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Data and Reports Explorer

Explore our library of NCCOS Technical Memos and various data sets. Filter by the type of publication, research category, region or contact. To access data and reports predating 2017, please visit the Legacy Publications Explorer.

The emergence of Dinophysis acuminata blooms and DSP toxins in shellfish in New York waters

The dynamics of Dinophysis acuminata and its associated diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) as well as pectenotoxins (PTXs), were investigated within plankton and shellfish in Northport Bay, NY, USA, over a four year period (2008–2011). Over the course of the study, Dinophysis bloom densities ...

The Fate of Microcystins in the Environment and Challenges for Monitoring

Microcystins are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria that act as hepatotoxins in higher organisms. These toxins can be altered through abiotic processes, such as photodegradation and adsorption, as well as through biological processes via metabolism and bacterial degradation. Some species of bacteria can degrade microcystins, and many other organisms metabolize ...

The globally distributed genus Alexandrium: Multifaceted roles in marine ecosystems and impacts on human health

The dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium is one of the major harmful algal bloom (HAB) genera with respect to the diversity, magnitude and consequences of blooms. The ability of Alexandrium to colonize multiple habitats and to persist over large regions through time is testimony to the adaptability and resilience of this group ...

The Green Bay Saga: environmental change, scientific investigation, and watershed management

The Green Bay watershed, draining a total area of approximately 40,468 km2, comprises about a third of the Lake Michigan drainage. In the early years, fur trade was the dominant economic activity within the watershed. Later, when timber harvesting, papermaking, and agriculture came on the scene in the 19th and ...

The influence of anthropogenic nitrogen loading and meteorological conditions on the dynamics and toxicity of Alexandrium fundyense blooms in a New York (USA) estuary

The goal of this two-year study was to explore the role of nutrients and climatic conditions in promoting reoccurring Alexandrium fundyense blooms in the Northport-Huntington Bay complex, NY, USA. A bloom in 2007 was short and small (3 weeks, 103 cells L?1 maximal density) compared to 2008 when the A ...

The Mesophotic, Coral Reef-Associated, Marine Algal Flora of Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea

Deepwater open-circuit scuba, dredging, submersible, and technical mixed-gas (closed-circuit) rebreather diving collections of marine benthic algae made over the last approximately 30 years in Puerto Rico are summarized in this account. In total, 186 taxa (166 identified to species) comprising 60% Rhodophyta, 11% Phaeophyceae, and 29% Chlorophyta are reported from ...

The metabolism of aquatic ecosystems: History, applications, and future challenges

Measurements of the production and consumption of organic material have been a focus of aquatic science for more than 80 years. Over the last century, a variety of approaches have been developed and employed for measuring rates of gross primary production (Pg), respiration (R), and net ecosystem production (Pn = ...

The New Fisheries Economics: Incentives Across Many Margins

New research in fisheries economics addresses incentives across many margins. These margins include within-season effects, incentives to harvest different ages and sizes of fish, responses to ecological disturbances, spatial choices, and multispecies interactions. Even developments in global seafood markets are relevant for understanding contemporary fisheries management. What connects this diverse ...

The perfect storm: Match-mismatch of bio-physical events drives larval reef fish connectivity between Pulley Ridge mesophotic reef and the Florida Keys

Mesophotic coral reef ecosystems are remote from coastal stressors, but are still vulnerable to over-exploitation, and remain mostly unprotected. They may be the key to coral reefs resilience, yet little is known about the pattern of larval subsidies from deeper to shallower coral reef habitats. Here we use a biophysical ...

The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change on Coastal Areas and Marine Resources

The issues and problems associated with coastal and marine resources, and their current or potential relationship to climate, have continued to receive a high level of national and international attention. Headlines draw attention to subjects ranging from disastrous hurricanes and one of the strongest El Niño events in recent history, ...

The Relationship Between Shoreline Armoring and Adjacent Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in Chesapeake Bay and Nearby Atlantic Coastal Bays

Shoreline armoring is an ancient and globally used engineering strategy to prevent shoreline erosion along marine, estuarine, and freshwater coastlines. Armoring alters the land water interface and has the potential to affect nearshore submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) by changing nearshore hydrology, morphology, water clarity, and sediment composition. We quantified the ...

The response of runoff and sediment loading in the Apalachicola River, Florida to climate and land use land cover change

The response of runoff and sediment loading in the Apalachicola River under projected climate change scenarios and land use land cover (LULC) change is evaluated. A hydrologic model using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool was developed for the Apalachicola region to simulate daily runoff and sediment load under present ...

The role of a PSP-producing Alexandrium bloom in an unprecedented diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) mortality event in Flanders Bay, New York, USA

Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are a threatened or endangered species in much of their range along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Over an approximately three-week period from late April to mid-May 2015, hundreds of adult diamondback terrapins were found dead on the shores of Flanders Bay, Long Island, New ...

The role of winter-spring wind and other factors controlling summer hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay

We examined the processes influencing summer hypoxia in the mainstem portion of Chesapeake Bay. The analysis was based on the Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Program data collected between 1985 and 2007. Self-organizing map (SOM) analysis indicates that bottom water dissolved oxygen (DO) starts to be depleted in the upper mesohaline area ...

The Southeast Bering Sea Ecosystem: Implications for Marine Resource Management

Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity (SEBSCC, 1996–2002) was a NOAA Coastal Ocean Program project that investigated the marine ecosystem of the southeastern Bering Sea. SEBSCC was co-managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Project goals were to understand the ...

The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2005

The purpose of this report is to provide an assessment of the current condition of coral reef ecosystems in U.S. jurisdictions, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Navassa, Florida, Flower Garden Banks and other banks of the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa, the Pacific ...

The State of Coral Reef Ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2008

This report is the third in an ongoing series of assessments of the condition of coral reef ecosystems in the United States and Pacific Freely Associated states, and the second report to focus specifically on summarizing the results of coral reef ecosystem monitoring activities carried out by federal, state, territorial, ...

The State of Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems of the United States

Since NOAA published the 2007 State of Deep Coral Ecosystems of the United States report, many deep-sea coral research and management efforts have taken place. This publication presents these exciting advances. Like the 2007 report, we have regional chapters describing the distribution and ecology of the deep-sea coral ecosystems, with ...

The use of large artificial reefs to enhance fish populations at different depths in the Florida Keys

This study showed that large prefabricated units and concrete rubble patch reefs, placed as artificial marine habitats on sand bottom, greatly enhance the abundance, diversity, and biomass of fish in an area. Densities of individuals and biomass were found considerably higher at artificial reefs than at nearby, natural, bank reefs, ...

Threats to mesophotic coral ecosystems and management options

This report is based on one of the recommendations from the 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) “Scientific Workshop on Coral Reef Resilience in Planning and Decision-support Frameworks” to address the question can intermediate depth reefs serve as “lifeboats” for increasingly stressed coral reef ecosystems? This question was addressed by ...