Ripple Marks

or collective redistirbutionor collective of this by of any article portion Th is article has been published in been has is article Ripple Marks Oceanography Th e Story Behind the Story BY CHERYL LYN DYBAS , Volume 4, a quarterly journal of Th 18, Number photocopy machine, reposting, or other means reposting, photocopy machine, is only w permitted COASTAL DEAD ZONES

PAST AS PROLOGUE? It steals in by night on an east wind, this low-oxygen water that moves

e Oceanography Society. Copyright e Oceanography 2005 by Th shoreward from the Gulf of Mexico into Mobile Bay, Alabama. Cries of “Jubilee!” carry along Mo- bile Bay’s eastern shore, for ahead of this dead zone known to local citizens as a jubilee, bottom- dwelling fi sh and crabs sense the low oxygen levels and scuttle away to avoid suff ocation. Some are In this MODIS image from January 15, 2002, the Gulf of Mexico awash in a mixture of ith the approval of Th trapped as the hypoxic, or low-oxygen, waters phytoplankton and sediment. Each summer, the phytoplankton population explodes. As approach shore. Crabs, eels, fl ounders, and other marine creatures wash in like so much fl otsam the phytoplankton age, die, and decompose, oxygen is used up, creating hypoxic zones. and jetsam. Fishers line docks and beaches, poised Photo Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC. e Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. Permission reserved. Society. All rights is e Oceanography gran

e Oceanography Society. Send all correspondence to: Society. Send e Oceanography [email protected] or Th to grab this last line of life before the poisonous waters reach the shoreline. Jubilees, once known mostly in the Gulf of Mexico region, now happen in Chesapeake Bay During summer 2005, the Gulf of Mexico dead Crawford Lake, Canada. And early Native Ameri- and other areas, wherever coastal dead zones zone reached 11,840 square kilometers, according cans living near the lake had their own dead zone occur. Worldwide, there are now 146 such dead to biologist Nancy Rabalais, director of the Louisi- with which to contend, according to scientist Erik zones, waters with oxygen too low to sustain life. ana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). Ekdahl of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Excess nutrients like nitrogen are an important To look at past dead zones, Osterman and In a paper published in the September 2004, factor in the increase in coastal dead zones, and colleagues took sediment cores from areas where issue of the journal Geology, Ekdahl documents also in the expansion of harmful algal blooms the Gulf’s recent dead zone has been found. Th e changes in Crawford Lake’s diatom community. (HABs), according to a paper in the June 2005 is- scientists dated the specimens and counted three Increased nutrient input to the lake, perhaps from sue of Oceanography by Patricia Glibert et al., “Th e species of foraminifera (“forams”) in the cores; forest disturbance to clear fi elds for corn and

ted in teaching to copy thisand research. for use Repu article Role of Eutrophication in the Global Proliferation these species tolerate low-oxygen waters. As long other crops, caused bottom-water hypoxia and of Harmful Algal Blooms.” Since the 1960s, accord- ago as 1823, the forams thrived during Mississippi altered the lake’s diatom community structure— ing to a report by the U.N. Environment Program River fl ood years. Th is suggests, says Osterman, within a few short years. Iroquois settlements in e Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA. 1931, Rockville, Box PO Society, e Oceanography (UNEP), Global Environmental Outlook Year Book that nutrients like nitrogen in spring fl oodwaters, the region died out in the fi fteenth century. Th e 2003, the number of dead zones has doubled with coincident with the timing of plankton blooms, ghostly remains of a dead zone, however, still lurk each passing decade. can indeed trigger hypoxia. in Crawford Lake, waiting to surface should excess When did these killing fi elds for fi sh and other But the forams in Osterman’s core samples nutrients again be added to its waters. marine life begin? Perhaps longer ago than anyone were most abundant after 1950, when farm- States Ekdahl, “Th e eutrophic diatom assem- thought, according to scientists Lisa Osterman, ers began using more fertilizer. “Our data show,” blage from the time of the Iroquois occupation Richard Poore, and Peter Swarzenski of the U.S. wrote Osterman and co-authors, “that low-oxygen remains in place, primed for further nutrient input Geological Survey, and Eugene Turner of Louisiana events since 1950 were more extreme than any despite the hundreds of years that have passed.” State University. In a paper published in the April, that had occurred in the previous 180 years, and Will that be the fate of the Gulf of Mexico…Mo-

blication, systemmatic reproduction, 2005, issue of the journal Geology, the research- support the interpretation that increased use of bile Bay…Chesapeake Bay…hundreds of years ers discuss results showing that dead zones in the fertilizer has amplifi ed this process.” after we’re gone? Gulf of Mexico are nothing new. Th ey existed as Far north of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds Th is piece was adapted from an article by far back as the 1800s. But the dead zone’s modern- of years before farmers grew crops along the Mis- Cheryl Lyn Dybas that appeared in the July 2005 day extent is what’s astounding, says Osterman. sissippi River, fertilizer of sorts was in use near issue of the journal BioScience.

