Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:This project reached many target audiences including the Lummi community, the broader Whatcom county community and the scientific community. The results from this project have been shared during the Lummi Natural Resources seminar series. Based on the results of this project a new oceanographic buoy was placed in Bellingham Bay, which streams the data live. The deployment of the buoy was covered by a Seattle television news station and made the front page of the Sunday Bellingham Herald. Through a number of scientific presentations the results of this project have been shared with local, national, and international researchers. This project was also presented in the first State of Bellingham Bay symposium. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have trained 12 of native undergraduates. In collaboration with Western Washington University we have also trained 3 undergraduates and 1 MS student. This project has provided opportunities for peer mentoring between NWIC and WWU students and opportunities for the WWU MS student to mentor NWIC students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated via oral presentations to the Whatcom County MRC. We have made presentation at the State of the Bay symposium in 2015 in Bellingham that was attended by local government officials, academics, and Native community leaders. We have made presentations at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conferences that brought together stakeholders regionally. We also recently held a Bellingham Bay research meeting Spring 2016 that brought together all the entities currently doing research in the Bay from NWIC, WWU, and UW to share data, progress, and discuss next steps. This project also lead to deployment of new buoy in Bellingham Bay, which streams data live and was covered by two separate news organizations. See New high-tech buoy key to monitoring health of Bellingham Bay. Bellingham Herald. February 20, 2016 (front page Sunday edition) http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article61426312.html Buoy deployed in Bellingham Bay to chart health of Puget Sound.King5 News. February 11, 2016. http://www.king5.com/story/tech/science/environment/2016/02/11/buoy-deployed-bellingham-bay-chart-health-puget-sound/80262126/ Live buoy data here http://nvs.nanoos.org/Explorer?action=oiw:fixed_platform:NWIC_Bellinghambay:observations:A1_AirTemp What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We made significant progress collecting data to address critical areas of concern 1-3. Over the past 4 years we have collected water samples and characterized nutrients, dissolved organic matter, and water quality parameters (sediment load/light availability, chlorophyll, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH) over various time scales (yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily). Bellingham Bay experiences periodic hypoxia, and it is one of the major threats to the health of the bay ecosystem. Over the course of this study, the episodes of hypoxia appear to be increasing in frequency and intensity. Summer 2016, we observed 4 low oxygen events, as compared to 3 in 2015, and 2 in 2014, and we measured oxygen as low as .9mg.L in 2016. We are working with the data collected to understand the potential drivers of this hypoxia, including residence time of bottom water and the role of phytoplankton blooms and sinking biomass. Our analyses show some relationship between increases in plankton biomass and temperature, and low oxygen events, but there is not a straightforward statistical relationship. These dynamics need to be modeled, which will be our next step with the wealth of data we have collected over the past 4 years. Our work in collaboration with Western Washington University studying the community diversity and dyanamics of bacteria in Bellingham Bay over time is providing a rich dataset to both detect fecal coliform bacteria in samples weekly in summer months, and is giving the an ecological context for these samples. Traditionally, studies only quantify fecal coliform bacteria, independent of the rest of the community structure. However, we now know that the whole microbial community dynamics are important for determining the success and dominance of any given organism, or results will help us understand how fecal coliform dynamics play out in the bay. We have made some progress on critical area 4, as it requires synthesizing information from areas 1-3, and we are still in the process of working through the long-term dataset. Building information on water quality, hypoxia and bacterial community composition is helping us build a picture of habitat sustainability for commercially and culturally important organisms. Data analysis thus far suggests that the habitat quality for both pelagic and benthic organisms is declining in quality over the time of the award.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Northwest Algal Symposium 2013, Summer phytoplankton community in Bellingham Bay Nazario, S., and Kodner, R.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Whatcom County Marine Resource Committee (MRC), Presentation on Oxygen and Nutrient Dynamics in Bellingham Bay. Kodner, R.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ocean Science Annual Meeting
-Nutrient, Oxygen and Phytoplankton Dynamics in a Salish Sea Embayment and the connectivity between surface Algal Communities and Bottom Water Hypoxia
Apple, J. , Kodner, R., and Christman, N.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
-Nutrient, oxygen and plankton dynamics in Bellingham Bay and the connectivity between surface algal communities and bottom water hypoxia
Apple, J. , Kodner, R., and Christman, N.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
-Rapid deterioration of sediment surface ecosystems in Bellingham Bay as indicated by benthic foraminifera.
Nesbitt, E., R. Martin, J. Apple.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Pacific Estuarine Research Society (PERS) annual meeting
Nutrient, oxygen and plankton dynamics in Bellingham Bay.
Apple, J. , Kodner, R., and Christman, N.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Puget Sound Marine Waters 2013 Overview Workshop, Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP)
Oxygen (and nutrient and plankton) dynamics in Bellingham Bay.
