– Do not Cite or Quote –
This bibliography does not reflect consensus advice or recommendations, has not been reviewed or approved by the chartered SAB, and does not represent EPA policy
The following is the bibliography that was submitted by the Office of Water for review by the Hypoxia Advisory Panel. The citations were first sorted into groups related to each of the three general areas listed in the charge to the panel, and then each group was sorted into recent citations ( 2000) and older citations (< 2000) for the convenience of the panel.
The following Table of Contents is provided to assist the user:
Pages
Characterization of the Cause(s) of Hypoxia (2000) 1 - 65
Characterization of the Cause(s) of Hypoxia – Cont. (<2000) 66 - 117
Characterization of Nutrient Fate, Transport, and Sources (2000) 118 - 126
Characterization of Nutrient Fate, Transport, and Sources – Cont. (<2000) 127 - 130
Scientific Basis for Goals and Manaagement Options (2000) 131 - 142
Scientific Basis for Goals and Manaagement Options – Cont. (<2000) 143 - 145
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Citations Related to:
Characterization of the Cause(s) of Hypoxia
( 2000)
3. Alliance for Coastal Technologies. 2004. ACT Workshop: State of Technology in the Development and Application of Dissolved Oxygen Sensors. UMCES Technical Report Series: TS-444-04-CBL/Ref No. [UMCES]CBL 04-089, Alliance for Coastal Technologies Indexing No. ACT-04-01. N. N. Rabalais served as Facilitator of the Workshop and Drafted the Report.
5. Ammerman, J. W., and W. B. Glover. 2000. Continuous underway measurement of microbial ectoenzyme activities in aquatic ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 201: 1-12.
Abstract:Microbial ectoenzyme activities in aquatic environments are important agents of polymer hydrolysis and indicators of the state of microbial carbon, nitrogen, or phosphorus nutrition. However, like most other biochemical and molecular measurements, ectoenzyme activities have been Limited to discrete water samples. We have developed a continuous underway method for measuring microbial enzyme activities using high-sensitivity fluorescent substrates. The system we developed consisted of a peristaltic proportioning pump, a temperature-controlled water bath, and a spectrofluorometer interfaced to a portable computer which controlled the fluorometer and logged the data. This method has been applied to alkaline phosphatase and to leucine aminopeptidase measurements in the surface waters of the Mississippi River plume and the Louisiana shelf, and alkaline phosphatase measurements in the surface waters of a Texas lake. This method will enable us to map the surface distributions of microbial enzyme activities on scales comparable to temperature, salinity, in vivo fluorescence, and other parameters which can be continuously mapped from a research ship while underway.
6. Ammerman, J.W., Jason B. Sylvan, Quay Dortch, David M. Nelson, Alisa Maier Brown, and Wendy Morrison (2003), Seasonal Phosphorus Limitation on the Louisiana Shelf: A Result of Anthropogenic Nitrogen Loading From the Mississippi River? EOS Trans. AGU, 84(52), Ocean Sci. Meet. Suppl., Abstract OS21K-08
Abstract: Seasonal phosphorus limitation of primary production during the spring and early summer was demonstrated in the Mississippi River plume and Louisiana continental shelf during a series of cruises in 2001. Mapping of surface water properties over most of the Louisiana shelf and extensive bioassay experiments combined to make a large spatial and temporal dataset. The chlorophyll a response to additions of orthophosphate (Pi) was much greater than the response to either nitrate or silica additions during the spring and early summer. The Pi turnover time was less than 30 minutes during May and July 2001. Elevated nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) ratios were seen over much of the shelf during the spring and early summer months. The mean N:P ratio was 64 in March 2001 and was greater than 380 in both May and July 2001 for the entire Louisiana shelf. High alkaline phosphatase activities were seen during March, May and July 2001, including extremely high activities near the mouth of the Mississippi River. By September, however, all the above indicators indicated that much of the Louisiana shelf was N-limited. The observed seasonal P-limitation coincides with both the Mississippi’s high flow period during the spring and early summer and the period of high productivity responsible for the annual summer hypoxia. Anthropogenic N loading of the Mississippi River has apparently shifted the Louisiana shelf into spring P-limitation. The Federal-State-Tribal Action plan, recently delivered to the Congress, calling for a 30 percent reduction in N-loading over the next 15 years, will be important in reducing the high N:P ratios which lead to P-limitation. At the same time, P input to the watershed should also be managed to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone.
