Impacts of Coastal Development on the Ecology of Tidal Creek Ecosystems of the US Southeast including Consequences to Humans.

Upland areas of southeastern U.S. tidal creek watersheds are popular locations for development, and they form part of the estuarine ecosystem characterized by high economic and ecological value.

An integrated assessment of habitat quality of national estuarine research reserves in the southeastern United States.

Multiple indicators of water quality, sediment quality, and biological condition were used to assess the status of ecological condition of National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) sites in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia relative to a suite of corresponding scoring criteria. All measurements were made in subtidal aquatic habitats. Calculated scores were integrated into an overall index of habitat quality and used to make comparisons among the various NERR and nonNERR estuaries throughout the region.

Development of a data management framework in support of southeastern tidal creek research.

The NOAA Center of Excellence for Oceans and Human Health Initiative (OHHI) at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is developing a data management framework that supports an integrated research program across scientific disciplines. The primary focus of the database is to support environmental research focused on tidal creek watershed systems. Specifically, the current data holdings include physical water quality parameters, nutrients, pathogens, chemical contaminants, benthic and nekton species abundances and human dimensions data from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina dating to 1994.

Estuarine habitat quality reflects urbanization at large spatial scales in South Carolina's coastal zone.

Land cover patterns were evaluated in 29 estuarine watersheds of South Carolina to determine relationships between urban/suburban development and estuarine habitat quality. Principal components analysis and Pearson product moment correlation analyses were used to examine the relationships between ten land cover categories and selected measures of nutrient or bacterial enrichment in the water column and contaminant enrichment in sediments. These analyses indicated strong relationships between land cover categories representing upland development and a composite measure of 24 inorganic and organic contaminants using the Effect Range Median-Quotient (ERM-Q).

An evaluation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) runoff from highways into estuarine wetlands of South Carolina.

This study investigated the concentrations and potential toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with highway runoff into adjacent estuarine wetlands from road segments representing three levels of average daily traffic (ADT): low (<5,000 ADT), moderate (10,000-15,000 ADT), and high use (>25,000 ADT) based on SC Department of Transportation data. Sediments from three estuarine wetland habitats (tidal creeks, Spartina marsh, and mud flats) adjacent to these road segments were sampled to represent nine highway use class/habitat type combinations. Surficial sediments were collected at 3, 25, and 50 meters from the upland/wetland interface along transects established perpendicular to the road at each site, with additional samples taken from the road berm.