Estuaries

A Brief Introduction to Natural and

Human-Induced Processes in Estuaries
What Are Estuaries and Why
Should We Care About Them?
• Semi-enclosed bodies of water where fresh water & salt water mix…
• Estuaries are critical habitats for many ecologically and economically
important coastal species…
• Estuaries are natural biological and geochemical reactors…
• While net flow is almost always from the land to the sea, tidal influences
and often two-layered flow tend to retain materials in estuaries…
• In most, but not all estuaries, freshwater input from the watershed is
the major source of nutrients, contaminants, suspended sediments, etc…
• The sources of these inputs varies, however, with ‘point-sources’ from
specified inputs and ‘non-point sources’ from varied sources such as
precipitation, agriculture, septic tanks and groundwater contributing…
• Different estuaries have differing capacities to cope with human
perturbations based on their physical and geological make-up…
What are the Most Critical Factors
Impacting Estuaries?

• Habitat Loss
• Bacterial Contamination
• Chemical Contaminants
• Loss of Keystone Species
• Sediment Inputs
• Nutrient Over-Enrichment
• Micro-algae and Macro-algae Overgrowth
• Hypoxia & Anoxia
NOAA Eutrophication Model

Bricker 1999
Eutrophication
Positive Versus Negative Effects
Oligotrophic Mesotrophic Eutrophic Dystrophic

Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Pelagic Fish

Bottom Oxygen
Benthos
Benthic Fish
Population Increase
10000
Population (Millions)

8000 World Total

Europe, Russian,
6000 and The Americas

Rest of Asia
4000 and Oceana

China
2000

Africa
0
1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
Year
Adapted from Nixon, 1994
Land Clearing
Land Clearing
& Agriculture
Fertilizer Production
Fertilizer (10 tons) 140

120 Mining of Phosphate Rock

100
6

80
Synthesis of
60 Nitrogen Fertilzer
40

20

0
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year
Adapted from Nixon, 1994
Intensive Agriculture
Point Source Inputs
Headlines from Other Regions
[We are Not Alone in Our Concerns…]
A Case Study In Nutrient Biogeochemistry Research
Mobile Bay, Alabama – Sorting Through Variability

Mobile Bay
 Dog River Fowl River Weeks Bay
Developed 24.6% 1.7% 0.8%

Forested 39.7% 41.2% 29.8%

Agriculture 20.3% 33.4% 59.9%

Wetland 11.2% 18.5% 5.6%

#
#
#
#

#
#
#

#
#
 Upper Lower Coastal
25 25 25

20 20 20
NO3 (M)

15 15 15

10 10 10

5 5 5

0 0 0
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

Month
NOAA Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment

Bricker 1999
Environmental Protection Agency
Thank You!