Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Analytical Chemistry Of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, And Instrumentation, Robert C. Hale, Meredith E. Seeley, Ashley E. King, Lehuan H. Yu

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Approaches for the collection and analysis of plastic debris in environmental matrices are rapidly evolving. Such plastics span a continuum of sizes, encompassing large (macro-), medium (micro-, typically defined as particles between 1 μm and 5 mm), and smaller (nano-) plastics. All are of environmental relevance. Particle sizes are dynamic. Large plastics may fragment over time, while smaller particles may agglomerate in the field. The diverse morphologies (fragment, fiber, sphere) and chemical compositions of microplastics further complicate their characterization. Fibers are of growing interest and present particular analytical challenges due to their narrow profiles. Compositional classes of emerging concern include …

Six Fish And 600,000 Thirsty Folks—A Fishing Moratorium On American Shad Thwarts A Controversial Municipal Reservoir Project In Virginia, Usa, J. E. Olney, Donna M. Bilkovic, Carl Hershner, Lyle M. Varnell, Harry V. Wang, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Moratoria on fishing directly impact fishers, distributors and marketers of product and can have serious socio-economic implications. Moratoria can impact communities but usually populations closely linked to the banned activity. In an unprecedented example, a moratorium on fishing in Virginia has directly impacted a nonfishing citizenry by thwarting plans for a public utility. In May 2003, a panel empowered to regulate marine resources denied permission to withdraw raw water from a pristine freshwater river, the Mattaponi. The controversial action spoiled a multi-million dollar plan to establish the King William Reservoir, a water source considered essential to future growth and development …

A Comparison Of Structural And Nonstructural Methods For Erosion Control And Providing Habitat In Virginia Salt Marshes, Karen A. Duhring

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Shoreline stabilization methods that emphasize the use of tidal marshes and riparian vegetation are encouraged as a baseline defense for tidal shoreline erosion in Virginia. The effectiveness of three of these methods in preventing erosion and providing habitat was evaluated, including marsh stabilization structures (marsh toe revetments and sills), planted tidal marshes, and bank grading. This evaluation includes results from a recent field survey of 36 tidal marsh stabilization structures, permitting records, and other monitoring data. Marsh structures effectively reduced erosion of fringing and embayed marshes but were not as effective for gradually disappearing spit marshes. Adverse impacts of restricted …

Current Understanding Of The Effectiveness Of Nonstructural And Marsh Sill Approaches, Bhaskaran Subramanian, Gene Slear, Kevin M. Smith, Karen A. Duhring

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

A panel session at the Living Shorelines Summit in Williamsburg, Virginia was dedicated to the current understanding of the effectiveness of nonstructural erosion protection methods and marsh sills. Four panelists described their professional experience with either design and construction or monitoring of projects in tidal waters of Maryland and Virginia, including marsh edge stabilization (marsh toe revetments), marsh sills with sand fill, and planted marshes. Their collective experience revealed that planted tidal marshes and supporting structures can be effective alternatives to revetments and bulkheads. Site-specific engineering is required to ensure they provide functional ecological benefits, particularly in medium and high …

Evidence For A Relation Between A White Perch Young-Of-The-Year Index And Indices Of Later Life Stages, Thomas C. Mosca Iii, Herbert M. Austin, David M. Plotner

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Juvenile indices are employed in fisheries management to predict the future abundance of harvestable adults. Frequently, regulations on the utilization of the resource, and a lack of fishery independent abundance data, make verification of the prediction accuracy impossible. In the case of white perch in Virginia, this is not so. Using the weighting system developed for a Chesapeake Bay-wide index of juvenile striped bass abundance based on summertime beach seine data collected in nursery ground waters, we developed a similar index for white perch in the Virginia portion of the Bay. Regressions against Virginia Institute of Marine Science otter trawl …

The Precarious State Of The Chesapeake Public Oyster Resource, William J. Hargis Jr., Dexter S. Haven

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The 243,000 acres of Virginia's public oyster reefs (a.k.a. the Baylor Grounds) have been extremely productive of usable and saleable (market .md seed) oysters (Crassostrea virginica), oyster shells and oyster shell by-products. Archaeological remains and historical records show that they have yielded great numbers of whole oysters, oyster meats, oyster "seed" and shell since the 01esapeake was formed some 3,000 years BP. In the last century their natural productivity, as indicated by commercial harvest records (the only long-term data available), has declined markedly. In 1904, Vrrginia's total market (adult) oyster harvest was about 7.6 million bushels (mostly from public grounds). …

Ecological Functions And Values Of Nontidal Wetlands, Carl H. Hershner

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Reviews the current understanding of the functions of nontidal wetlands, assesses the· problems of assigning values to wetland functions, and surveys the use of these functions and values in management programs of the mid-Atlantic states.