The abstract of this presentation is available in PDF. The link to the PDF is here:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/os04/os04-pdf/os04_OS21K.pdf
7. Ammerman, J.W. and Jason B. Sylvan (2004), Phosphorus Limitation of Phytoplankton Growth in the Mississippi River Plume: A Case for Dual Nutrient Control? EOS Trans. AGU, 85(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract OS11B-07
Abstract: The Action Plan agreed to in 2001 by federal, state and tribal agencies calls for reducing the area of the Mississippi plume hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers by 2015, to be achieved by a 30 percent reduction in the dissolved inorganic nitrogen entering the Gulf of Mexico. Evidence collected over that last fifteen years suggests that seasonal phosphorus limitation of phytoplankton growth on the Louisiana shelf coincides with the periods of both highest river flow and maximum primary productivity in the spring. The phosphorus limitation documented here almost certainly results from increased nitrogen input from the Mississippi River over the past fifty years. This phosphorus-limited productivity is most likely responsible for the summer hypoxia, though the detailed mechanism of hypoxia generation is unclear. If the Mississippi River is the major source of phosphorus as well as nitrogen to this system, then it may be time to recommend reductions in phosphorus as well as nitrogen. This would be consistent with recent recommendations for control of both nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to estuarine systems, as well as with the partial recovery of parts of the Black Sea since the major declines in nitrogen and phosphorus inputs began in the early 1990s. Though unanswered questions about the sources and supply rate of phosphorus to the Mississippi plume system remain, the need for phosphorus reductions should be thoroughly evaluated.
DE: 4834 Hypoxic environments
DE: 4845 Nutrients and nutrient cycling
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting
http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?&listenv=table&multiple=1&range=1&directget=1&application=fm04&database=%2Fdata%2Fepubs%2Fwais%2Findexes%2Ffm04%2Ffm04&maxhits=200&="OS11B-07
8. Ammerman, J.W., Q. Dortch, B. M. Gaas, D. M. Nelson, A. Quigg, J. B. Sylvan, S. Tozzi, Seasonal Phosphorus Limitation on the Louisiana Shelf: A Result of Nitrogen Loading from the Mississippi River? Presented at the EPA Mississippi River Basin Nutrients Science Workshop, St. Louis, Oct. 4-6, 2005.
Abstract: Oxygen-depleted subsurface waters occur on the Louisiana Continental Shelf when the uptake of oxygen by respiration exceeds its resupply. Measurements of shelf water samples demonstrate that geographic extent of oxygen-depleted waters has increased since 1985.
We use the relative abundance of three low-oxygen-tolerant benthic foraminifers (Pseudononion atlanticum, Epistominella vitrea, and Buliminella morgani = PEB index) in sediment cores as a proxy for extending the record of low-oxygen bottom-water conditions on the Louisiana shelf back in time. The PEB index in four sediment cores provides evidence for low-oxygen events that pre-date the start of extensive use of commercial fertilizer in the Mississippi Basin (~1950). Fluctuations in the PEB index between 1817 A.D. and 1910 A.D. may correspond with increased discharge/flooding events in the Mississippi River drainage basin.
Our chronology for one long core from the Louisiana shelf (core PE0305-GC1) indicates low-oxygen events occurred periodically on the Louisiana shelf for at least the last 350 years. High PEB values similar to values found in the last 50 years occur in the early 1700s.
Carbon stable-isotope analyses of sedimentary organic matter have also been completed for core PE0305-GC1. In the upper 100 cm of the core, negative excursions in δ13C generally correspond to increases in PEB. Below the 100 cm core depth, the correspondence of δ13C and PEB is more variable. The very negative δ13C values found in the core most likely represent incorporation of biomass from anerobic microbial recycling communities to the bulk sediment and support the interpretation that high PEB values represent low-oxygen bottom-water conditions.
Fluctuations in the PEB index, supported in part by δ13C, indicate low-oxygen bottom-water events developed periodically on the Louisiana shelf before the extensive use of commercial fertilizer. The PEB proxy indicates that low-oxygen conditions near the Mississippi Delta in the early 1700s were as severe as conditions associated with hypoxia events of the last 50 years. Our results suggest that development of low-oxygen bottom waters on the Louisiana Shelf is a complex natural process that has been altered by human activities.
The abstract and Power Point slides to this presentation are available in PDF. The link to the PDF is here:
http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/taskforce/nutrient_workshop/pdf/session-d_1.pdf
10. Anderson, D. M., P. M. Glibert and J. M. Burkholder. 2002. Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication: nutrient sources, composition, and consequences. Estuaries, 25, 704-726.
