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Ongoing and Recent projects
Project Title: Estuary plumes as drivers of inner continental shelf benthic community structure and function
Funding agency: National Science Foundation (OCE/Bio) 2021-2024
Research centers: Chesapeake Biological Laboratory/Horn Point Laboratory (UMCES)
Synopsis: In the coastal ocean, the mixing of nutrient-rich river or estuary waters with less-enriched marine waters (plumes) creates very productive regions that are important for fisheries and nutrient cycling. The location and size of these estuary plumes are highly variable in space and time because of seasonal changes in weather, winds, and ocean currents. The amount of nutrients carried by plumes – and thus their impact on the coastal ocean – also changes seasonally. This project will study how the plume of the nation’s largest estuary, Chesapeake Bay, changes over the course of the year and what those changes mean for food webs and nutrient cycles in the coastal Atlantic Ocean. By combining hydrodynamic modelling, measurements of bottom animal biomass and biodiversity, and nutrient experiments, this project will provide critical information on how coastal food webs and their associated fisheries are supported by estuary plumes.
Personnel: Project PIs include Drs. Ryan Woodland (CBL), Jeremy Testa (CBL), and Ming Li (HPL). These researchers bring expertise in ecology, biogeochemistry, and hydrodynamic modelling to the project. The project will support a PhD student (Mr. Matthew Stefanak), who will matriculate to the MEES program in Fall 2021.
Chesapeake Bay from MODIS. Image credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Science Team
Clearing a bottom trawl in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Photo credit: E. Reilly
Project Title: Of animals and microbes: A Baltimore Harbor investigation (UPDATE - an executive summary document is now available for this study!)
Funding agency: France-Merrick Foundation, 2018-2021
Research centers: Chesapeake Biological Laboratory/Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (UMCES)
Synopsis: This initiative revealed the diversity of plant, animal, and microbial life of Baltimore Harbor in an attempt to better understand how that life is impacted by urban shorelines and watersheds. The study encompassed the public waterfront near the Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium and businesses visited by more than 25 million people each year. It included an assessment of biodiversity and environmental health at six locations from Sparrows Point to Rock Creek within the larger Patapsco River estuary system. The variety of habitat types made this ecosystem an ideal laboratory in which to study how the urban shorelines and watersheds impact the ecology of Baltimore’s iconic estuary.
Personnel: Project PIs include Drs. Eric Schott, Lora Harris, Tsvetan Bachvaroff, and Ryan Woodland (CBL). This project helped to support Ms. Alexandra Fireman's graduate studies (MEES/CBL).
Publications:
Woodland, R.J., L. Harris, E. Reilly, A. Fireman, E. Schott, and A. Heyes. In Press. Food web restructuring across an urban estuarine gradient.
Project Title: Ecological and environmental implications of shallow methane-gas in the Patuxent River Estuary
Funding agency: Founder's Fellowship (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, 2020-2022)
Research centers: Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (UMCES)
Synopsis: Methane is produced by microbes in the upper 10s of cm of sediments in most estuaries, including the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, because of the input of labile organic matter. When this gas forms in the sediments of shallow water bodies, the release of those bubbles from the water body and subsequent entry into the atmosphere poses a large potential environmental source of this potent greenhouse gas. The majority of this methane is thought to be oxidized by microbes either within anaerobic sediments, through sulfate or iron reduction, or aerobically in the water column; however, the methane could carry through the estuarine system from sediments to water column to the atmosphere under certain conditions. This collaborative project is focused on quantifying natural spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the biogeochemical oxidation pathways and fates of methane in the Patuxent River Estuary.
Personnel: This is a student-led project, providing partial support for Drew Hobbs' PhD dissertation research. Project mentors include Drs. Laura Lapham, Ryan Woodland, and Jeremy Testa (CBL).
Dr. Laura Lapham transporting a sediment core for sectioning, Patuxent River, MD.
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