The Effects of Aeration on Phytoplankton Community Composition and Primary Production in Stormwater Detention Ponds Near Myrtle Beach, SC
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2014 The ffecE ts of Aeration on Phytoplankton Community Composition and Primary Production in Stormwater Detention Ponds near Myrtle Beach, SC Lauren Hehman University of South Carolina - Columbia Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Hehman, L.(2014). The Effects of Aeration on Phytoplankton Community Composition and Primary Production in Stormwater Detention Ponds near Myrtle Beach, SC. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2591 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EFFECTS OF AERATION ON PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN STORMWATER DETENTION PONDS NEAR MYRTLE BEACH, SC by Lauren M. Hehman Bachelor of Science University of South Carolina, 2012 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Science in Marine Science College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2014 Accepted by: Tammi Richardson, Director of Thesis Erik Smith, Director of Thesis James Pinckney, Reader Lacy Ford, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies © Copyright by Lauren M. Hehman, 2014 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To my mom and Sam, without your encouragement, support, and love I would have not have perused my dreams and to my friends for always finding ways to make me smile and never letting me give up. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my co-advisors and committee members. Erik Smith, thank you for all of your advice, patience, and guidance in the lab and field. I truly would not have the drive to reach my full potential and be the researcher that I am today without your help. Tammi Richardson, thank you for being a wonderful and enthusiastic teacher. Without your love and support I would not have the amazing opportunities and passion for science as I do now. Thank you Jay Pinckney for your knowledge and willingness to help with HPLC and statistics as well as for the opportunities in your lab that became valuable to this research. Thank you Ashley Riggs for teaching me, guiding me, and being my role model and Michelle Evans for being my caring support and encouragement. You both were my company every step of the way and without all of your hard work and determination as well, this research would not have been possible. Thank you to Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences for lab support and to Angie Defore, Susan Denham, Tracy Buck, Amy Willman, Cathy Ngyuen and Cody Smith (REU student) for all of your dedication and hard work in the field and lab. Also, thanks to fellow graduate students Bridget Bachman and Doug Bell for all of your advice, laughter, and motivation. iv ABSTRACT Stormwater detention ponds are a common approach to managing stormwater runoff in coastal South Carolina. While effective at preventing flooding, they can be sites of intense phytoplankton blooms that result from excess nutrients inputs. This can lead to water quality degradation within ponds from oxygen depletion, fish kills, health concerns from harmful algal blooms (HABs), and water quality deterioration in adjacent coastal waters when pond discharges. The most common management practice to rid the ponds of excess phytoplankton biomass is the addition of copper-based algaecides. While temporarily effective, these algaecides require regular re-application and lead to artificial cycles of productivity and decomposition within the ponds. The installation of water column aerators (fountains or bubblers) have been proposed as an alternative to control phytoplankton biomass by breaking down thermal stratification and oxygenating the bottom waters which could promote benthic nutrient sequestration and enhance denitrification. The use and effectiveness of aerators has never been researched in the shallow ponds typical of coastal South Carolina. For this thesis, a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design was used to quantify the effects of aeration on water quality in stormwater ponds near Myrtle Beach, SC. Sets of two ponds in two residential developments were sampled for nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, community composition, and rates of primary productivity over two years. Aerators were installed in one pond of each pair after the first year. We hypothesized that aeration would 1) increase bottom water dissolved v oxygen concentrations and thereby increase nutrient retention in sediments and enhance nitrification leading to reduction in water column nutrients and phytoplankton biomass; and 2) increased mixing would shift phytoplankton community composition from potentially harmful cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates towards a community dominated by diatoms. While aeration did enhance mixing and bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations, overall it had no significant effect on nutrient concentrations, rates of primary productivity, phytoplankton biomass or significantly alter phytoplankton community composition. This research has important implications for developing best management practices and improving coastal water quality in South Carolina as all of these ponds flow directly or indirectly into the coastal zone and are thus potential sources of both chemical and biological pollutants. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: METHODS ..................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS ...................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION ................................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 53 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 54 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Randomized Complete Block Analysis of Variance. .................................... 27 Table 3.2. South Bay Multivariate Analysis of Variance. .............................................. 28 Table 3.3. Inlet Oaks Multivariate Analysis of Variance. .............................................. 29 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Map of Study Site Locations in Surfside Beach and Murrells Inlet, SC. ...... 15 Figure 2.2. Aerators Installed in each of the Impacted Ponds. ....................................... 16 Figure 3.1. DO and Temperature Time Series at each of the Sites. ................................ 30 Figure 3.2. Comparison of DO Concentrations in Aerated and Non-aerated Ponds. ...... 31 Figure 3.3. Comparison of Suspended Solids at each of the Sites. ................................. 32 Figure 3.4. Comparison of TN Concentrations at each of the Sites. ............................... 33 Figure 3.5. Comparison of Inorganic Nitrogen at each of the Sites. ............................... 34 Figure 3.6. Comparison of Nitrogen Speciation at each of the Sites. ............................. 35 Figure 3.7. Comparison of TP Concentrations at each of the Sites. ............................... 36 Figure 3.8. Comparison of Phosphorous Speciation at each of the Sites. ....................... 37 Figure 3.9. Comparison of PN and POC Concentrations at each of the Sites. ................ 38 Figure 3.10. Comparison of DOC and CDOM Concentrations at each of the Sites. ....... 39 Figure 3.11. Comparison of Chl-a and GPP Concentrations at each of the Sites. ........... 40 Figure 3.12. Linear Regression Analysis of Chl-a. ........................................................ 41 Figure 3.13. Linear Regression Analysis of GPP. ......................................................... 42 Figure 3.14. Linear Regression Analysis of Chl-a and GPP vs. nutrient ratios. ............. 43 Figure 3.15. Relative Phytoplankton Community Composition. .................................... 44 Figure 3.16. Total Precipitation of South Bay and Inlet Oaks. ....................................... 45 ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The coastal region of South Carolina has some of the highest rates of urbanization in the country and the impacts of this development are of great environmental concern (Van Dolah et al., 2008). One potential environmental hazard is stormwater runoff from developed land. The most common approach for controlling runoff is the construction of stormwater detention ponds. These ponds serve primarily to contain runoff for short time periods in order to reduce peak flow (Zhu et al., 2004)