Virginia Coast Research Articles

Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces albidoflavus 09MW18-IS, Cultivated from the Atlantic Ocean off the Coast of Virginia.

ABSTRACTWe report a draft genome sequence for Streptomyces albidoflavus strain 09MW18-IS, isolated from the Atlantic slope off the coast of Virginia. The whole-genome sequence will provide novel insights into biosynthetic gene clusters and ecological adaptation in an oligotrophic environment.

Coastal Vegetation and Bathymetry Influence Blue Crab Abundance Across Spatial Scales

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are highly mobile, ecologically-important mesopredators that support multimillion-dollar fisheries along the western Atlantic Ocean. Understanding how blue crabs respond to coastal landscape change is integral to conservation and management, but such insights have been limited to a narrow range of habitats and spatial scales. We examined how local-scale to landscape-scale habitat characteristics and bathymetric features (channels and oceanic inlets) affect the relative abundance (catch per unit effort, CPUE) of adult blue crabs across a > 33 km2 seagrass landscape in coastal Virginia, USA. We found that crab CPUE was 1.7 × higher in sparse (versus dense) seagrass, 2.4 × higher at sites farther from (versus nearer to) salt marshes, and unaffected by proximity to oyster reefs. The probability that a trapped crab was female was 5.1 × higher in sparse seagrass and 8 × higher near deep channels. The probability of a female crab being gravid was 2.8 × higher near seagrass meadow edges and 3.3 × higher near deep channels. Moreover, the likelihood of a gravid female having mature eggs was 16 × greater in sparse seagrass and 32 × greater near oceanic inlets. Overall, we discovered that adult blue crab CPUE is influenced by seagrass, salt marsh, and bathymetric features on scales from meters to kilometers, and that habitat associations depend on sex and reproductive stage. Hence, accelerating changes to coastal geomorphology and vegetation will likely alter the abundance and distribution of adult blue crabs, challenging marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based fisheries management.

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Climate Risk in Coastal Virginia

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Climate Risk in Coastal Virginia

Finding Common Ground in Coastal Virginia: The Chrysler Museum Faces the Rising Tides

Finding Common Ground in Coastal Virginia: The Chrysler Museum Faces the Rising Tides

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Climate Risk in Coastal Virginia

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Climate Risk in Coastal Virginia

Effects of Invasive Seaweed Depend on Underlying Physical Habitat Structure

Photo 1. A Green heron, Butorides virescens, forages on a mudflat covered with macroalgae. The dominant alga, Agarophyton vermiculophyllum, is visible as tufts of red-brown thalli and intermixed with Ulva spp., including Ulva lactuca. Photograph credit: Alice Besterman. Photo 2. Agarophyton vermiculophyllum forms mats up to 5 cm in depth above mudflat sediments, and generally between 2 and 3 cm deep. Here, a mat of Agarophyton has accumulated at the edge of a salt marsh, with some stems of Spartina alterniflora visible. The eastern mud snail, Tritia obsoleta (formerly Ilyanassa obsoleta), uses Agarophyton as refuge and substrate for egg-capsule deposition. Photograph credit: Alice Besterman. Photo 3. We used spotting scopes to observe shorebirds foraging across expansive mudflats exposed at low tide in the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER. We identified birds to the lowest taxonomic level, as well as the substrate they were used for foraging (bare mud, macroalgal mats, shallow water, oyster reefs, etc.). In this photograph, oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reef patches are visible in the foreground of the mudflat. Photograph credit: Alice Besterman. Photo 4. Hundreds of shorebirds including Limnodromus griseus (Short-billed dowitcher), Pluvialis squatarola (Black-bellied plover), and Calidris alpina (Dunlin) forage on a bare, topographically smooth mudflat in the Virginia Coast Reserve. Photograph credit: Alice Besterman. These photographs illustrate the article “Mudflat geomorphology determines invasive macroalgal effect on invertebrate prey and shorebird predators” by Alice F. Besterman and Michael L. Pace published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3540.

The Little Ice Age, NASA, Colonial Virginia, and the Conundrum of Anomalous Weather Conditions

The relevance of what has been termed as “The Little Ice Age” and its effect on the two earliest English settlements at both Jamestown and the “Lost” Colony of Roanoke in present-day coastal Virginia are still being widely discussed within the scientific community. Recent NASA surveillance findings concerning the events surrounding temperature anomalies at that time, how these affected the Earth’s spheres, as well as their interactions, are still being widely debated and discussed, and new research seeking answers for several growing hypotheses are being actively pursued. This study explores a select group of these ongoing studies. It exposes the potential causes for various situations presented by the Little Ice Age, plus the results and implications these had on all spheres of the planet. It additionally focuses on the problematic preconceived notions that early European settlers had about the conditions awaiting them in a vast and relatively unknown New World, and touches upon the aftermath of making that dangerous miscalculation. It also posits any future implications these recent findings could have on the future of the planet. Finally, it is important to note that like most American and European research studies on this topic, the foci discussed here will not specifically address the localized indigenous populations already living near these two settlements, albeit these groups undoubtedly suffered in a similar manner to their European counterparts. Instead, it will briefly shed light on how Native populations were relevant to the demise of these two English settlements.

