Modeling the Factors Controlling Phytoplankton in the St. Louis Bay Estuary, Mississippi and Evaluating Estuarine Responses to Nutrient Load Modifications
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 3
Abstract
Several biochemical and physical factors regulate phytoplankton primary productivity and algal bloom events in estuarine environments. Some of the most important factors include nitrogen, phosphorus and silica availability, light availability, and estuarine flushing potential. A better understanding of these processes is necessary to support sound management strategies that take into account the hydrological, hydraulic, and biochemical connectivity between estuaries and their watersheds. In this paper the factors controlling phytoplankton productivity in a tributary estuary of the northern Gulf of Mexico, the St. Louis Bay estuary, Mississippi, and the system responses to nutrient load alterations are studied. For this purpose a coupled hydrodynamic and water quality model based on U.S. EPA computer models was implemented. The writers present an evaluation of the model predictive capacity, and its implementation to study the processes controlling phytoplankton dynamics, nutrient cycling, and oxygen availability. The results suggest that primary productivity is limited by nitrogen availability. Under current nutrient load conditions the concentrations of nitrogen fall below , and the rates of primary productivity vary between 0.5 and with a mean of . The simulation of four different nutrient load scenarios suggests a low sensitivity of the estuary to the evaluated conditions in the watershed. The results also indicate that the coupled model is a cost-effective strategy to investigate the impacts of different management strategies. At a regional scale, the implemented approach can contribute to the design of integrated strategies to reduce hypoxia and algal bloom problems in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Acknowledgments
The research reported in this paper was funded by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality under Contractual Agreement Nos. MDEQ-06-ID-01TT and MDEQ-11-00107TT, between Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and Tetra Tech, Inc. [as Work Orders No. 17 (09-01TT-17) and 10 (11-00107TT-10)].
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 3 • March 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 26, 2014
Accepted: Jul 29, 2014
Published online: Sep 24, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 24, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2015
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