Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across estuaries of the NW Atlantic

Andrea M. Price; Michael R.S. Coffin; Vera Pospelova; James S. Latimer; Gail L. Chmura

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.024

Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across estuaries of the NW Atlantic

Andrea M. Price, Michael R.S. Coffin, Vera Pospelova, James S. Latimer, Gail L. Chmura

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	339-351
Number of pages	13
Journal	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume	121
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.024
State	Published - 2017
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium . We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses.

Funding Information:
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium. We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Environmental indicators
Nutrient loading
Palynology
Plankton
Prince Edward Island
Water quality

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.024

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6112791

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Cite this

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title = "Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across estuaries of the NW Atlantic",

abstract = "We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact.",

keywords = "Environmental indicators, Nutrient loading, Palynology, Plankton, Prince Edward Island, Water quality",

author = "Price, {Andrea M.} and Coffin, {Michael R.S.} and Vera Pospelova and Latimer, {James S.} and Chmura, {Gail L.}",

note = "Funding Information: The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium . We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses. Funding Information: The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium. We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.024",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "121",

pages = "339--351",

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T1 - Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across estuaries of the NW Atlantic

AU - Price, Andrea M.

AU - Coffin, Michael R.S.

AU - Pospelova, Vera

AU - Latimer, James S.

AU - Chmura, Gail L.

N1 - Funding Information: The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium . We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses. Funding Information: The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Association of Palynology (CAP) and the Geological Society of America (GSA) provided partial funding for this research through student research awards to AMP. This research was partially supported by NSERC Discovery grants to VP and GLC. MRSC was partially funded by an NSERC CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant to the Canadian Rivers Institute WATER (Watershed and Aquatics Training in Environmental Research) program and the Canadian Watershed Research Consortium. We thank Cindy Crane and the PEI Department of Communities, Land and Environment for providing nitrogen loads for PEI estuaries. We would also like to thank all those who provided information or water quality data from estuaries in this study: Alison Branco (Peconic Estuary Program, SCDHS South Shore Bays Water Quality), Barbara Warren (Salem Sound Coastwatch), Brad Hubeny (Salem State University – Geological Sciences), Ron Huber (Friends of Penobscot Bay), Christopher Deacutis (RIDEM Div. of Fish and Wildlife, Narragansett Bay Water Quality Monitoring Network), Jane Disney (Frenchman Bay Partners), Kevin Brinson (Delaware Environmental Observing System), Peter Milholland (Friends of Casco Bay Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program), Tony Williams (Buzzards Bay Coalition), Bebe Moulton (Friends of Blue Hill Bay), Mark Tedesco (EPA), William Hastback (NYSDEC – Bureau of Marine Resources), Matthew Sclafani (Cornell University), Pierce Rafferty (Henry L. Ferguson Museum), Warren Prell (Brown University). Chris Pickerell (Marine Program Director, Cornell), Jaime Vaudrey (University of Connecticut), Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Blue Hill Bay Coastal Monitoring Program - Marine Environmental Research Institute, and the many citizen scientists that are part of these organizations who volunteer their time to collect water quality measurements. The US grain size data used article were produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The US samples were made available through the EPA's National Coastal Assessment program. We thank Jingyi Zhang and Artur Plis (McGill University) for assistance in biogenic silica sample preparation, Maureen Soon (University of British Columbia) for the biogenic silica analysis, and Lee van Ardenne (McGill University) for assistance with regression analyses. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact.

AB - We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact.

KW - Environmental indicators

KW - Nutrient loading

KW - Palynology

KW - Plankton

KW - Prince Edward Island

KW - Water quality

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JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin

JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin

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ER -

Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages across estuaries of the NW Atlantic

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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