Oceanography Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 2005 9 RIPPLE MARKS

PROTECTING BLUE GOLD

exploitation of international seabeds and the or- a few have legislation regulating access to and ex- ganisms living there could have serious long-term ploitation of their marine genetic resources. consequences for humankind. For the private One nation that does is Canada, which in 2003 sector, uncertainty caused by the absence of clear, established the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vent globally-agreed-upon rules deters important re- Marine Protected Area. Th e area lies in Canadian search and investment decisions.” waters on the Juan de Fuca Ridge southwest of Adds report contributor Sam Johnston, senior Vancouver Island at a depth of 2250 m. It covers research fellow at UNU-IAS, “Th e legal and policy 100 square kilometers of seabed and overlying framework is not even close to keeping pace with water column, and is composed of four fi elds of the fast-evolving science and technology of deep “black smoker” structures—the Main Endeavour seabed bioprospecting.” Field, the Mothra Field, the High Rise Field, and THE “TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS” brought Th ese resources lay within the global com- the Sawlty Dawg Field. to the fore by Garrett Hardin in his 1968 Science mons, says Salvatore Arico of UNESCO, a visiting Canadian regulations state that no person shall paper has found its way to the farthest reaches of research fellow at UNU-IAS and a lead author of damage, destroy, or remove from the area any our planet: the deep-sea fl oor. the report. “Are they free for anyone to take, or are part of the seabed (including a vent structure), Vast genetic resources—“blue gold” in the they the heritage and property of all humankind?” the subsoil, or any living organism or part of its ocean depths—need protection from commercial All major pharmaceutical fi rms, according to habitat. However, removal for scientifi c research exploitation, warns a recently released report from industry reports, including Merck, Lilly, Pfi zer, for the conservation, protection, and understand- the Japan-based United Nations University Insti- Hoff man-Laroche, and Bristol Myers-Squibb, have ing of the area is allowed. tute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). marine biology departments. Worldwide sales Other sea-bottom locations under consider- Th e report, Bioprospecting of Genetic Resources of marine biotechnology-related products have ation for protective measures include the Lucky in the Deep Seabed: Scientifi c, Legal and Policy reached 100 billion dollars. Anti-cancer agents Strike and Menez Gwen hydrothermal vent fi elds, Aspects, cites rising concerns about the absence of from marine organisms are valued at $1 billion. proposed as a Marine Protected Area by Portugal. clear rules governing access to and sharing of ben- Annual profi ts from just one compound derived Th ese vents are found at the Azores Triple Junction efi ts derived from the “global commons” of the from a sea sponge, used to treat herpes infections, in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, stretching from sea bed. It also warns of the potential for severe, are more than $50 million. the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to southwest of the Azores. perhaps permanent, damage to these unique and “Even so, we still know very little about the Th e UNU-IAS report suggests that more na- sensitive ecosystems, which include seamounts, genetic resources in deep-sea environments,” says tions should develop such regulations. Before that cold seeps, and hydrothermal vents. Craig Cary, director of the Center for Marine En- can happen on a large scale, however, states the Increasingly recognized as important for their vironmental Genomics at the University of Dela- report, there is a need to defi ne bioprospecting; potential medical and other uses, life forms in the ware, “and need many more years of basic research establish whether the sequencing of a genome deep-sea are now more accessible, and therefore and exploration. Th e R&D investment necessary to can be considered an invention; develop guide- more vulnerable, because of rapid advances in ex- make good on a bioprospecting fi nd is enormous, lines to help countries determine the implications ploration technology, according to the report. and unless the path to discovery remains some- of marine scientifi c research in the deep-sea; and Known as “extremophiles,” the organisms what clear of major legal and fi nancial obstacles, decide whether marine scientifi c researchers/aca- of the deeps that live in extreme conditions are few companies will be able to take the walk.” demia and private companies should be treated drawing interest from scientists and from private Bioprospecting in the deep-sea within a na- diff erently with regard to access to deep seabed companies bioprospecting for possible pharma- tion’s territorial limits is currently regulated by the genetic resources. ceutical and industrial applications. UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), What happens with regard to policy-setting “Deep-sea ecosystems hold the promise of which determines countries’ jurisdictions, rights for living resources in the depths of the oceans, huge potential contributions to future human and obligations in the oceans, as well as by the many believe, could set precedents for exploiting well-being, to providing our planet with vital cli- Convention on Biological Diversity, which governs similar resources in places like Antarctica, the Arc- mate-related and other ecological services, and access to genetic resources and benefi t-sharing. tic, even outer space. Garrett Hardin likely never have much to teach us about life’s processes,” says While most nations have regulations on marine imagined how far the tragedy of the commons UNU-IAS director A.H. Zakri. “Th e unregulated scientifi c research in their waters and seabed, only might reach.