Men Is Cheap: Exposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War America

Men Is Cheap: Exposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War America

Mudflat geomorphology determines invasive macroalgal effect on invertebrate prey and shorebird predators.

Impacts of invasive species are often context specific due to varying ecological interactions. Physical structure of environments hosting invaders is also potentially important but has received limited attention. An invasive macroalga, Agarophyton vermiculophyllum, has spread across the northern hemisphere with mixed positive, neutral and negative effects on resident species. Agarophyton colonizes mudflats that vary in topography due to interactions of sediments with hydrodynamic forces. We tested the hypothesis that mudflat geomorphology moderates the effect of Agarophyton on shorebirds and invertebrates. We surveyed 30 mudflats in the Virginia Coast Reserve quantifying elevation and topography. Invertebrate and bird abundances were also quantified. Mudflat geomorphology ranged from smooth to hummocky and was correlated with invertebrate and shorebird abundance and interactions based on piecewise structural equationmodels. After accounting for geomorphology, Agarophyton had little effect on invertebrate abundance. Shorebird numbers were differentially influenced by mudflat topography, with positive correlations to invertebrates (worms) on smooth mudflats, and to macroalgae on hummocky mudflats. These differences are likely to be due to sediment properties in interaction with structural changes induced by Agarophyton mats that affect prey accessibility for birds. Even on apparently simple mudflats, geomorphic structure emerged as important, modifying invasive species impacts and differentially influencing consumers.

Monitoring and Modeling Tree Bat (Genera: Lasiurus, Lasionycteris) Occurrence Using Acoustics on Structures off the Mid-Atlantic Coast-Implications for Offshore Wind Development.

Simple Summary“Tree bats” are North American bats that day-roost in trees year-round and undertake seasonal migration in lieu of hibernation. These bats have been shown to be highly susceptible to collisions with wind energy turbines and are known to fly offshore during migration. Therefore, as offshore wind energy expands off the eastern U.S. coast, there is some concern about potential impacts. We monitored bats in coastal Virginia, USA, using acoustic monitors—devices that collect the unique echolocation call signatures of bat species. We found that nightly tree bat visitation offshore or on barrier islands was associated with wind speed, temperature, visibility, and seasonality. Using statistical modeling, we developed a predictive tool to assess occurrence probabilities at varying levels of wind speed, temperature, and seasonality. Probability of occurrence and therefore assumed risk to collision is highest on high temperature and visibility nights, low wind speed nights, and during the spring and fall seasons. We suggest a similar modeling regime could be used to predict the occurrence of bats at offshore wind sites to inform potential mitigation efforts.In eastern North America, “tree bats” (Genera: Lasiurus and Lasionycteris) are highly susceptible to collisions with wind energy turbines and are known to fly offshore during migration. This raises concern about ongoing expansion of offshore wind-energy development off the Atlantic Coast. Season, atmospheric conditions, and site-level characteristics such as local habitat (e.g., forest coverage) have been shown to influence wind turbine collision rates by bats onshore, and therefore may be related to risk offshore. Therefore, to assess the factors affecting coastal presence of bats, we continuously gathered tree bat occurrence data using stationary acoustic recorders on five structures (four lighthouses on barrier islands and one light tower offshore) off the coast of Virginia, USA, across all seasons, 2012–2019. We used generalized additive models to describe tree bat occurrence on a nightly basis. We found that sites either indicated maternity or migratory seasonal occurrence patterns associated with local roosting resources, i.e., presence of trees. Across all sites, nightly occurrence was negatively related to wind speed and positively related to temperature and visibility. Using predictive performance metrics, we concluded that our model was highly predictive for the Virginia coast. Our findings were consistent with other studies—tree bat occurrence probability and presumed mortality risk to offshore wind-energy collisions is highest on low wind speed nights, high temperature and visibility nights, and during spring and fall. The high predictive model performance we observed provides a basis for which managers, using a similar monitoring and modeling regime, could develop an effective curtailment-based mitigation strategy.

Living shorelines achieve functional equivalence to natural fringe marshes across multiple ecological metrics.

