NCCOS Project Explorer (NPE)

Assessing the Relationship Between Land Use and Coastal Ecosystem Health in Chesapeake Bay(2010)

Project Description:
Coastal ecosystem health, that is the condition of habitats, populations, and the deliver of ecosystem goods and services, is thought to be affected by land use within coastal watersheds. While there are many individual studies that support this assertion, it is still not clear how different land use development in otherwise comparable coastal systems, are translated into ecosystem conditions and processes. Researchers at the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory are conducting field and laboratory research, modeling, and assessment to help understand how different land use patterns translate into different ecosystem conditions. The general health status of organisms in estuaries can be affected by land use patterns but there is a need to develop reliable indicators of these effects. Biotic and abiotic indexes have been developed but have not extensively included health factors. Researchers at the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory possess the expertise in the assessment of estuarine health and modeling required to develop such an index. Results from this research will lead to the development of ecological models and methods to track and project the ecosystem health trajectories associated with different land use and development scenarios. Information from this project is targeted to be used by managers to identify potential management strategies for ecosystem restoration. Assay techniques, models and data developed during this project will be objects and technologies capable of being transfered to coastal ecosystems outside of Chesapeake Bay. The majority of research for this project is currently being conducted within 3 sub estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay chosen for their land use attributes. These are the Magothy, Corsica, and Rhode/West embayments, which are comparable in most respects: the strategic exception being land use conditions (agriculture, urban or balanced, respectively). Future locations may also include other areas of Chesapeake Bay including NERRS sites and other coastal embayments. Data will be collected from watersheds using Cooperative Oxford laboratory NOAA research vessels staff from other partners including the Chesapeake Bay Program, MD DNR, and Versar. Data being collected and included in the multivariate ecosystem index profiles of these estuaries include community composition of fish, shellfish, and benthic infauna, water quality and other habitat variables, free-living pathogen abundance, and health characteristics of chosen fish and shellfish species. Additionally, statistical, process, and GIS (spatial) modeling is being conducted which links Chesapeake Bay Program's Bay Habitat Health Report Card (formulated in part, at the Cooperative Oxford Lab) to ecological processes, outcomes in terms of ecosystem goods and services valued by society. This circular connection between assessment of health, assessment of stressors, modeling of processes, and projection and assessment of management scenario ou

Expected Outcome:
Assessment, statistical, process, and GIS (spatial) modeling is being conducted which links Chesapeake Bay Program's Bay Habitat Health Report Card (formulated in part, at the Cooperative Oxford Lab) to ecological processes, outcomes in terms of ecosystem goods and services valued by society. This circular connection between assessment of health, assessment of stressors, modeling of processes, and projection and assessment of management scenario outcomes will serve as the scientific structure around which the NCCOS Integrated Assessment for Chesapeake Bay will be built and updated annually. Expected project achievements include biotic and abiotic characterization of specific sub estuaries of Chesapeake Bay to provide baseline data for long term land use management. Identifying stressors and their impacts on Chesapeake Bay ecology at the local level which will be communicated to stakeholders. Information and scenario-based projections that may inform the general public and management agencies with a more complete and science-based illustration of the effects (costs) of land use and coastal development on estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Models and other tools, for managers and the general public that help inform decisions about how much and how to dedicated social resources towards the restoration and management of Chesapeake Bay.