In most watersheds, ecosystem changes are responses to complex multiple pressures, including anthropogenic and natural environmental factors and their joint effects/interactions. Managing and monitoring aquatic systems under this scenario remains a complex task for researchers, managers and policymakers. Despite considerable growth in understanding the consequences of multiple environmental stressors on aquatic ecosystem structure and function in the last decade, significant knowledge gaps and challenges remain in developing approaches to detect, quantify and manage stressor interactions in the real world. As the rate of landscape disturbance and climate change continues to increase globally, it is urgent to develop new integrated methods to diagnose multiple stressors and assess ecological indicators' responses to them. Understanding these effects in terms of changes in the ecosystem’s diversity and function is especially important, as well as developing effective management actions, as water stress is a worrying issue internationally. Aquatic monitoring efforts are used worldwide to gather substantial amounts of data on environmental change at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. These data can have multiple sources (i.e., remote sensing, in-situ sampling, genomic, Traditional Knowledge from local and Indigenous communities, high-frequency monitoring equipment, citizen science, etc.). However, their utilization in a coordinated manner to assess environmental change has been limited. It is now essential to determine how monitoring and evaluation programs incorporate measures to understand multiple stressors' effects. To move forward, it is crucial to identify key physical-chemical drivers (i.e., hydrology, water quality, climate, etc.) which directly and indirectly affect biological/ecological receptors (i.e., from cells to ecosystems), as well as the likelihood of stressor exposure, recovery potential/resilience, or vulnerability of the endpoints. Designing the best path forward for observing aquatic ecosystems requires building robust monitoring programs that allow us to address the connection between all dimensions involved: physical, biological, and social. This session aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from a range of geographic regions and programs to share knowledge and experiences on the effectiveness and challenges associated with implementing monitoring programs addressing multiple stressor impacts, including policy and decision-making hurdles they faced. A focus will be placed on solutions and examples of successful implementation and emerging approaches/technologies for monitoring systems. Discussions around the importance of a variety of experimental and in-situ studies and monitoring, with a specific focus on the critical step of translating results and outcomes to monitoring design, adaptive monitoring and policy, are encouraged. We welcome submissions across all aquatic environments (lakes, oceans, deltas, etc.) and geographical regions. The outcomes of this session will help inform ongoing and future effective implementations of monitoring and environmental change programs and to address contemporary and future aquatic environmental issues at an ecosystem/watershed scale.
Lead Organizer: David Barrett, University of Calgary (david.barrett@ucalgary.ca)
Co-organizers:
Ana Carolina Sinigali Alves Lima, University of Calgary (anacarolina.sinigali@ucalgary.ca)
Frederick Wrona, University of Calgary (frederickjohn.wrona@ucalgary.ca)
Presentations
03:00 PM
CLADOPHORA COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT FOR THE NORTH AMERICAN GREAT LAKES (7105)
Primary Presenter: Mary Evans, U S Geological Survey (maevans@usgs.gov)
Cladophora and an associated community of benthic algae grow to nuisance levels in parts of the Great Lakes nearshore. Historically, these blooms have been controlled by local nutrient reductions. However, large scale disturbance of Great Lakes nutrient cycling by invasive dreissenid mussels has cast into doubt the continued effectiveness of nutrient limitation as a tool for Cladophora community control. Dreissenid mussel filter feeding and excretion concentrates available nutrients in near bottom waters; increases light penetration, increasing the potential depth distribution of benthic algae; and increases the surface area of hard substrate for algal attachment. We are integrating information from scuba supported benthic assessments, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys, and satellite remote sensing to assess Cladophora community distribution and growth limiting factors, including testing hypotheses related to the nutrient, light, and substrate effects of dreissenids. This work supports ecosystem status assessments and decision making around lake nutrient targets to support desired levels of algal growth.
03:15 PM
FROM CELLS TO SATELLITES: SPATIO-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF GREEN SEAWATER DISCOLORATIONS IN FRENCH BRITTANY (4984)
Primary Presenter: Pauline ROUX, ISOMer, Nantes University (pauline.roux1@univ-nantes.fr)
Blooms of the marine dinoflagellate Lepidodinium chlorophorum may cause green seawater discolorations, impacting marine biota and human activities in coastal zones. Hypoxic conditions associated with algal biomass recycling are suspected to cause fauna mortalities. This study aims at developing a better understanding of bloom dynamics using in situ and satellite data. Field monitoring was performed to characterize L. chlorophorum seasonal variability and discoloration events in southern Brittany (Atlantic, France) in 2019. The dinoflagellate was observed from May to Nov, with maximal abundance in summer, during water column stratification. The bloom lasted one month, during which L. chlorophorum dominated microphytoplankton. High loads of phosphate, ammonium, and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) were recorded within the patches of discolored seawater. Bacterial stimulation is suggested to sustain bloom development. TEP production might provide an ecological advantage for the species, conversely causing hypoxia below a dense surface layer. Complementary to field data, high resolution satellite observation made it possible to detect patches of green seawater, measure their areal extent, and study their short-scale changes. Tidal currents were observed as being a primary driver of the bloom surface distribution. By demonstrating how the synergy between in situ monitoring and satellite remote sensing could improve the study of bloom phenology in coastal zones, our results constitute a baseline for future studies of marine ecosystems impacted by seawater discolorations.