Ecological Risk Assessment For Highways In The Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Robert B. Atkinson, J. Cairns Jr., Bruce Wallace, James E. Perry

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The population of coastal counties in the United States is over six-fold higher than non-coastal counties and population density along the Atlantic coast is much greater than all other coasts in the nation. Many areas around the Chesapeake Bay watershed are participating in this growth and extensive interstate construction is planned for this region. A wide array of primary ecological risks to the Chesapeake Bay exists, and may be classified as biological, physical, or chemical. Biological risks range from physical threats to motorists and animals to genetic risks to local flora and fauna populations. Island biogeography theory can be used …

Groundwater Nutrient Discharge To The Chesapeake Bay: Effects Of Near-Shore Land Use Practices, E. Laurence Libelo, William G. Macintyre, Gerald H. Johnson

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Groundwater discharge supplies a significant portion of the inorganic nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay. This discharge increases nutrient concentration in surface waters, which may result in increased macrophyte growth, reductions in· submerged aquatic vegetation and alteration of habitat. Human activities adjacent to the shoreline greatly increase nutrient concentration in the underlying groundwater, and so affect the overall nutrient input by groundwater seepage. In order to quantify the effect of land use on groundwater nutrient loading in the Virginia coastal plain we have installed monitoring wells in a variety of near shore environments adjacent to the James and York Rivers. Since …

Prototype For A Regional Online Toxics Database, Charles A. Lunsford, Craig L. Smith

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

An interactive online computerized database for retrieval of chemical analytical information on volatile and extractable organic compounds, and the priority pollutant metals has been developed. Current information about samples from the Chesapeake Bay region in Virginia and Maryland are available. This database stores information on organic compounds in effluent, water, tissue, and sediment in a format which does place restrictions on the number of compounds per sample. It includes various QA/QC items as well as the analyst's assessment of the validity of the data. A variety of keyed retrieval options permits selection of reporting format, and flagging of items exceeding …

Monitoring Seagrass Distribution And Abundance Patterns: A Case Study From The Chesapeake Bay, Robert J. Orth, Kenneth A. Moore, Judith F. Nowak

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Seagrasses, or submerged aquatic vegetation (SA V), have been mapped in the Chesapeake Bay five times between 1978 and 1987 with standard aerial photographic techniques, resulting in annual reports on SAV distribution. Acquisition of the vertical photography at a scale of 1:24,000, adhering to strict quality-assurance guidelines based on sun angle, tidal stage, cloud cover, wind speed, and season, has produced excellent, high-contrast imagery delineating beds of SAV from adjacent, unvegetated areas. Ground-truthing data from various State, Federal, and public organizations have corroborated the photographic data base. (more ...)

Kepone And The James River, Robert J. Huggett

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The James River in Virginia was contaminated by the pesticide kepone when the material entered the river as early as 1968 and continued until its discovery in 1975. The river became so contaminated that commercial fisheries were closed. In 1988, 13 years after closure, all fishing restrictions were lifted. The contaminated sediments have been diluted and covered enough by uncontaminated material that the kepone flux back into the water column has diminished. Kepone concentrations in organisms inhabitating the river are finally below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration action levels. Biological, chemical, physical and geological aspects …

Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: An Overview, Herbert M. Austin

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The value of the marine resources of the Chesapeake Bay is second only to its value as a transportation corridor. The oyster, blue crab and striped bass or rock fish, along with the sailboat, epitomize our vision of the Bay. Nowhere else do such important renewable natural resources co-exist so closely to man's residential and industrial activities.

Over time, all natural resource distribution and abundance fluctuates in response to a normally fluctuating environment. Man's harvest adds an additional pressure, and in some cases recruitment levels cannot keep pace with consumer demand. In the Bay, pollutants, both intentional point source discharge, …

A Socio-Economic Overview Of The Chesapeake Bay Fisheries, James E. Kirkley

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The marine resources of the Chesapeake Bay are believed to provide substantial benefit to residents of the State of Maryland and Virginia. However, the possibility of overfishing and degradation of the marine environment seriously jeopardizes the possible benefit . In thsi section, a brief overview of the economic importance and characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay marine resources is presented. The potential for economic lossee are discussed relative to observed economic values.

