mass, ice sheets induce significant stresses in the Earth's crust. Stress release during deglaciation can trigger large-magnitude earthquakes, as indicated by surface faults in northern Europe. Although glacially-induced stresses have been analyzed in northern Europe, they have not yet been analyzed for Greenland. We know that the Greenland Ice Sheet experienced a large melting period in the early Holocene, and so here, we analyze glacially-induced stresses during deglaciation for Greenland for the first time. Instability occurs in southern Greenland, where we use a combined analysis of past sea level indicators and a model of glacially-induced fault reactivation to show that deglaciation of the Greenland Ice Sheet may have caused a large magnitude earthquake or a series of smaller magnitude earthquakes around 10,600 years ago offshore south-western Greenland. The earthquake(s) may have shifted relative sea level observations by several meters. If the earthquake-induced stress release was created during a single event, it could have produced a tsunami in the North Atlantic Ocean with runup heights of up to 7.2 m in the British Isles and up to 7.8 m along Canadian coasts. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Five state factors control progressive stages of freshwater salinization syndrome
Kaushal, Sujay S.; Mayer, Paul M.; Likens, Gene E.; Reimer, Jenna E.; Maas, Carly M.; Rippy, Megan A.; Grant, Stanley B.; Hart, Ian; Utz, Ryan M.; Shatkay, Ruth R.; Wessel, Barret M.; Maietta, Christine E.; Pace, Michael L.; Duan, Shuiwang; Boger, Walter L.; Yaculak, Alexis M.; Galella, Joseph G.; Wood, Kelsey L.; Morel, Carol J.; Nguyen, William; Querubin, Shane Elizabeth C.; Sukert, Rebecca A.; Lowien, Anna; Houde, Alyssa Wellman; Roussel, Anais; Houston, Andrew J.; Cacopardo, Ari; Ho, Cristy; Talbot-Wendlandt, Haley; Widmer, Jacob M.; Slagle, Jairus; Bader, James A.; Chong, Jeng Hann; Wollney, Jenna; Kim, Jordan; Shepherd, Lauren; Wilfong, Matthew T.; Houlihan, Megan; Sedghi, Nathan; Butcher, Rebecca; Chaudhary, Sona; Becker, William D. (Wiley, 2022-03-16)
Factors driving freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS) influence the severity of impacts and chances for recovery. We hypothesize that spread of FSS across ecosystems is a function of interactions among five state factors: human activities, geology, flowpaths, climate, and time. (1) Human activities drive pulsed or chronic inputs of salt ions and mobilization of chemical contaminants. (2) Geology drives rates of erosion, weathering, ion exchange, and acidification-alkalinization. (3) Flowpaths drive salinization and contaminant mobilization along hydrologic cycles. (4) Climate drives rising water temperatures, salt stress, and evaporative concentration of ions and saltwater intrusion. (5) Time influences consequences, thresholds, and potentials for ecosystem recovery. We hypothesize that state factors advance FSS in distinct stages, which eventually contribute to failures in systems-level functions (supporting drinking water, crops, biodiversity, infrastructure, etc.). We present future research directions for protecting freshwaters at risk based on five state factors and stages from diagnosis to prognosis to cure.
Freshwater salinization syndrome limits management efforts to improve water quality
Maas, Carly M.; Kaushal, Sujay S.; Rippy, Megan A.; Mayer, Paul M.; Grant, Stanley B.; Shatkay, Ruth R.; Malin, Joseph T.; Bhide, Shantanu V.; Vikesland, Peter J.; Krauss, Lauren; Reimer, Jenna E.; Yaculak, Alexis M. (Frontiers, 2023-09-22)
Freshwater Salinization Syndrome (FSS) refers to groups of biological, physical, and chemical impacts which commonly occur together in response to salinization. FSS can be assessed by the mobilization of chemical mixtures, termed “chemical cocktails”, in watersheds. Currently, we do not know if salinization and mobilization of chemical cocktails along streams can be mitigated or reversed using restoration and conservation strategies. We investigated 1) the formation of chemical cocktails temporally and spatially along streams experiencing different levels of restoration and riparian forest conservation and 2) the potential for attenuation of chemical cocktails and salt ions along flowpaths through conservation and restoration areas. We monitored high-frequency temporal and longitudinal changes in streamwater chemistry in response to different pollution events (i.e., road salt, stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, and baseflow conditions) and several types of watershed management or conservation efforts in six urban watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicates that chemical cocktails which formed along flowpaths (i.e., permanent reaches of a stream) varied due to pollution events. In response to winter road salt applications, the chemical cocktails were enriched in salts and metals (e.g., Na+, Mn, and Cu). During most baseflow and stormflow conditions, chemical cocktails were less enriched in salt ions and trace metals. Downstream attenuation of salt ions occurred during baseflow and stormflow conditions along flowpaths through regional parks, stream-floodplain restorations, and a national park. Conversely, chemical mixtures of salt ions and metals, which formed in response to multiple road salt applications or prolonged road salt exposure, did not show patterns of rapid attenuation downstream. Multiple linear regression was used to investigate variables that influence changes in chemical cocktails along flowpaths. Attenuation and dilution of salt ions and chemical cocktails along stream flowpaths was significantly related to riparian forest buffer width, types of salt pollution, and distance downstream. Although salt ions and chemical cocktails can be attenuated and diluted in response to conservation and restoration efforts at lower concentration ranges, there can be limitations in attenuation during road salt events, particularly if storm drains bypass riparian buffers.