Nature-based shoreline protection provides a welcome class of adaptations to promote ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Along coastlines, living shorelines are among the preferred adaptation strategies to both reduce erosion and provide ecological functions. As an alternative to shoreline armoring, living shorelines are viewed favorably among coastal managers and some private property owners, but they have yet to undergo a thorough examination of how their levels of ecosystem functions compare to their closest natural counterpart: fringing marshes. Here, we provide a synthesis of results from a multi-year, large-spatial-scale study in which we compared numerous ecological metrics (including habitat provision for fish, invertebrates, diamondback terrapin, and birds, nutrient and carbon storage, and plant productivity) measured in thirteen pairs of living shorelines and natural fringing marshes throughout coastal Virginia, USA. Living shorelines were composed of marshes created by bank grading, placement of sand fill for proper elevations, and planting of S. alterniflora and S. patens, as well as placement of a stone sill seaward and parallel to the marsh to serve as a wave break. Overall, we found that living shorelines were functionally equivalent to natural marshes in nearly all measured aspects, except for a lag in soil composition due to construction of living shoreline marshes with clean, low-organic sands. These data support the prioritization of living shorelines as a coastal adaptation strategy.

Physiological Variation in Response to Vibrio and Hypoxia by Aquacultured Eastern Oysters in the Southeastern United States.

Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) have long been recognized as model organisms of extreme environmental tolerance, showing resilience to variation in temperature, salinity, hypoxia, and microbial pathogens. These phenotypic responses, however, show variability between geographic locations or habitats (e.g., tidal). Physiological, morphological, and genetic differences occur in populations throughout a species' geographical range, which may have been shaped by regional abiotic and biotic variations. Few studies of C. virginica have explored the combined factors of physiological mechanisms of divergent phenotypes between locations and the genetic relationships of individuals between these locations. To characterize genetic relationships of four locations with aquacultured oysters along the North Carolina and Virginia coast, we sequenced a portion of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) that revealed significant variation in haplotype distribution between locations. We then measured mitochondrial physiology and expression of the innate immunity response of hemocytes to lab acclimation and combined stress conditions to compare basal expression and stress response in oysters between these locations. For stress sensing genes, toll-like receptors had the strongest location-specific response to hypoxia and Vibrio, whereas mannose receptor and a stress-receptor were specific to hypoxia and bacteria, respectively. The expression of stress response genes also showed location-specific and stressor-specific changes in expression, particularly for big defensin and the complement gene Cq3. Our results further suggested that genetic similarity of oysters from different locations was not clearly related to physiological and molecular responses. These results are informative for understanding the range of physiological plasticity for stress responses in this commercially important oyster species. They also have implications in the oyster farming industry as well as conservation efforts to restore endangered native oyster beds.

State changes: insights from the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network

AbstractUnderstanding the complex and unpredictable ways ecosystems are changing and predicting the state of ecosystems and the services they will provide in the future requires coordinated, long‐term research. This paper is a product of a U.S. National Science Foundation funded Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network synthesis effort that addressed anticipated changes in future populations and communities. Each LTER site described what their site would look like in 50 or 100 yr based on long‐term patterns and responses to global change drivers in each ecosystem. Common themes emerged and predictions were grouped into state change, connectivity, resilience, time lags, and cascading effects. Here, we report on the “state change” theme, which includes examples from the Georgia Coastal (coastal marsh), Konza Prairie (mesic grassland), Luquillo (tropical forest), Sevilleta (arid grassland), and Virginia Coastal (coastal grassland) sites. Ecological thresholds (the point at which small changes in an environmental driver can produce an abrupt and persistent state change in an ecosystem quality, property, or phenomenon) were most commonly predicted. For example, in coastal ecosystems, sea‐level rise and climate change could convert salt marsh to mangroves and coastal barrier dunes to shrub thicket. Reduced fire frequency has converted grassland to shrubland in mesic prairie, whereas overgrazing combined with drought drive shrub encroachment in arid grasslands. Lastly, tropical cloud forests are susceptible to climate‐induced changes in cloud base altitude leading to shifts in species distributions. Overall, these examples reveal that state change is a likely outcome of global environmental change across a diverse range of ecosystems and highlight the need for long‐term studies to sort out the causes and consequences of state change. The diversity of sites within the LTER network facilitates the emergence of overarching concepts about state changes as an important driver of ecosystem structure, function, services, and futures.

Coastal Futures Conservatory

AbstractThis article develops an account of listening as a model for integrating inquiries into rapid environmental change from arts, sciences, and humanities. The account is structured around interpretation of the Coastal Futures Conservatory (CFC), an initiative for integrating arts and humanities into the Long-Term Ecological Research Project at the Virginia Coast Reserve. The CFC organizes collaborative inquiry and public engagement around several kinds of listening, from field recordings and designed listening stations as practices of attentiveness to scientific data by sonifying data sets, across disciplines by commissioning convergent lines of research from humanities and sciences, and across political boundaries by creating cross-coastal exchanges. Working from reflection on CFC practices, the author evaluates the potential and the limits of a pivot from ocular to aural metaphors of creating environmental knowledge as well as the potential and limits of listening as a model for integrating that knowledge. The author then questions integration as metaphor for multidisciplinary collaboration by testing its openness to listening beyond human worlds. The article closes by arguing for the role of contemplative practices in developing “transformative listening” as a way to connect environmental sciences with processes of moral and political formation.

