NEW ENGLAND ESTUARINE RESEARCH SOCIETY ABSTRACTS SPRING MEETING Thursday 20 May 1999 - Sunday 23 May 1999 Oak Island Inn Western Shore, Nova Scotia W. G. Ambrose, Jr., S. Arnold, D. Smart, L. Wacker, Department of Biology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine 04240 EFFECT OF BAITWORM DIGGING ON THE SOFT-SHELLED CLAM, MYA A R E N A R I A , IN MAINE Experiments conducted during the fall of 1997 and spring of 1999 on 1 intertidal flats in Maine determined the extent of shell damage and exposure of the soft-shelled clam, Mya arenaria, on the sediment surface resulting from commercial bloodworm (Glycera dibranchiata) digging. On one flat in the fall, we conservatively estimate that worm diggers dig up and expose on the sediment surface 6% of the greater than 2 mm fraction of the clam population each time they turn over the sediment. Twenty-percent of the clams had at least one valve damaged. Fifteen percent of intact clams exposed were found with their siphon up, 41% with their siphon down, and 44% were horizontal on the sediment surface. Siphon orientation of exposed clams influenced their rate and depth of reburial. Recovery of large clams (5.6 cm average shell length) was much greater (91.8%) from undug than dug sediment (59.4%), suggesting that predators are attracted to dug areas. Only about 50% of small clams were recovered live. Shell damage of recovered dead clams indicated that predators consumed some of the missing clams. These results are compared with similar experiments conducted during the spring of 1999 and observations on other intertidal flats. Our results suggest that baitworm digging negatively affects the survival of Mya arenaria by directly damaging shells and by exposing clams to increased risk of predation. Andrew Bauder, Allan Cembella and Nancy Lewis. Institute for Marine Biosciences, National Research Council, Halifax, NS. A. STRATEGIES FOR HARMFUL PLANKTON MONITORING IN MAHONE BAY. Harmful algal blooms are episodic events that may cause toxicity and/or faunal mortalities, and thus restrict harvesting of coastal aquaculture species. Many blooms form cryptic sub-surface aggregations and high biomass is not necessarily a prerequisite for harmful effects. Examples of such blooms from coastal Nova Scotia include those of Alexandrium tamarense, which causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, and A. o s t e n f e l d i i , recently associated with spirolide toxicity in bivalve shellfish. Beginning in 1996, a detailed investigation into the distribution and biological origin of these toxins was initiated at Graves Shoal, an aquaculture site in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Data on standard oceanographic parameters (chorophyll, macronutrients, plankton composition and abundance, water column stratification) and bulk toxicity of size-fractonated plankton samples from discrete depths were used to establish the spatio-temporal distribution and seasonal occurrence of toxigenic dioflagellates. This was complemented with the installation of a moored in situ optical sensor (TACCS) that detects both up- and down-welling spectral radiance. The vertical distribution of toxigenic plankton exhibited a temporal shift (from early May to July), which was coupled with the degree of water column stratification. Use of plankton profiling techniques for bloom dynamics and toxin monitoring will be specifically addressed for aquaculture applications. Lenny Bellet and Scott Warren, Department of Botany, Connecticut College, New London, CT. THE IMPACT OF INCREASED FLOODING FREQUENCIES ON SEDIMENT BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND VEGETATION PATTERNS ON CONNECTICUT TIDAL MARSHES Significant vegetation change has taken place on many Connecticut tidal 2 marshes over the past 25 years. Large portions of dense Spartina patens high marsh have been converted to a mixed community consisting of stunted Spartina alterniflora, Distichlis spicata, forbs, and persisting S. patens. Some previously vegetated areas are completely devoid of angiosperms. In this study, five sites were examined in southeastern CT. On two the vegetation has remained relatively stable, while three have undergone significant change. Changed sites were found to have lower mean elevations and were therefore submerged by a greater percentage of flooding tides. The porewater salinity, sediment redox potential, and sulfide concentration were measured in vegetated and non-vegetated areas of two changed sites and one relatively stable site. Sites with the highest flooding frequencies had the lowest mean redox potential, with consistently lower readings at non-vegetated areas. Mean sulfide concentrations were inversely correlated with mean redox potentials (R2= 0.93) although variability for sulfide was large. Increased rates of relative sea level rise and subsequent hydroperiod are favoring lower peat redox and greater sediment sulfide concentrations. Though marsh halophytes are adapted to a reducing environment, there seems to be a sulfide and redox threshold around 0.75 mM and -300 mV respectively, beyond which high marsh perennials can no longer survive. Joan L. Beskenis, Dept. of