Habitat edges influence the distribution of nest predators for Seaside Sparrows, but not nest placement or success
Newsome, Corina D.; Hunter, Elizabeth A. (Oxford University Press, 2022-08-02)
Nest failure for coastal marsh bird species is primarily caused by predation and nest flooding. As sea level rise makes nest flooding more likely, the threat of nest predation will constrain the potential adaptive responses of marsh nesting species. Thus, understanding the predictors of nest predation is important for the conservation of salt marsh-dwelling bird species, such as the Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima). Predator activity may be influenced by landscape features (particularly habitat edges), potentially making nest predation predictable. We aimed to understand the predictability of Seaside Sparrow nest predation relative to two major landscape features: roads and tidal rivers, as both of these edges may be entryways or attractants for predators in marshes. In coastal Georgia, USA, we assessed mammalian predator activity relative to the two features of interest, and hypothesized that mammalian predator activity would be greater close to roads and tidal rivers. We also recorded Seaside Sparrow nest locations and nest predation events and hypothesized that nest predation events would increase with increasing predator activity. Consistent with our first hypothesis, mammalian predator activity increased close to roads and tidal rivers, but mammalian predator distribution did not explain the spatial variation in Seaside Sparrow nest predation thus not supporting our second hypothesis. Seaside Sparrows also placed their nests in locations with high mammalian predator activity, indicating that the ability to avoid nesting in high-risk areas may be constrained by habitat or resource limitations. Additionally, mammals may not be the primary nest predators, as we found that one bird species-Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)-contributed substantially to nest predation rates. Understanding the predictability of mammalian predator distribution can allow for focused predator management efforts, such as exclusion, to habitat edges where we found the highest mammalian predator activity, which could relax the constraint of nest predation on Seaside Sparrow's ability to respond to the intensifying threat of sea level rise. Lay Summary center dot Seaside Sparrows (Ammospiza maritima) nest in salt marsh grasses. If a nest fails from flooding, they elevate their next nest. However, nests higher from the ground experience increased predation risk. center dot Understanding the spatial pattern of nest predation across Seaside Sparrow habitat is critical in the face of increased nest flooding from sea level rise. center dot We predicted that mammalian predator activity would increase along habitat edges adjacent to roads and rivers in Glynn County, Georgia, and that Seaside Sparrow nests would experience increased predation in these areas. Mammalian predator activity increased near road and water edges, but Seaside Sparrows placed their nests in locations with high predator activity, and nest predation was not correlated with mammalian predator activity. Marsh Wrens depredated Seaside Sparrow nests and may have had an important impact on nest predation patterns. center dot Our results suggest that future predator management be focused on habitat edges along roads and waterways.
Inactivation of Aeromonas hydrophila and Vibrio parahaemolyticus by Curcumin-Mediated Photosensitization and Nanobubble-Ultrasonication Approaches
Rafeeq, Shamil; Shiroodi, Setareh; Schwarz, Michael H.; Nitin, Nitin; Ovissipour, Mahmoudreza (MDPI, 2020-09-16)
The antimicrobial efficacy of novel photodynamic inactivation and nanobubble technologies was evaluated against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Aeromonas hydrophila as two important aquatic microbial pathogens. Photodynamic inactivation results showed that LED (470 nm) and UV-A (400 nm)-activated curcumin caused a complete reduction in V. parahaemolyticus at 4 and 22 °C, and a greater than 2 log cfu/mL reduction in A. hydrophila, which was curcumin concentration-dependent (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the photodynamic approach caused a greater than 6 log cfu/mL V. parahaemolyticus reduction and more than 4 log cfu/mL of A. hydrophila reduction in aquaponic water samples (p < 0.05). Our results with the nanobubble technology showed that the nanobubbles alone did not significantly reduce bacteria (p > 0.05). However, a greater than 6 log cfu/mL A. hydrophila reduction and a greater than 3 log cfu/mL of V. parahaemolyticus reduction were achieved when nanobubble technology was combined with ultrasound (p < 0.05). The findings described in this study illustrate the potential of applying photodynamic inactivation and nanobubble–ultrasound antimicrobial approaches as alternative novel methods for inactivating fish and shellfish pathogens.