Abstract:Although algal blooms, including those considered toxic or harmful, can be natural phenomena, the nature of the global problem of harmful algal blooms (HABs) has expanded both in extent and its public perception over the last several decades. Of concern, especially for resource managers, is the potential relationship between HABs and the accelerated eutrophication of coastal waters from human activities. We address current insights into the relationships between HABs and eutrophication, focusing on sources of nutrients, known effects of nutrient loading and reduction, new understanding of pathways of nutrient acquisition among HAB species, and relationships between nutrients and toxic algae. Through specific, regional, and global examples of these various relationships, we offer both an assessment of the state of understanding, and the uncertainties that require future research efforts. The sources of nutrients potentially stimulating algal blooms include sewage, atmospheric deposition, groundwater flow, as well as agricultural and aquaculture runoff and discharge. On a global basis, strong correlations have been demonstrated between total phosphorus inputs and phytoplankton production in freshwaters, and between total nitrogen input and phytoplankton production in estuarine and marine waters. There are also numerous examples in geographic regions ranging from the largest and second largest U.S. mainland estuaries (Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System), to the Inland Sea of Japan, the Black Sea, and Chinese coastal waters, where increases in nutrient loading have been linked with the development of large biomass blooms, leading to anoxia and even toxic or harmful impacts on fisheries resources, ecosystems, and human health or recreation. Many of these regions have witnessed reductions in phytoplankton biomass (as chlorophyll a) or HAB incidence when nutrient controls were put in place. Shifts in species composition have often been attributed to changes in nutrient supply ratios, primarily N:P or N:Si. Recently this concept has been extended to include organic forms of nutrients, and an elevation in the ratio of dissolved organic carbon to dissolved organic nitrogen (DOC:DON) has been observed during several recent blooms. The physiological strategies by which different groups of species acquire their nutrients have become better understood, and alternate modes of nutrition such as heterotrophy and mixotrophy are now recognized as common among HAB species. Despite our increased understanding of the pathways by which nutrients are delivered to ecosystems and the pathways by which they are assimilated differentially by different groups of species, the relationships between nutrient delivery and the development of blooms and their potential toxicity or harmfulness remain poorly understood. Many factors such as algal species presence/abundance, degree of flushing or water exchange, weather conditions, and presence and abundance of grazers contribute to the success of a given species at a given point in time. Similar nutrient loads do not have the same impact in different environments or in the same environment at different points in time. Eutrophication is one of several mechanisms by which harmful algae appear to be increasing in extent and duration in many locations. Although important, it is not the only explanation for blooms or toxic outbreaks. Nutrient enrichment has been strongly linked to stimulation of some harmful species, but for others it has not been an apparent contributing factor. The overall effect of nutrient over-enrichment on harmful algal species is clearly species specific.
15. Baustian, M.M. 2005. Benthic Communities in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Area: Potential Prey for Demersal Fish. M.S. Thesis. Louisiana State University. http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07142005-082657/
Abstract: Bottom-water hypoxia ( < 2 mg O2 l-1) usually occurs on an annual basis on the Louisiana/Texas continental shelf from mid-May through mid-September over a large area (up to 20,000 km2 in mid-summer). The effects of hypoxia on the benthic infauna (potential prey) for demersal fish were examined, because changes in optimal diet can lead to negative impacts on growth and reproduction. Benthic samples were taken in three areas (inshore and offshore out of hypoxia and in the hypoxic area) during August 2003. Samples were also taken monthly from September 2003 to October 2004 at a fixed station (C6B) where summer hypoxia occurs consistently. The mean abundance of the benthic infauna in the three summer areas were not significantly different indicating similar prey abundances found in the study area. Diverse infaunal communities exist offshore of the hypoxic zone with similar species composition compared to the inshore but different compared to the hypoxic area. An abundance of benthos at the surface was not found at the summer 2003 hypoxic stations; therefore there was not an abundance of available prey at the surface. However, benthos migrated toward the surface at station C6B in June and July 2004 during hypoxia, providing an increase of prey at the surface compared to other months. During the spring months, the infaunal community was more diverse and abundant compared to the post hypoxic months (August, September, and October), which suggests fewer and less diverse potential prey in the fall for demersal predators. The most abundant prey items for demersal fish in the study area were polychaetes and secondarily molluscs. The benthic community abundances during the summer 2003 and 2004 were not expected and may be due to the storm events in summer 2003 and shorter duration of hypoxia in summer 2004.