Apple, J., R. Kodner, and N. Christman
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Nutrient, oxygen and plankton dynamics in a Salish Sea embayment and the connectivity between surface algal productivity and deep water hypoxia. Ocean Science Meeting, Hawaii (Feb 2014).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) conference
Not so dead zones lively oxygen dynamics in Bellingham Bay., Apple, J., R. Kodner, C. Asamoto and N. Christman
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP), Oxygen and Nutrient Dynamics in Bellingham Bay., Apple, J., R. Kodner, C. Asamoto and N. Christman
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
State of the Bay Research Symposium
-Bellingham Bay - Biological Components and Ecological Processes.
Apple, J., R. Kodner, M. Hatch and N. Christman
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
State of the Bay Research Symposium
-Characterizing the Phytoplankton Community of Bellingham Bay
Asamoto, C, and Kodner, R.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
State of the Bay Research Symposium
- Exploring the Functional Diversity of Marine Microbes in Bellingham Bay
Clement, T. and Kodner, R
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, Microbial Community Structure Over Space and Time in Relation to Oxygen Minimum Zones in Bellingham Bay
Clement, T., Asamoto, C., McLaughlin, R., Hervol, E., Apple, J., Hatch, M., and Kodner, R.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Whatcom County Marine Resource Council (MRC), Hypoxia, snarks and phytoplankton: A story of oxygen dynamics in Bellingham Bay. Kodner, R
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Nesbitt, E. A., Martin, R. A., Martin D. E. and Apple, J.K (2015). Rapid deterioration of sediment surface habitats in Bellingham Bay, Washington State, as indicated by benthic foraminifera. Marine Pollution Bulletin 97(1-2) 273-284
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Through this project we have reached a diverse group of audiences. The research has been presented to academics and researchers in local forums. NWIC has shared this project through social media, including twitter https://twitter.com/marcohatch. WSU has shared this project formally and informally with interested parties at community events. Additionally, five NWIC student interns have been supported through this project. Through their presentations, in both national and local venues they have shared this experience with diverse audiences. Changes/Problems:During the past year both the NWIC PD and lead researcher, a WWU faculty, have changed positions. The new NWIC PD has a Doctorate in Biological Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and experience managing large research projects including projects with international partnerships. The prior WWU still lives in the area and has passed on all of their data to the NWIC PD. Additionally, the new WWU faculty involved in the project was been involved in the project since 2013. This year, one change is that all the post field sample processing occurs at NWIC. In years prior all the post field work (e.g. plankton counts) occurred at WWU, now it all happens at NWIC and WWU students need to come to NWIC if they want to be involved in the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PI and staff have learned how use the NWIC owned and NIFA purchased YSI v6600, which is used for oceanographic sampling. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were shared the first ever State of Bellingham Symposium, which attracted over 200 local resource managers, researchers, and citizens. This award also supported the initiation of this symposium and has been acknowledged on the website and program http://whatcom.wsu.edu/nr/sotb/ The PI and associated researchers have attended multiple conferences. Realtime results have been posted on twitter https://twitter.com/marcohatch Results have been shared with the Lummi community and NWIC through student presentations The NWIC bi-annual report also includes a two page write up on the Salish Sea Research Center and includes this project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we will complete the analysis of all data collected over the last three years and focus on creating projects to share with both the tribal and non-tribal stakeholders. This will include projects for mass consumption, like blogs, twitter, and local newspapers, and scientific peer-reviewed papers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, research focused on quantifying the hypoxia development in Bellingham Bay during this anonymously warm year. The summer of 2015 is shaping up to a very anonymously warm and dry year, largely driven by a strong El Nino year. However, this climate variability can be used as an analogue for future climate change. Particularly this year we are seeing an extremely reduced Nooksack River flow and higher sea surface temperatures. This project is uniquely situated to collect compelling data quantifying this anonymous year as this year we are working the exact same team of researchers, using the same equipment, and same stations as the 2014 research. Additionally we have data from the prior years. Based on the first 6 weeks of the summer research we have noticed a larger biomass of phytoplankton, however a lower diversity. In 2014 there was an alternating dominance of either diatoms or dinoflagellates, where as in 2015 the phytoplankton community is dominated by diatoms. This year, on July 29th 2015 we recorded the lowest dissolved oxygen value every recorded in Bellingham Bay of 1.4 ppm. This value is considered well below the threshold for hypoxia in coastal systems.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Nesbitt, E. A., Martin, R. A. and Apple, J.K. Rapid deterioration of sediment surface ecosystems in Bellingham Bay as indicated by benthic foraminifera (2015; Marine Pollution Bulletin).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Christman, N. 2015 Physical and Microbial Drivers of Hypoxia in Bellingham Bay. Bellingham Bay Symposium
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Christman, N. 2015 Physical and Microbial Drivers of Hypoxia in Bellingham Bay. Pacific Estuarine Research Society (PERS) meeting
- Received Best Undergraduate Presentation
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Christman, N. 2015 Physical and Microbial Drivers of Hypoxia in Bellingham Bay. University of Washington Undergraduate Research Symposium (talk)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Christman, N. 2015 Oceanographic Research in Puget Sound. Seattle Aquarium (talk)