Submerged And Emergent Aquatic Vegetation Of The Chesapeake Bay, Carl Hershner, Richard L. Wetzel

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Chesapeake Bay supports a diverse assemblage of submerged and emergent aquatic vegetation. The distribution of species of each kind of vegetation is governed largely by salinity. The functions of both submerged and emergent vegetation in the Bay ecosystem includes contributing to total net primary production, service a habitat and performance in both water quality and sedimentation processes. Research on submerged aquatic vegetation is focused on its role in the estuarine system and determinants of its distribution and abundance. Research on emergent vegetation still concerns basic questions of structure and function, but has also branched into methodologies for utilization by man …

Organic Chemicals In Sediments From The Lower Chesapeake Bay, R. J. Huggett, P. O. Defur

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Many of the toxic organic chemicals affecting the marine environment are hydrophobic and associate with sediments. Sediments can accumulate the substances over long intervals and store them after the original source of the toxic material has been eliminated. Contaminated sediments can provide small but damaging amounts of the to.xicant to the overlying water for decades. For example, more than 10 years after the discovery of Kepone in the James River, Virginia, much of the James' fisheries ·is still closed because Kepone levels are above federal action levels.

Contaminant Effects On Chesapeake Bay Finfishes, Ronald J. Klauda, Michael E. Bender

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Habitat deterioration is consistent with perceived population declines for several resident and anadromous finfish species in Chesapeake Bay that are subjected to different levels of fishing pressure (e.g., striped bass versus blueback herring). Diminution of habitat quality has natural and anthropogenic roots that are difficult to separate. Recent contaminant effects studies focused on Chesapeake Bay fishes can be grouped as follows: (a) mathematical and statistical modeling studies aimed at elucidating contaminant and stock trend relationships using extant data and theoretical insights, (b) biological and chemical field surveys in selected areas to demonstrate spatio-temporal associations between levels of toxic organic and …

Contaminants In Chesapeake Bay: The Regional Perspective, George R. Helz, Robert J. Huggett

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Industrial and municipal point sources of contaminants are scattered along the shores of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, but reach especially high density at Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore, Md. Sedimentation and various chemical processes in many cases conspire to restrict the water-borne transport of contaminant away from point source . Kepone, residual chlorine, volatile halogenated hydrocarbons, and anthropogenic trace metals are well-studied example of point-source contaminants. For the most part, their concentration in water and sediment drop to nearly immeasurable values within a distance of a few kilometers, or sometimes a few tens of kilometers, from their source .

On …

Abundance Of Virginia Shellfish And Finfish, Herb Austin

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Water temperature, which has been measured from the pier at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) since 1946, has shown a steady upward trend since 1975-1976. This trend has been most dramatic during the fall-winter period, with October and November of 1984 and 1985 being two of the warmest periods in the 30-year record. The fall of 1985 was the warmest in 30 years. Winter (January-March) temperatures have also shown a steady rise since the record cold January-February of 1977-1978.

Effects Of Contaminants On Estuarine Zooplankton, Brian P. Bradley, Morrris H. Roberts Jr.

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The objectives of the chapter are (1) to evaluate laboratory studies concerning effects of heavy metals, pesticides and oxidants on copepods, mysids, bivalve and decapod larvae (2) access field studies (mainly with copepods) on these and other contaminants which when coupled with laboratory data provide information on known and potential hazards of contaminants to zooplankton and (3) briefly review some bioassay methods used in these studies.

Mercury is the most toxic heavy metal by weight, followed by copper, silver and cadmium. Pesticides have been tested much less extensively than heavy metals. In general, bivalve larvae seem less sensitive than the …

Mollusk Culture For The Chesapeake Bay, Michael Castagna

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The water quality of the Chesapeake Bay has suffered a decline over the last 5 decades due to anthropomorphic activities. Insidious additions of industrial and farm pollutant to the Bay have created a situation where in many areas there are periodic sub lethal levels of chemicals. Although the juveniles and adults seem to survive these levels, they are obviously interfering with some early life stage of the living organisms that make up the bay fauna. Species whose early life history takes place out of the Bay (i.e. Cal!inectes sapidus) are less affected by this problem than those species whose eggs, …

Contaminant Effects On Chesapeake Bay Shellfish, Michael E. Bender, Robert J. Huggett

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The paper reviews contaminant effects on Chesapeake Bay shellfish from two avenues (1) adverse biological effects on the organisms and (2) fisheries closures due to bacterial and chemical contamination. The use of shellfish to monitor anthropogenic inputs of chemical contaminants is also discussed. Fisheries closures due to bacterial contamination account for the greatest economic loss due to man's activities. Kepone contamination in the James River, Virginia caused fisheries closures but has not appeared to cause biological damage to the resources. Organotin compounds from antifouling paints appear to pose a threat to Chesapeake Bay shellfish.