Longitudinal stream synoptic monitoring tracks chemicals along watershed continuums: a typology of trends
Kaushal, Sujay S.; Maas, Carly M.; Mayer, Paul M.; Newcomer-Johnson, Tammy A.; Grant, Stanley B.; Rippy, Megan A.; Shatkay, Ruth R.; Leathers, Jonathan; Gold, Arthur J.; Smith, Cassandra; McMullen, Evan C.; Haq, Shahan; Smith, Rose; Duan, Shuiwang; Malin, Joseph; Yaculak, Alexis; Reimer, Jenna E.; Newcomb, Katie Delaney; Raley, Ashley Sides; Collison, Daniel C.; Galella, Joseph G.; Grese, Melissa; Sivirichi, Gwendolyn; Doody, Thomas R.; Vikesland, Peter J.; Bhide, Shantanu V.; Krauss, Lauren; Daugherty, Madeline; Stavrou, Christina; Etheredge, MaKayla; Ziegler, Jillian; Kirschnick, Andrew; England, William; Belt, Kenneth T. (Frontiers, 2023-06-09)
There are challenges in monitoring and managing water quality due to spatial and temporal heterogeneity in contaminant sources, transport, and transformations. We demonstrate the importance of longitudinal stream synoptic (LSS) monitoring, which can track combinations of water quality parameters along flowpaths across space and time. Specifically, we analyze longitudinal patterns of chemical mixtures of carbon, nutrients, greenhouse gasses, salts, and metals concentrations along 10 flowpaths draining 1,765 km2 of the Chesapeake Bay region. These 10 longitudinal stream flowpaths are drained by watersheds experiencing either urban degradation, forest and wetland conservation, or stream and floodplain restoration. Along the 10 longitudinal stream flowpaths, we monitored over 300 total sampling sites along a combined stream length of 337 km. Synoptic monitoring along longitudinal flowpaths revealed: (1) increasing, decreasing, piecewise, or no trends and transitions in water quality with increasing distance downstream, which provide insights into water quality processes along flowpaths; (2) longitudinal trends and transitions in water quality along flowpaths can be quantified and compared using simple linear and non-linear statistical relationships with distance downstream and/or land use/land cover attributes, (3) attenuation and transformation of chemical cocktails along flowpaths depend on: spatial scales, pollution sources, and transitions in land use and management, hydrology, and restoration. We compared our LSS patterns with others from the global literature to synthesize a typology of longitudinal water quality trends and transitions in streams and rivers based on hydrological, biological, and geochemical processes. Applications of LSS monitoring along flowpaths from our results and the literature reveal: (1) if there are shifts in pollution sources, trends, and transitions along flowpaths, (2) which pollution sources can spread further downstream to sensitive receiving waters such as drinking water supplies and coastal zones, and (3) if transitions in land use, conservation, management, or restoration can attenuate downstream transport of pollution sources. Our typology of longitudinal water quality responses along flowpaths combines many observations across suites of chemicals that can follow predictable patterns based on watershed characteristics. Our typology of longitudinal water quality responses also provides a foundation for future studies, watershed assessments, evaluating watershed management and stream restoration, and comparing watershed responses to non-point and point pollution sources along streams and rivers. LSS monitoring, which integrates both spatial and temporal dimensions and considers multiple contaminants together (a chemical cocktail approach), can be a comprehensive strategy for tracking sources, fate, and transport of pollutants along stream flowpaths and making comparisons of water quality patterns across different watersheds and regions.