10 Oceanography Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 2005 GOLF COURSE PROTECTS TIDAL CREEKS

nutrient management could be developed. But at the golf course swale site. But that’s also where that’s exactly what recent results published in the the highest denitrifi cation rates of the four envi- journal Estuaries show. ronments were observed. Known as a golfer’s paradise, Hilton Head is Microbes living in the swale, it turns out, are Chechessee golf course near Callawassie Island, home to more than 50 golf courses. Many are adja- fi ltering out much of the excess nitrogen before Beaufort, SC. Photo credit: H. Kelsey. cent to tidal creeks; these estuarine feeder streams it’s washed into the surrounding marsh. “Micro- are unique to the southeastern United States. bial denitrifi cation [in the golf course swale] plays OCEAN AND BEACH. SAND AND SHELLS. Hilton One of Hilton Head’s golf courses, Chechessee an important role in the biogeochemical nitrogen Head, South Carolina, and golf courses. Where Golf Course on Callawassie Island, was the site of cycle, and could have a signifi cant eff ect on the re- there’s one, there’s almost certainly the other. But a comparative study of nitrogen pollution in four moval of excess nitrogen from coastal sediments,” the manicured greens of golf courses, an increas- environments: grassy golf course swale; marshland write Tuerk and Aelion in Estuaries. “As golf ingly familiar sight in the United States and espe- near the golf course; undeveloped marsh; and courses are constructed, best management prac- cially so in Hilton Head, often come at a price to an undeveloped forest area. Results of the study, tices (BMPs), such as swales, retention ponds and the environment. Fertilizer applied to the greens, conducted by Karen Tuerk and Marjorie Aelion of vegetated buff ers, should be in place to maximize and to wastewater used for their irrigation, can the University of South Carolina, were published denitrifi cation and fi ltration of nutrients.” increase levels of nutrients like nitrogen. Th ese nu- in the June 2005 issue of Estuaries. It’s certainly counter-intuitive, says Aelion, “that trients eventually fl ow into nearby waterways. Tuerk and Aelion measured concentrations of a golf course would be the site of a BMP for coastal A golf course might be the last place, then, nutrients in the sediments and overlying waters at nutrient management. But that’s exactly what we where a best management practice (BMP) for each site. Surface water nitrate levels were highest found, and in the unlikeliest of places.”

JELLYFISH SWARMS

ONCE A MONTH, on the darkest nights near the ing waters, according to plant managers, the fl ow new moon, otherworldly beings emerge from Pa- is hindered. Th e reactor automatically shuts down. cifi c Ocean depths and drift onto the beaches of Th e Baltic is known for its high numbers of Hawaii. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of these late-summer moon jellies, but last summer’s pop- quivering masses of jelly fl oat in with the night ulation reached a new level. tide. Near shore, time grows short to complete “As parts of the oceans become increasingly their mission: to reproduce, leaving behind minia- disturbed and overfi shed,” wrote biologist Claudia ture versions of themselves fastened with a glue- Mills of the University of Washington in a 2001 like substance to reefs and rocks in the shallows. issue of the journal Hydrobiologia, “energy that Box jellyfi sh, the invaders are called. Scien- previously went into production of fi shes may be Moon jellyfi sh. Photo credit: Florida Keys National tists from around the world are studying Hawaii’s switched over to the production of pelagic Cni- Marine Sanctuary. box jellies. Th e sting from this jelly can be lethal, daria or Ctenophora.” leading Hawaiian authorities to post warnings to If overfi shing continues in the North Atlantic number one export product there. beach-goers whenever the jellies come ashore. and elsewhere, “fi shing boats could soon be chas- But local fi shermen, in their haste to make a Over the past few decades, more and more box jel- ing jellyfi sh instead of fi sh,” said fi sheries scientist profi t from the swarming jellies, began to fi ght lies have been found in the waters around Hawaii. Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia. over the resource, destroying each other’s huts and Jellyfi sh swarms also are a problem well beyond In fact, that’s exactly what’s happening in Puli- damaging jellyfi sh industry processing facilities. Hawaiian waters. Last August, hundreds of moon cat, a small fi shing town at the southern border of Marine resource economists are concerned jellyfi sh took over another coastal territory: the Pulicat Lake, Tamil Nadu, India. In recent summers about the fate of these fi shermen: if the jellyfi sh cooling system of the Oskarshamn nuclear power there, huge jellyfi sh swarms have fl oated in Pulicat industry leaves the area to follow jellyfi sh blooms plant in southeastern Sweden, which uses water Lake’s waters. Export industries based in the Far in other places, what becomes of the fi shers’ live- from the Baltic Sea in its cooling tanks. Th e plant East, looking for jellyfi sh for a thriving edible jel- lihoods? Jellyfi sh are aff ecting far more than the shut down one of its three reactors until the jel- lyfi sh market in countries like China and Japan, marine life with which they share the seas; their lies, splattered through the reactor’s pipes, could moved in and began buying up Pulicat Lake village swarming numbers also may turn the tide against be removed. When jellyfi sh clog power plant cool- buildings and boats. Jellyfi sh quickly became the human coastal communities.