Factors Affecting The Distribution And Abundance Of The Blue Crab In Chesapeake Bay, W. A. Van Engel

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

That environmental conditions in the Chesapeake Bay are optimal for the blue crab population is suggested by the fact that hard crab landings by Virginia and Maryland watermen accounted for almost 48% of the total of East and Gulf coast landings in 1985. Estimates of total mortality from the egg to the adult stage range from 0.999973 to 0.999996. Commercial fishing removes an additional 0.0000031 to 0.0000251, leaving 0.0000024 to 0.000001 as the rates of removal by other sources. Physical and chemical pollutants, predators, and plants and animals symbiotic with the blue crab are part of the environment that must …

Man's Physical Effects On The Elizabeth River, Maynard M. Nichols, Mary M. Howard-Strobel

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Man's ever increasing activities in the Elizabeth River, i.e. dredging, disposal of dredged material and waterfront development, have drastically altered the river floor, reshaped the shoreline and changed the circulation. Long-continued dredging of shipping channels, which is fostered by coal export, larger ships, and military needs, has moved 220 million cu yds of sediment since 1870. As a result channel depth has increased 1.8 fold, and maintenance dredging rates have doubled about every 35 years. Open water disposal released 40 million cu yds into Hampton Roads and lower Chesapeake Bay. Landfill buried tributary creeks, moved the waterfront into the river …

Trace Element Contamination From Fly Ash Sites Near Chisholm Creek, Va, George C. Grant, Bruce J. Neilson, Gene M. Silberhorn

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The safe disposal of fly ash from power plants remains a concern because of dwindling available disposal sites and potential or actual environmental consequences. During the period from 1957 to 1974, the Virginia Electric and Power Co. station at Yorktown used a mixture of coal and refinery coke for power generation. The fly ash and bottom ash byproducts were disposed of in borrow pits which drain into Chisman Creek, a small estuary near the York River. In 1980 a domestic well near the pits turned green and tests revealed high concentrations of V and Se in some wells. Subsequently, contaminated …

Impacts Of Alum Sludge On Tidal Freshwater Streams, Morris H. Roberts, Robert J. Diaz

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Alum sludge, generated in the processing of surface water .for drinking water supplies, has traditionally been discharged into nearby streams in Virginia and elsewhere. Alum sludge contains aluminum in an insoluble and non-toxic form. There remains concern, however, that alum sludge may have a negative impact on receiving waters.

Dredging And Disposal In The Chesapeake Bay, Robert J. Diaz, Robert J. Byrne, Linda C. Schaffner

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The management questions involved in dredging and open water dredged material disposal revolve around three basic issues: 1) stability of the dredged material within the defined disposal area, 2) altered resource value of bottoms affected by dredged material, and 3) mobilization of toxins from contaminated dredged material. These issues encompass all aspects of the physical and biological character of a project site. The actual evaluation of dredging and dredged material disposal has generally concentrated on acute impacts to bottom dwelling organisms, benthos, and or to water column characteristics. This emphasis has resulted in ample evidence that many disposal practices have …

Kepone Uptake: A Comparison Of Field And Laboratory Data, Micheal E. Bender, Robert J. Huggett, Harold D. Sloane

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The ability to predict the environmental fate and effects of pollutants in the marine environmenits of utmost importance in assessing the hazards posed by a compound's use and/or disposal. Most commonly utilized methods to establish potential environmental effects have involved an assessment with bioassays of a compound's acute and chronic toxicity. For compounds that have the ability to bioaccumulate, the potential dangers from this process must also be determined. A "first cut" estimate can be made by determining the partition coefficients between an organic solvent, usually n-octanol, and water. If this coefficient exceeds 25,000, EPA requires a report of the …

Acute Toxicity Potential Of Chlorination In Estuarine Waters, Morris H. Roberts Jr.

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Two primary uses of chlorination in estuarine systems are disinfection of sewage effluent and fouling control in condensor tubes of electric power generating plants. The intent in both uses is to apply sufficient chlorine to kill certain target organisms. At the same time, however, efforts are made to control both the application rate and effluent release so that non-target species in the receiving waters are not affected. To accomplish such control, the effluent is usually retained, which permits the decay of the residual chlorine and rapid dilution with ambient water to reduce further the residual. The residual concentration continues to …

Toxic Substances, R. Bieri, O. Bricker, R. Byrne, R. J. Diaz, Et Al

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

This part of the CBP Synthesis Report summarizes and integrates the research findings and reconnnendations of 13 projects of the Chesapeake Bay Toxic Substances Program performed between July 1978 and October 1981. The following sections describe research on potentially toxic substances, or toxicants, in water-sediments and selected biota. The subjects considered include a brief review of metals, their sources, distribution and behavior, and then a review of sources and distribution of organic chemicals. Finally, information concerning the significance of toxicants in the- Bay and their pattern of enrichment is provided. Most information synthesized in this report can be traced to …