03:30 PM
A North Pacific Groundtruthing Expedition: Using physical plastic sampling to validate remote sensing techniques (6278)
Primary Presenter: Helen Wolter, The Ocean Cleanup (h.wolter@theoceancleanup.com)
Visual and camera-based detection of floating plastic debris is being used as a monitoring tool without the need for time- and resource-intensive net sampling. As reliance on these technologies increases, in part due to their large sample size, easy implementation, and cost efficiency, a need arises for cross-validation of the resulting datasets with the contents of physical trawl samples. During a recent research expedition to the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, two experimental remote sensing technologies (UAV and timelapse camera strip transects) were deployed simultaneously with sampling trawls and visual surveys to gather a holistic and comprehensive dataset on the quantity and composition of plastic debris afloat at the sea surface. Manta (0.9m opening, 0.5mm mesh size) and Mega (6m opening, 1.5cm mesh size) surface trawl nets were deployed alongside tethered UAVs, vessel-mounted timelapse cameras, and visual surveyors in various areas of the plastic accumulation zone in the North Pacific. Physical validation of the footage collected by the UAVs’ strip scans and timelapse cameras has allowed for a side-by-side comparison of the various remote sensing methods with traditional physical trawling. A compositional analysis of the net trawls was conducted to investigate the selectivity and potential biases of the visual and camera-based observations. By comparing how and whether different debris items were registered by multiple sampling techniques, we can assess the strengths and limitations related to the use of remote sensing for detection of plastic debris afloat at sea.
03:45 PM
Using a fish’s perspective of Ecosystem Services to evaluate post-development monitoring effectiveness to detect change in Environmental Impact Assessment (5789)
Primary Presenter: Carolyn Brown, Wilfrid Laurier University (carolyn.brown06@gmail.com)
Scientific aspects of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) have been widely criticized for several reasons, including poorly aligned approaches used for selecting endpoints and collecting data during baseline monitoring, predictive modelling, and post-development monitoring phases. If these phases of EIA are not properly aligned, it can be difficult to follow-up and evaluate the presence of impacts post-development, as well as to relate potential changes to the development. Although the concept of Before-After-Control-Impact designs has been around for over 30 years, few developmental assessments use the approach. Integrating Ecosystem Services (ES) into EIA by interpreting ES in terms of what fish require as critical ecosystem attributes can provide measurable endpoints and objectives essential to align information requirements across the phases. We used recent hydroelectric dam EIAs from across Canada as a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of current approaches to aquatic EIAs for aligning monitoring across EIA phases. Considering ES from a fish’s perspective and the success of EIAs to link monitoring and prediction efforts across the EIA phases provides an analysis of current gaps in best practices for fulfilling EIA science objectives and support post-development monitoring.
04:00 PM
HIGH FREQUENCY COASTAL PHYTOPLANKTON MONITORING IN THE RED SEA (4901)
Primary Presenter: Eva Alou Font, KAUST (eva.aloufont@kaust.edu.sa)
The Red Sea is warming at a faster rate than the global ocean (average), its oligotrophic surface coastal waters are characterized by high salinities (up to 40) and high temperatures (up to 33°C). These conditions result in low phytoplankton biomass and a community dominated by small cells, however bigger cells can be important specially in the winter. As the Red Sea environment warms, the impacts of the increasing temperatures in this high saline high temperature and low nutrient environment on the phytoplankton community remains an important unanswered question. Long term studies are limited and represent a key to understand how the ecosystem will cope with these changes. We present a first observational high resolution monitoring program that started in 2018, on environmental parameters and a remotely controlled automated flow cytometer (CytoSub) fitted in a buoy at a mooring coastal station in the Red Sea. Plankton automated sampling is performed every hour for the small classes and every 6 h for the bigger cells. Focusing on the analyses of the sum of particles, the obtained high frequency data will enable us to understand the contribution of the various size classes to the total concentration of particles and the influence of temperature in the phytoplankton community and the ecosystem capacity responses.
04:15 PM
The Evolution of Aquatic Monitoring and Assessment Programs in the Mackenzie Basin, Canada - Lessons Learned and Future Perspectives (7215)
Primary Presenter: Frederick Wrona, Unversity of Calgary (frederickjohn.wrona@ucalgary.ca)
The Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) is the 12th largest drainage basin in the world, is the fourth largest river discharging to the Arctic Ocean and is Canada’s largest river basin covers one fifth of the country. Major rivers of the basin include the Athabasca, Peace, Slave, Liard, Arctic Red, Peel and the mainstem Mackenzie. The MRB transcends several Provincial and Territorial jurisdictions and is home to approx. 500,000 people, including multiple First Nations, Metis or Inuit communities. Over the past 40 years, the MRB has been under increasing stress from developments both within and external to the system. Sources of environmental stressors include land-use activities (forestry, agriculture, metal mining), flow regulation from hydroelectric dams, and nutrient/contaminants inputs associated municipal waste- and stormwater discharges, and effluents/emissions from regional pulp and paper and oil and gas (including oil sands) developments. More recently, climate change related impacts such as extreme high and low hydrologic events, forest fires and permafrost thaw have also increased in frequency and/or duration. Correspondingly, over the decades there have been a plethora of aquatic monitoring and research programs that have come and gone to inform condition of environment assessments and reporting and related regulatory and basin management decision-making processes. In this presentation we provide an overview of challenges, successes and limitations of the various monitoring, research and basin governance efforts and provide perspectives on how to achieve an improved adaptive and integrated approach to accommodate the ever changing societal and related basin management priorities.
SS023 From Cells to Satellites: Current and Future Directions of Detecting Environmental Change in Aquatic Ecosystems
Description
Time: 3:00 PM
Date: 5/6/2023
Room: Sala Menorca B