The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Biogeography Branch (CCMA-BB) worked with partners to assess and characterize the marine environment in and around the St. Croix East End Marine Park. The Park was established in 2003. At the time of creation there were ...

This study was based on the sediment quality triad (SQT) approach. A stratified probabilistic sampling design was utilized to characterize the Delaware Bay system in terms of chemical contamination, sediment toxicity (Microtox, amphipod bioassay; sea urchin gamete bioassay; and P450 biomarker) and benthic infaunal community structure. The purpose was to ...

The Phytoplankton Monitoring Network (PMN) is a part of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS). The PMN was created as an outreach program to connect volunteers and professional scientists in the monitoring of marine phytoplankton and harmful algal blooms (HABs). NOAA staff train volunteers on sampling techniques and ...

Venomous Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois miles and P. volitans) are now established along the Southeast U.S.A. and parts of the Caribbean and pose a serious threat to reef fish communities of these regions. Lionfish are likely to invade the Gulf of Mexico and potentially South America in the near future. Introductions ...

Disturbance and biotic resistance are important factors driving plant invasions, but how these factors interact for plants with different modes of colonization (i.e., sexual and asexual) is unclear. We evaluated factors influencing the invasion of nonnative Phragmites australis, which has been rapidly expanding in brackish tidal wetlands in Chesapeake Bay ...

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a recurrent and widespread problem in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) caused by the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense. Blooms of this species have been the subject of more than a decade of investigation through the ECOHAB-GOM and GOMTOX research programs. Multiple large-scale field surveys have provided ...

Abundances of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and concentrations of particulate domoic acid (DA) were determined in the Southern California Bight (SCB) along the coasts of Los Angeles and Orange Counties during spring and summer of 2003 and 2004. At least 1500 km2 were affected by a toxic event in May/June of 2003 ...

San Francisco Bay (SFB) is a eutrophic estuary that harbors both freshwater and marine toxigenic organisms that are responsible for harmful algal blooms. While there are few commercial fishery harvests within SFB, recreational and subsistence harvesting for shellfish is common. Coastal shellfish are monitored for domoic acid and paralytic shellfish ...

Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) is exploring the concept of a research area (RA) within its boundaries. The idea of a research area was first suggested in public scoping meetings held prior to the review of the Gray's Reef Management Plan. An RA is a region specifically designed for ...

Large-scale hypoxia regularly develops during the summer on the Louisiana continental shelf. Traditionally, hypoxia has been linked to the vast winter and spring nutrient inputs from the Mississippi River and its distributary, the Atchafalaya River. However, recent studies indicate that much of the shelf ecosystem is heterotrophic. We used data ...

These data sets show acoustically detected fish densities throughout the Caribbean ocean. NOAA/NCCOS collected these data sets to help characterize broad-scale fish abundance, biomass, and understand temporal behavior. Acoustic data was collected aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster using 120-7C splitbeam transducer during cruise # NF08-01, NF09-01, NF10-03, NF11-01, NF12-01, NF13-01, ...

An ecologically and economically disruptive harmful algal bloom (HAB) affected much of the northeast Pacific margin in 2015, during a prolonged oceanic warm anomaly. Caused by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, this HAB produced the highest particulate concentrations of the biotoxin domoic acid (DA) ever recorded in Monterey Bay, California ...

Acropora palmata was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May 2006 (71 FR 26852). In 2012, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed the reclassification of A. palmata (77 FR 73219) as endangered, but determined in 2014, that they would remain listed as threatened under the ESA (79 ...

This document presents the results of a workshop conducted during August, 1996, to better define a research agenda to study the combined effects of natural variability and anthropogenic change in Pacific Northwest coastal ecosystems. It contains five complementary syntheses written for the workshop on the topics of human intervention in ...

In this article, we quantify some important changes in water quality for the Lower Mississippi River for this century and then suggest their causes and possible impact ...

This project provides a framework for developing the capabilities of using satellite and related oceanographic and climatological data to improve environmental monitoring and characterization of physical, biological, and water quality parameters in the National Marine Sanctuaries (NMS). The project sought to: 1) assemble satellite imagery datasets in order to extract ...

Dinoflagellates make up a diverse array of fatty acids and polyketides. A necessary precursor for their synthesis is malonyl-CoA formed by carboxylating acetyl CoA using the enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). To date, information on dinoflagellate ACC is limited. Through transcriptome analysis in Amphidinium carterae, we found three full-length homomeric type ACC sequences; ...

Baseline environmental characterizations of the lagoons and estuaries in the northeastern Chukchi and western Beaufort Seas, were conducted using a sediment quality approach based on water quality, sediment chemistry, and benthic invertebrate community structure. Resident fish body burdens were also assessed. The study area was subdivided into six estuaries/lagoons. Sampling ...

A baseline environmental characterization of the embayments and fjords on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska was conducted using a sediment quality approach based on sediment chemistry, and benthic invertebrate community structure. Sediment toxicity and resident fish body burdens were also assessed at one bay near an abandoned mine site. The study ...

The purpose of the surveys was to groundtruth mapping data collected in 2011, and to characterize the seafloor biota, particularly corals and sponges, in order to support Essential Fish Habitat designations under Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and other conservation and management goals under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act ( NMSA). ROV ...