Investigating the Spring Bloom in San Francisco Bay: Links Between
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The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Environmental Science College of Arts and Sciences 2007 Investigating the Spring Bloom in San Francisco Bay: Links between Water Chemistry, Metal Cycling, Mercury Speciation, and Phytoplankton Community Composition Allison C. Luengen University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/envs Part of the Environmental Chemistry Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, and the Oceanography Commons Recommended Citation Luengen, Allison C., "Investigating the Spring Bloom in San Francisco Bay: Links between Water Chemistry, Metal Cycling, Mercury Speciation, and Phytoplankton Community Composition" (2007). Environmental Science. Paper 3. http://repository.usfca.edu/envs/3 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Environmental Science by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ INVESTIGATING THE SPRING BLOOM IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY: LINKS BETWEEN WATER CHEMISTRY, METAL CYCLING, MERCURY SPECIATION, AND PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY COMPOSITION A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY by Allison Christine Luengen June 2007 The Dissertation of Allison Christine Luengen is approved: Professor A. Russell Flegal, Chair Professor Kenneth W. Bruland Professor Raphael M. Kudela Professor Peter T. Raimondi Lisa C. Sloan Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright © by Allison C. Luengen 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................Ill LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................V LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................VIH LIST OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................VIH ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... XII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..........................................................................................XIV INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: CONTRASTING BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF SIX TRACE METALS DURING THE RISE AND DECAY OF A SPRING PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOM IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY................................... 8 Abstract............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Introduction...................................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods........................................................................................................................................................... 10 Results...............................................................................................................................................................14 Discussion........................................................................................................................................................16 CHAPTER 2: DEPLETION OF DISSOLVED METHYL MERCURY BY A PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOM IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY................................. 27 Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................27 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 29 Methods...........................................................................................................................................................33 Results...............................................................................................................................................................38 Discussion........................................................................................................................................................42 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 3: FINE SCALE CHANGES IN PHYTOPLANKTON COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND WATER CHEMISTRY DURING A SPRING BLOOM IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY........................................................ 69 Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................69 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 71 Methods...........................................................................................................................................................75 Results.............................................................................................................................................................. 80 Discussion........................................................................................................................................................83 Conclusions..................................................................................................................................................... 94 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS...................................................105 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 108 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Potential algal drawdown of each metal (Me) from the water column on the basis of a bloom of 65 (tg L'1 Chi a, a depletion of 5.16 nmol L '1 P, and [Me]: [C] and [Me]: [P] ratios for phytoplankton. By using Monterey Bay and Southern Ocean phytoplankton data to calculate the potential depletion of metals by our bloom, we were able to estimate how much of our observed changes in metal concentrations (average of sites 32 and 36) could be explained by phytoplankton assimilation. When our changes in dissolved metal concentrations far exceeded those predicted for phytoplankton activity (e.g., Mn), we considered other processes (e.g., diagenetic remobilization from sediments) ........................................................................................10 Table 1.2. Parameters measured during the spring 2003 bloom ....................................11 Table 1.3. Trace metal analyses figures of merit, showing means ± 1 standard deviation ............................................................................................................................. 11 Table 1.4. Three PCA factors were formed by the water chemistry variables. The water chemistry variables that composed each factor are listed and their loadings are given in parentheses ...........................................................................................................12 Table 1.5. Reduced models for dissolved metal concentrations. These results were generated by running general linear models with the categorical variable (site) and the three PCA factors (bloom, sorbent, and decay). Then, a model-building approach was used to reduce the models to include only the independent variables that best predicted dissolved metal concentrations ........................................................................ 13 Table 1.6. Reduced models for Kd, the distribution coefficient between the dissolved and solid phases. A model-building approach that included both forward and backward stepwise approaches was used to generate these reduced models ................13 Table 2.1. Water chemistry variables and distribution coefficients (Kd values) for MeHg and Hgx at three locations in South San Francisco Bay during a spring bloom in 2003 ................................................................................................................................ 59 Table 2.2. Best fit models relating the factors that best describe concentrations of dissolved MeHg and HgT in our study of the 2003 spring diatom bloom in San Francisco Bay. The bloom and decay factors are composite variables, formed by principal component analysis of the water chemistry data, which describe the conditions surrounding the growth and decomposition of the bloom. The categorical variable, site, is the location where the samples were collected ....................................60 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table 2.3. Best fit models relating the factors that best describe