Modeling Coastal Environmental Change and the Tsunami Hazard
Weiss, Robert; Dura, Tina; Irish, Jennifer L. (Frontiers, 2022-05-02)
The hazard from earthquake-generated tsunami waves is not only determined by the earthquake's magnitude and mechanisms, and distance to the earthquake area, but also by the geomorphology of the nearshore and onshore areas, which can change over time. In coastal hazard assessments, a changing coastal environment is commonly taken into account by increasing the sea-level to projected values (static). However, sea-level changes and other climate-change impacts influence the entire coastal system causing morphological changes near- and onshore (dynamic). We compare the run-up of the same suite of earthquake-generated tsunamis to a barrier island-marsh-lagoon-marsh system for statically adjusted and dynamically adjusted sea level and bathymetry. Sea-level projections from 2000 to 2100 are considered. The dynamical adjustment is based on a morphokinetic model that incorporates sea-level along with other climate-change impacts. We employ Representative Concentration Pathways 2.6 and 8.5 without and with treatment of Antarctic Ice-sheet processes (known as K14 and K17) as different sea-level projections. It is important to note that we do not account for the occurrence probability of the earthquakes. Our results indicate that the tsunami run-up hazard for the dynamic case is approximately three times larger than for the static case. Furthermore, we show that nonlinear and complex responses of the barrier island-marsh-lagoon-marsh system to climate change profoundly impacts the tsunami hazard, and we caution that the tsunami run-up is sensitive to climate-change impacts that are less well-studied than sea-level rise.
Moving from interdisciplinary to convergent research across geoscience and social sciences: challenges and strategies
Finn, Donovan; Mandli, Kyle; Bukvic, Anamaria; Davis, Christopher A.; Haacker, Rebecca; Morss, Rebecca E.; O'Lenick, Cassandra R.; Wilhelmi, Olga; Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Merdjanoff, Alexis A.; Mayo, Talea L. (IOP Publishing, 2022-06)
A One-Dimensional Model for Turbulent Mixing in the Benthic Biolayer of Stream and Coastal Sediments
Grant, Stanley B.; Gomez-Velez, Jesus D.; Ghisalberti, Marco; Guymer, Ian; Boano, Fulvio; Roche, Kevin; Harvey, Judson (2020-12)
In this paper, we develop and validate a rigorous modeling framework, based on Duhamel's Theorem, for the unsteady one-dimensional vertical transport of a solute across a flat sediment-water interface (SWI) and through the benthic biolayer of a turbulent stream. The modeling framework is novel in capturing the two-way coupling between evolving solute concentrations above and below the SWI and in allowing for a depth-varying diffusivity. Three diffusivity profiles within the sediment (constant, exponentially decaying, and a hybrid model) are evaluated against an extensive set of previously published laboratory measurements of turbulent mass transfer across the SWI. The exponential diffusivity profile best represents experimental observations and its reference diffusivity scales with the permeability Reynolds number, a dimensionless measure of turbulence at the SWI. The depth over which turbulence-enhanced diffusivity decays is of the order of centimeters and comparable to the thickness of the benthic biolayer. Thus, turbulent mixing across the SWI may serve as a universal transport mechanism, supplying the nutrient and energy fluxes needed to sustain microbial growth, and nutrient processing, in the benthic biolayer of stream and coastal sediments.
Perceived services and disservices of natural treatment systems for urban stormwater: Insight from the next generation of designers
Rippy, Megan A.; Pierce, Gregory; Feldman, David; Winfrey, Brandon; Mehring, Andrew S.; Holden, Patricia A.; Ambrose, Richard; Levin, Lisa A. (Wiley, 2022)
1. Natural treatment systems (NTS) for stormwater have the potential to provide a myriad of ecosystem services to society. Realizing this potential requires active collaboration among engineers, ecologists and landscape planners and begins with a paradigm shift in communication whereby these groups are made aware of each other's perceptions about NTS and the presence of knowledge gaps that their respective disciplines can bridge. 2. Here we participate in the first part of what we hope will be a reciprocal exchange: presenting results from a landscape perceptions survey to urban planners, ecologists and landscape architects that illustrates how the next generation of engineers perceives NTS relative to other landscape features, and the implications of those perceptions for future infrastructure development. 3. Our results suggest that although lawns, gardens and native ecosystems were perceived as multifunctional, providing characteristic bundles of services/disservices, perceptions of NTS were more variable (i.e. there was no social norm for their perception). 4. Environmental worldviews, knowledge, attitudes about ecosystem services and demographics were all significant drivers of perceived services. However, students had difficulty identifying NTS correctly, and factual knowledge about NTS did not help students associate NTS with typical design services like flood reduction more than features not designed for those purposes, such as lawns. This suggests that engineering students lack familiarity with the outward appearance of NTS and have difficulty placing NTS services into a broader landscape context. 5. Expertise from urban planning and ecology could help bridge these knowledge gaps, improving the capacity of tomorrow's engineers to co-design NTS to meet diverse community needs.

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