Several reserves collaborated to develop the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Coastal Habitats. The tool helps decision makers evaluate a habitat’s vulnerability to climate change and prioritize it for conservation or restoration. South Carolina’s North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve and the Chesapeake Bay Virginia Reserve worked with local partners to refine and pilot this tool and share it with the national reserve system.

The project team established an experiment that mimicked commercial aquaculture practices and allowed for a robust comparison of nitrogen removal rates from three commonly used gear types: floating bags of oysters, oyster condos suspended in midwater, and bottom cages of oysters. All gear was deployed in the same environmental setting (Waquoit Bay, Falmouth, MA) and maintained by the Town of Falmouth in a manner that a typical grower would follow. The growing systems were maintained for two full growing seasons (2018 and 2019) and compared to a nearby control site. Every two weeks during the growing season, the team conducted a series of measurements to provide a robust estimate of nitrogen fluxes and microbial activity below each of the aquaculture operations. Measurements included: (1) nutrient analyses of sediment, porewater and bottom water samples, (2) genetic sequencing of RNA and DNA extracted from sediment samples to determine the presence and activity level of certain bacteria; and 3) measurements of N2 fluxes from sediment cores placed in flux chambers to measure N2 production rates. All three oyster growing methods enhanced nitrogen removal relative to the control site. However, gene expression data indicate that nitrogen retention may be induced under some gear, particularly after the end of July under bottom cages, and to a lesser extent other gear types.

From 2010 to 2018, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System’s Science Collaborative supported the Hudson River Sustainable Shorelines Project, which engages a regional research team to quantify the ecological functions and physical stresses on the full range of Hudson River, New York shorelines. This research is the basis for development of information and tools to identify the best settings and approaches for sustainable shoreline protection in the Hudson River Estuary. Work has included the establishment of a sustainable shoreline demonstration network of seven sites with varying modes of construction distributed along the Hudson. The most recent project-- the focus of this InPort entry-- expanded that effort by working closely with regulators, engineers, and land managers to 1) develop and field-validate a rapid assessment protocol manual for physical and ecological functions of ecologically enhanced shorelines and 2) train local land managers in the protocols. This work helps to solidify confidence in the suitability of novel shoreline techniques in the Hudson River Estuary and has enabled local managers to track performance into the future. The project also produced a dataset comprised of a suite of measures of ecological and physical functions of built sustainable shorelines along the Hudson River.

Through this project, results will be transferred to a variety of end users and products and activities will be developed with end user feedback. Products include a publication in a high impact scientific journal, a short user-friendly summary of this publication, well-designed PowerPoint presentations for a variety of audiences, and a "do it yourself" tool so others can apply the novel marsh assessment approach to additional marshes. The marsh index scores will also be linked directly to recommended coastal adaptation strategies, thereby meeting a frequently stated need to synthesize data on wetland resilience in a way that is transparent, clear, and accessible to coastal managers. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.

Land use change and wetland loss have decreased the ability of estuaries to mitigate storm damage and reduce flooding in Wisconsin’s Douglas County. The loss of these valuable services was apparent in the aftermath of severe storm events that caused significant flooding and damage in 2012. And, as the climate shifts, the region is likely to experience more frequent powerful storms. Strategic wetland protection and restoration planning could help communities work together in protecting wetlands and the services they provide.

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approaches are under development to mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon in stable reservoirs, with potential co-benefits of local reduction of coastal acidification impacts. One such method is ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). A specific OAE method is the generation of aqueous alkalinity via electrochemistry to enhance the alkalinity of the receiving water by the extraction of acid from seawater, thereby avoiding issues of solid dissolution kinetics and the release of impurities into the ocean from alkaline minerals. While electrochemical acid extraction is a promising method for increasing the carbon dioxide sequestration potential of the ocean, the biological effects of increasing seawater alkalinity and pH within an OAE project site are relatively unknown. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by testing the effects of increased pH and alkalinity, delivered in the form of aqueous NaOH, on two eelgrass epifauna in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Taylor’s sea hare (Phyllaplysia taylori) and eelgrass isopod (Idotea resecata), chosen for their ecological importance as salmon prey and for their roles in eelgrass ecosystems. Four-day experiments were conducted in closed bottles to allow measurements of the evolution of carbonate species throughout the experiment with water refreshed twice daily to maintain elevated pH, across pHNBS treatments ranging from 7.8 to 9.3. Sea hares experienced mortality in all pH treatments, ranging from 37% mortality at pHNBS 7.8 to 100% mortality at pHNBS 9.3. Isopods experienced lower mortality rates in all treatment groups, ranging from 13% at pHNBS 7.8 to 21% at pHNBS 9.3, which did not significantly increase with higher pH treatments. These experiments represent an extreme of constant exposure to elevated pH and alkalinity, which should be considered in the context of both the natural variation and the dilution of alkalinity experienced by marine communities across an OAE project site. Different invertebrate species will likely have different responses to increased pH and alkalinity, depending on their physiological vulnerabilities. Investigation of the potential vulnerabilities of local marine species will help inform the decision-making process regarding mCDR planning and permitting.

One of the few pristine, mangrove-forested estuaries in the country, Florida’s Rookery Bay Estuary is a critical breeding ground for the fisheries that underpin the region’s economy. Balancing the freshwater needs of the estuary with those of local communities is increasingly challenging as population growth and sea level rise tax freshwater resources. Decision-makers need information about freshwater requirements of the estuary and the perspectives of water users to effectively manage water resources.

This project team will leverage a well established collaborative group, GTM Reserve’s Oyster and Water Quality Task Force and engage additional users, including state agencies, nonprofits and the oyster fishery community that are working to improve water quality in Guana River Estuary. To assist with the development of restoration and management plans, this project will: 1) identify sources of nutrients to the Guana River Estuary, and determine how nutrient loads from the lake to the river are affected by hydrology and land use; 2) map the current distribution of shellfish communities; 3) quantify filtration and nitrogen removal by shellfish; and 4) conduct field and lab experiments to assess how water quality affects shellfish health, and also how shellfish affect water quality in the estuary. In collaboration with project end users, the project team will generate a suite of research products, including a coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model for Guana Lake and monitoring and restoration recommendations. Project findings will be shared through a stakeholder workshop exploring ways to reduce nutrient inputs into the estuary, a training program for using shellfish for water quality remediation, and peer-reviewed and outreach publications.

In this project, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and Rutgers University, who have collaborated for more than a decade to develop coastal resilience tools, streamlined and enhanced existing mapping and decision-support tools for New Jersey coastal communities. The result was New Jersey Flood Mapper, an interactive, user-centered web tool that enables decision-makers to visualize exposure from coastal flooding hazards. The tool operationalizes a total water level concept developed by Rutgers climate resilience experts to allow planners to evaluate a range of flood conditions and time horizons. Enhanced map overlaps and data layers that show physical infrastructure, evacuation routes, and socio-demographic information are integrated into the tool to give a fuller picture of community vulnerability. New Jersey Flood Mapper offers coastal decision makers a go-to resource to assess and plan for potential risks to people and property from future storms and flooding. This catalyst project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to advance collaborative science. It did not produce any new data.