Water quality measurements in Buzzards Bay by the Buzzards Bay Coalition Baywatchers Program from 1992 to 2018.

The Buzzards Bay Coalition's Baywatchers Monitoring Program (Baywatchers) collected summertime water quality information at more than 150 stations around Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts from 1992 to 2018. Baywatchers documents nutrient-related water quality and the effects of nitrogen pollution. The large majority of stations are located in sub-estuaries of the main Bay, although stations in central Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound were added beginning in 2007.

Altered lipid homeostasis in a PCB-resistant Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) population from New Bedford Harbor, MA, U.S.A.

Sentinel species such as the Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) living in urban waterways can be used as toxicological models to understand impacts of environmental metabolism disrupting compound (MDC) exposure on both wildlife and humans. Exposure to MDCs is associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome, including impaired lipid and glucose homeostasis, adipogenesis, appetite control, and basal metabolism. MDCs are ubiquitous in the environment, including in aquatic environments.

Macroalgal composition and accumulation in New England estuaries.

New England estuaries provide essential feeding grounds and nursery habitat for important recreational and commercial species. However, these functions are being altered by a recent shift in estuarine plant dominance from rooted plants to opportunistic drift macroalgae that can form dense accumulations. We hypothesize that formation of these macroalgal accumulations is controlled by the level of nutrient enrichment and the low hydrodynamic energy regime present in many estuarine basins.

Relationship between nitrogen concentration, light, and Zostera marina habitat quality and survival in southeastern Massachusetts estuaries.

The relationship of eelgrass survival and habitat quality to water column nitrogen level, phytoplankton biomass, particulate matter, bottom light intensity, and light attenuation was quantified at 70 sites within 19 Massachusetts estuaries through 4 growing seasons (2007-2009, 2011). Sites included a range of eelgrass habitat quality, from stable productive eelgrass beds, to degraded beds, to areas that have lost all eelgrass coverage. Survival of transplanted eelgrass culms was used as a bio-indicator of habitat quality.

Spatial patterns of macrobenthic communities in shallow-water tidal embayments and their association with environmental factors.

This study examines the distribution, composition, and structure of benthic communities in nine shallow-water semienclosed embayments on Cape Cod, southeastern Massachusetts. The spatial patterns were used to associate benthic characteristics with local environmental factors. Field data from multiple years were collected to measure macrofaunal abundance, community composition, and environmental characteristics.

Particulates, not plants, dominate nitrogen processing in a septage-treating aerated pond system.

In pond and wetland systems for wastewater treatment, plants are often thought to enhance the removal of ammonium and nitrogen through the activities of root-associated bacteria. In this study, we examined the role of plant roots in an aerated pond system with floating plants designed to treat high-strength septage wastewater. We performed both laboratory and full-scale experiments to test the effect of different plant root to septage ratios on nitrification and denitrification, and measured the abundances of nitrifying bacteria associated with roots and septage particulates.

Control of denitrification in a septage-treating artificial wetland: the dual role of particulate organic carbon.

We examined the factors controlling organic carbon (C) cycling and its control of nitrogen (N) removal via denitrification in an aerated artificial wetland treating highly concentrated wastewater to nutrient-removal standards. Processing of organic material by the septage-treating wetland affected the biological reactivity (half-life, or t1/2) of organic C pools through microbial degradation and gravity fractionation of the influent septage. Primary sedimentation fractionated the initial septage material (t1/2 = 8.