Plant Biology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH DOES THE BIOFILM ON THE SURFACE OF FUCOID GERMLINGS AND SURROUNDING SURFACES PROTECT THEM FROM METAL TOXICITY FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO COPPER AND ZINC? Experiments were conducted to examine the role that the biofilm (the covering of microscopic bacteria, algae, fungi in a polysaccharide matrix) has on the germination and development of fucoid germlings. Initially, glass slides were put out in a tidal stream in Kittery, Maine for a period of one week to allow the development of a biofilm. Following their retrieval, they were brought to the Jackson Estuarine Research Laboratory, Durham Point, New Hampshire where they were put into containers holding filtered seawater as well as male and female receptacles of Fucus vesiculosus var. spiralis. Their gametes were released onto these slides as well as slides that did not have a biofilm. Following fertilization, the slides with the zygotes attached were transferred to containers for the following treatments: 1) 2 mg/1 copper and zinc grown on slides with (BF) and without a biofilm (NBF), 2) 2 mg/1 copper BF, NBF, 3) 0.2 copper and zinc BF, NBF and 4) two controls filtered seawater BF, NBF. The culture trays were put into a 15 C incubator with a 16:8 day:night cycle and examined after two days when the length of the germlings was measured. Copper and zinc treated germlings grew the best on the biofilm. The containers with just copper at 2 mg/l, surprising, did better if no biofilm was present. The germlings with the highest mean length were grown on slides without a previously established biofilm and with no added metals. Alison Biddle and R. Scott Warren. Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies, Connecticut College, New London, CT 06320. SEA-LEVEL, MARSH SURFACE MICRORELIEF, AND VEGETATION: 25 YEARS OF CHANGE ON A LONG ISLAND SOUND TIDAL SALT MARSH. 3 A 66 x 13 m microrelief/vegetation transect, established on Cottrell Marsh, Stonington, Connecticut in 1973 was re-surveyed in 1989 and 1998. Microrelief/vegetation surfaces were prepared for all three sampling years. -1 Over these 25 years the marsh surface lost more than 2 mm yr agai-nst rising sea level. From 1973 - 1989 elevation increased 1.78 mm yr 1, substantially faster than sea level during that interval. Elevation increased 2.80 mm yr-1 from 1989 to 1998; sea level rise over that period, however, averaged 14.2 mm yr-1. Within the transect, accretion was inversely related to initial elevation over both time intervals. In 1973 a nearly monospecific Spartina patens levee occurred behind tall Spartina alterniflora low-marsh. Landward, lower elevations dominated by stunted alterniflora and forbs gave way near the upland to mixed patens/Distichlis spicata, followed by nearly pure Juncus gerardii. Forb patches had invaded levee patens by 1989 while Juncus belt extent and purity had decreased. Accretion in these forb patches and in Juncus was less than the marsh mean. From 1989 to 1998 forbs and Distichlis continued to increase, as did stunted alterniflora. Plant stand purity has also declined since 1973. A mean of 2.0 species occurred within 15 cm of each elevation point in 1973. 1989's 2.1.8 species point-' was significantly greater; by 1998 this index reached 2.34. These values reflect increased Dis tichl is and forb frequencies. In summary, Cottrell Marsh is not keeping up with sea level; vegetation change is most apparent where surface accretion is the slowest, suggesting a causal relationship. Joanne C. Bintz, Scott W. Nixon, Stephen Granger, Graduate School of Oceanography University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI PHOTOSYNTHETIC RESPONSE OF EELGRASS (ZOSTERA MARINA L.) SEEDLINGS TO REDUCED LIGHT Eelgrass habitat has declined in many locations along the East Coast of the United States. Because of the widely recognized importance of seagrass habitat, efforts are increasingly being made to create seagrass beds in relatively unimpacted areas or to recreate beds in systems after pollution inputs have been reduced. Using seeds to enhance transplanting and restoration efforts would be an efficient, low cost method of creating habitat on a large scale. However, little is known about the light requirements of seedlings or their ability to adapt to sub-optimal light conditions. Photosynthesis - irradiance (P-I) response curves were obtained over a summer for seedlings grown in 13%, 47% and 100% light. Individual plants were placed in 300 ml BOD bottles filled with filtered estuarine water, and placed under various levels of shade screening or in 100% light. Apparent photosynthesis was measured as 02 evolution during a 5 hour incubation. Pmax was highest in plants grown at 13% light and was not significantly different in plants grown at 100% and 47% light. Respiration rate was highest in plants grown at 100% light. Robert Buchsbaum, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Wenham, MA 01984; John Catena and Eric Hutchins, National Marine Fisheries Service, Gloucester, MA, David Burdick, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, Eric Holt, Massachusetts Audubon Society.