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Student interns working on the project gave presentations on their work to other students, college staff & faculty, employees of Lummi Natural Resources Agency, and Lummi Indian Reservation community members at the end of the summer internship period. Student Interns also presented their work at the first annual State of the Bay conference in Bellingham. Students also collaberated with members of Whatcom County ReSources for Sustainable Communities, a local non-profit that has been tracking and cataloging pollution events on the Nooksack River, and in Bellingham Bay. Changes/Problems: Summer sampling occurs during a very dry part of the year, and it is difficult to track nutrient to source if there is not sufficient run-off to transport the nutrient into the river. This tends to be captured as a pulse when the rains begin, but it is often short in duration, and very easy to miss - even though it may account for a large portion of the overall annual nutrient input into the bay. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Quarterly progress reports have been submitted to the Squl Quol ( the local Lummi newspaper) and also to Lummi Natural Resources. Students gave presentations on their involvement in the summer internships at the end of summer ceramonies. The invited audience consisted of Lummi community members, fellow students, and members of Lummi Natural Resources. We also participated in the State of the Bay Symposium where students presented posters on their summer work on Bellingham Bay. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to sample the Nooksack River watershed toward the end of quantifying the nutrient contributors, and the locations and sources of nutrient into Bellingham Bay. We will also begin a new phase - looking at the linkages between sppecific nutrient inputs, and the metabolic functions they trigger in the microbial communities adjacent to the regions of seasonal hypoxia in Bellingham Bay.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Year two data for nutrient-loading from the nooksack River was gathered. We also continued to map the hypoxic regions of Bellingham Bay, and to update the timing of dissolved oxygen depleation in the bay. In addition, we began gathering data on microbial communities adjacent to the most hypoxic regions, and next year we will beging to use this data to better understand the link between specific isotopes of nitrogen, and their roles in the metabolic function of specific microbes as relates to oxygen use in Bellingham Bay bottomm waters.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Student interns working on the project gave presentations on their work to other students, college staff & faculty, and Lummi Indian Reservation community members at the end of the summer internship period. Northwest Indian College (NWIC) summer interns hosted a student presentations from Dr. David Shull's class at Western Washington University (WWU). These presentations described work that Dr. Shull conducted with his students toward building a nitrogen budget for the Nooksack River watershed, and Bellingham Bay. NWIC students took advantage of the networking opportunities at these presentations to inform the WWU student of their work, and to invite collaboration in future phases of their work. Sue Blake coordinated an interview with myself, and Charlotte Clausing (NWIC's research Coordinator) to highlight NWIC's role in the Bellingham Bay Pollution Study in the Washington State University Magazine. I also worked with Whatcom County's ReSources for Sustainable Communities, a local non-profit that has been tracking and cataloging pollution events on the Nooksack River, and in Bellingham Bay. Changes/Problems: Dr. Joel Green (who was originally listed as a Co-PI on the grant,) is no longer with Northwest Indian College, and so no longer has involvement in this grant. In our relatively small science program we were only able to identify one student who was interested in participating as an intern through the academic year. This student proved to be unreliable, and his involvement in the program was terminated. We will continue to look for qualified students to participate in the internship throughout the academic year, but many student have difficulty scheduling a half day of field activity along with their class loads. Because of this, we allocated some of the funding that had originally been earmarked for funding student interns to ther catagories that appeared to have been under allocated. A few examples of reallocation were that it was necessary to purchase a canoe for sampling water on the main-stem of the Nooksack River, and we also realized that the budget had insufficient funds for opperating the boat for the requisit number of hours required to accomplish the bay sampling. As mentioned earlier, sampling on Bellingham Bay in the winter can be treacherous, and it has been necessary to scrub a regularly scheduled sampling trip in the past, and may be necessary to do so again in the future. This is not viewed as a confounding issue though, as winter data has never revealed an episode of bottom-water hypoxia accros the duration of the study. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities created under this grant were used to train two student summer interns in methods for determining water quality, nutrient/hypoxia dynamics, and field methods for collecting aqueous samples for analysis - one of these interns was funded under the grant. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? This first year of the grant was primarily dedicated to experimental design, and data collection. Once we receive the results of the water sample analysis, we will be compiling a report to inform the Lummi community of the preliminary findings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to collect bay samples on a monthly basis (as the weather allows,) throughout the winter, and will resume collecting river and bay samples and for hypoxia and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis on a weekly basis throughout the summer months. We have identified a group of scientists from Western Washington University who are also working on a nutrient budget for Bellingham Bay, and we will begin to collaborate with them as our analysis are completed. Also, as we proceed with our analysis, and identify trends, we will be working more with local environmental groups, and the Lummi community to coordinate our outreach efforts.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
An inventory of potentially polluted sites was produced and mapped, and samples were collected from these sites during the summer season, when events of bottom-water hypoxia in Bellingham Bay are at their peak. Sampling sites in Bellingham Bay were updated to reflect the findings of the previous six years of sampling. The new set of sampling sites has been monitored on a weekly basis during the summer, and a monthly basis throughout the rest of the year (with the exception that the bay sampling for January did not occur because there was no weather window when it would have been safe to do so.) Samples were also taken for fecal coliforms, and the work on that data set is on-going.
Publications
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