Oceanography Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 2005 11 RIPPLE MARKS

NATIVE LORE TELLS TALE

FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION in Su- matra and Sri Lanka the stories are passed, tales of fl oods and earth-shaking and devastation. Th e disastrous Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 added the latest story of nature’s havoc to the lore of these island nations. Th e tsunami was an event unprecedented in the written history of the region, says Ruth Lud- win, a University of Washington seismologist. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, and whole villages were wiped out. “But members of native tribes in the Anda- man and Nicobar Islands survived the tsunami in Th is illustration depicts a late 19th century interior ceremonial screen from Port Alberni, on British a way we would do well to examine closely,” says Columbia’s Vancouver Island. It shows Th underbird carrying Whale in its talons, a common native Ludwin. “Th ey made use of ancient oral traditions depiction of seismic activity. Th e original screen is in the American Museum of Natural History. Th e handed down from family to family, stories that image is taken from Northwest Coast Painting – House Fronts and Interior Screens by Edward Malin, foretold the approach of a huge wave. Th ese is- ©1999, Timber Press, Portland, OR. landers reached safety before the devastation hit.” “Sea gypsies” who live along the Th ai-Burmese border and call themselves the Moken escaped, northern edge of Vancouver Island. References to of plant growth, are clearly visible with LIDAR. they say, because they heeded tales of monster Th underbird and Whale, or to similar fi gures that LIDAR also revealed parts of the Seattle fault, the waves created by the spirit of the sea. Th e spirit represent the forces of earth and water, are found source of the earthquake experienced by native gave the gypsies a warning, they believe. First the in native stories of earth shaking and fl ooding all peoples in 900. earth shook. Th en the sea quickly receded, the along the Pacifi c coastline. One northern California native story describes natives’ cue to run for high ground. Finally, a wall “It appears that these stories refl ect actual a huge earthquake, relates Ludwin, during which of water descended upon any unwise enough earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides,” says Lud- elders tell young members of their tribe to run to remain on the low coastlands the sea spirit win, who published results of her research in two for high ground to avoid coming fl oodwaters. wished to reclaim. recent issues of the journal Seismological Research After spending a night on a dark, forested hill, the Th e Moken live exactly where last December’s Letters, July/August 2005 and March/April 2005. young fi nd that all trace of their village has been tsunami hit hardest. Not one member of their “Th ere are many, many of these tales, suggesting washed away by a tsunami. tribe was lost. Ludwin also discovered that native that past earthquakes and tsunamis had profound “If we’d listened closely to these stories,” says stories point the way to a large earthquake that eff ects on early inhabitants of the Pacifi c North- Ludwin, “we might have guessed that a year 900 happened around A.D. 900 near the Seattle fault, west. Importantly, there’s corresponding evidence earthquake and the existence of the Seattle fault and to a massive earthquake and tsunami in the for these events in geologic studies, both on the were related, and that a later earthquake in 1700 Cascadia subduction zone in the year 1700. coast and in the central Puget Sound area.” presaged a tsunami in this region. Stories of epic battles between Th underbird One story mentions a powerful “spirit boulder” “We also might have known that last Decem- and Whale, fi gures common in the lore of native south of the ferry terminal in Seattle. Ludwin was ber’s tsunami was coming—in time to save thou- peoples of the Pacifi c Northwest, have their roots able to locate the boulder, then look at LIDAR sands and thousands of lives. Who knows what we in this seismic history, Ludwin believes. images of the area. She found a large prehistoric might learn by investigating the story-knowledge Th e tales are handed from person to person landslide ending at the boulder. Details of the of people who have long histories in natural haz- living in areas from northern California to the landslide, hidden by development and centuries ard-prone areas?”

Cheryl Lyn Dybas ([email protected]) is a staff member in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Offi ce of the Director and is a marine scientist and policy ana- lyst by training. She also writes on a freelance basis about the seas for Th e Washington Post, BioScience, National Wildlife, and many other publications. Ripple Marks is a new department in Oceanography intended to provide readers with “the story behind the story.”

12 Oceanography Vol. 18, No. 4, Dec. 2005