Chuck Jacoby Project Scientist IRLNEP

Transcription

1 Chuck Jacoby Project Scientist IRLNEP

2 Characteristics Lagoon is: long (156 miles) shallow (< 10 feet) wind & tide driven not a river New Smyrna Beach Mosquito Lagoon Banana River Indian River West Palm Beach

3 Characteristics Lagoon has segments operate ~independently flush at different rates o 2 3 weeks at Vero o 3 6 months at Cocoa Lagoon is diverse ecology challenges Lagoon is sensitive

4 Challenges (IRLNEP CCMP 1996) (shared impairment) (shared metric)

5 Pressures Historical watersheds (pre-1920s) Following C-1 Canal construction Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District St. Johns River Basin Indian River Lagoon Basin Up to 60% of the total watershed connected by canals

6 Pressures 1920s 1940s 1970s 1990s Development Agriculture Natural Water Other

7 Nutrient impairment Total maximum daily load process calculate safe load = TMDL TMDL = Sum of allocations + MOS right side > left side reductions projects garner credits 3 5 year cycles adaptive approach to uncertainty Basin management action plan process, caveats, allocations & projects monitoring

8 Nutrient impairment

9 Seagrasses Key to ecology & management Ecological roles habitat (> 80% of valued fish use) food (endangered manatee & sea turtles) water quality (nutrients & sediment) Management role as TMDL metric nutrients phytoplankton water clarity light penetration seagrass happy system happy

10 Boy Scout Island Atlantic Ocean St. Lucie Estuary Inlet

11 Seagrasses Seagrass cover (hectares = 2.5 acres) Drought & Vero WWTP discharge Minidrought 04 hurricanes surge & flushing TS Fay flushing Drought & IRFWCD discharge

12 Algal blooms Two phytoplankton (microalgal) blooms Oct 3 Dec 24 Apr 1 July 3 Sep14 Oct 23 Dec 8 Mar 18 Superbloom in the north record magnitude & duration 2 bloom in CIRL long duration Followed in consecutive summers by brown tide

13 Algal blooms

14 Percentage gain (green), loss (red) & maintained loss (black) to to to

15 What happened?

16 All models are wrong; some models are useful. (attributed to George Box) Ecosystems are not only more complex than we think, they are more complex than we can think. (Egler, Frank The nature of vegetation: its management and mismanagement. Aton Forest Publishers, Norfolk, Connecticut) It s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. (Yogi Berra)

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18 Increased nutrient delivery Eutrophication progression scheme Enhanced growth phytoplankton & macroalgae Increased shading & benthic respiration Adapted from C.M. Duarte (1995) Seagrass loss

19 Uptake & cycling

20 Cycling Bacteria counts Not bacterial contamination Site 3 Central Banana River 10 6 cells ml Bacteria cycle nutrients rapidly

21 Grazing Zooplankton Site 3 Central Banana River Protozoans Arthropods Rotifers Other 10 3 organisms ml Protozoans & grazing increase Salinity decrease?

22 What will we do?

23 IRL Protection Initiative Focus on the IRL internal links among District s functions external links to concerned stakeholders Translate new insights into management IRL Algal Blooms Investigation efforts from others & future efforts

24 IRL Algal Blooms Investigation Understand the lagoon s nutrient inventory & cycling processes that regulate blooms Evaluate & recommend strategies ameliorate blooms o o o magnitude duration frequency facilitate seagrass growth & expansion

25 1 scientific resources District s organizational structure Blue team: physical factors, water quality & phytoplankton abundance ES Estuaries Section; WRI Palm Bay; Engineering Green team: seagrass, macroalgae & epiphytes Orange team: phytoplankton species composition, zooplankton grazers, invertebrate grazers & fish ES Estuaries Section IRL Scientific Consortium Bethune-Cookman U FAU/Harbor Branch Florida Tech Nova Southeastern U U of Florida Smithsonian Institution Fish & Wildlife Conservn Comm Seagrass Ecosystems Analysts ES Estuaries Section; WRI Palm Bay Sand team: sediment biogeochemistry, including effects of infauna ES Estuaries Section

26 Cooperative resourcing District & IRLNEP (EPA) State: FFWCC FDEP* Other Federal: USFWS (CP) NOAA (CHRP) USGS Research grants via IRL Consortium (Sea Grant, EPA, NSF, etc.) * indirectly by supporting core monitoring

27 Products Identification of stresses blooms Recommendations stress from us revised nutrient loading limits more focus on legacy loads new TMDL/BMAP strategies & policies Actions recovery from stresses

28 Products Strategies to control bloom initiation enhance grazers enhance filter feeders Strategies to facilitate seagrass growth seagrass transplanting surgically targeted removal of drift algae Strategies to enhance trophic structure diverse multi-leveled

29 What can I do? Understand the issues Participate in IRL Protection Initiative Join stakeholders & research providers identify knowledge gaps & how to fill them explore funding options

30 Questions?