Parameter Estimation of a Seasonal Poisson INAR(1) Model with Different Monthly Means

Analysing seasonality in count time series is an essential application of statistics to predict phenomena in different fields like economics, agriculture, healthcare, environment, and climatic change. However, the information in the existing literature is scarce regarding the performances of relevant statistical models. This study provides the Yule-Walker (Y-W), Conditional Least Squares (CLS), and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) for First-order Non-negative Integer-valued Autoregressive, INAR(1), process with Poisson innovations with different monthly means. The performance of Y-W, CLS, and MLE are assessed by the Monte Carlo simulation method. The performance of this model is compared with another seasonal INAR(1) model by reproducing the monthly number of rainy days in the Blackwater River watershed located in coastal Virginia. Two forecast-coherent methods in terms of mode and probability function are applied to make predictions. The models’ performances are assessed using the Root Mean Square Error and Index of Agreement criteria. The results reveal the similar performance of Y-W, CLS, and MLE for estimating the parameters of data sets with larger sample size and values of α close to unite root. Moreover, the results indicate that INAR(1) with different monthly Poisson innovations is more appropriate for modelling and predicting seasonal count time series.

Defining the Zostera marina (Eelgrass) Niche from Long-Term Success of Restored and Naturally Colonized Meadows: Implications for Seagrass Restoration

Seagrass restoration can help reverse global meadow loss and restore ecosystem services, including habitat provision for commercial fish and shellfish, carbon sequestration, and improved water quality. However, restoration projects are generally expensive, and site selection remains a challenge due to uncertainty about how environmental variables affect the survival and spread of seedlings. Long-term Zostera marina (eelgrass) success/failure and expansion data from the Virginia Coast Reserve can be used to determine whether the factors that control seedling survival also explain the regional distribution of seagrass meadows. We tracked plant survival and failure within restoration plots and at natural recruitment sites from 2001 to 2015 and used machine learning methods to identify the relative importance of multiple environmental predictors, including water residence time, fetch distance, water temperature, depth, and sediment grain size. Low water residence time was the best predictor of survival, but short fetch length best explained the natural recruit distribution, consistent with hydrodynamic control of seed dispersal. Restoration plot data suggests that the eelgrass fundamental niche covers > 100 km2 within this system, triple both the current extent and the realized niche predicted by the observed natural spread. Our results corroborate historical records that eelgrass was formerly widespread in areas where it has not spread naturally, likely due to insufficient seed delivery. Additional seeding in these areas would, therefore, increase total seagrass coverage and accelerate recovery. Mapping the total habitable area can help managers maximize the extent of seagrass and other bottom uses, including shellfish aquaculture.

Who Do You Think You Are?: DNA and Jewish American Ipseity

Who Do You Think You Are?:DNA and Jewish American Ipseity Laurie Zoloth (bio) REVIEW ESSAY DNA Test Results Videos 23andMe, https://www.youtube.com/user/23andMe There is a small town in Tennessee where the people think that they are Turkish, or rather that they are a tribe of people, called Melungeons, that is descended from Turkish sailors, who sailed with a Portuguese crew, or perhaps with Francis Drake, in the 1700s, and ended up in coastal Virginia, and from there walked into the woods of the Appalachian ridge, where their descendants live today. In fact, they are sure of it. They look, it is true, unlike many of their neighbors—darker skin, curly hair. For many years, they said they were Portuguese, then settled on Turkish. There is a book about this story, The Resurrection of a Proud People: The Melungeons written in 1994 and reprinted in 1997, and another, From Anatolia to Appalachia: A Turkish American Dialogue, written in 2003; their author, local historian Brent Kennedy, also claims Melungeon ancestry. Although Kennedy "cannot prove his theories and ideas to a 100 percent, in his heart, he feels himself to be of Turkish descent."1 Of course, when the Turks heard of this, they were delighted, and the Turkish ambassador, it is said, awarded the community a special plaque. Visits were arranged. I first heard about Melungeons when bioethicist Carl Elliott and I were co-PIs on an NIH grant, one intended to research the ethical implications that would occur when the human genome project was unrolled, and we would enter a "new era of genetic medicine." We were curious to understand if genome mapping would change earlier ideas about family, [End Page 455] origin narratives, history and identity. It was in the early 2000s, and we invited Bennett Greenspan, then just proposing the idea of commercial ancestry testing, to talk to us, along with Melungeon informants and an assortment of scientists. There were a lot of claims about Jewish ancestry then—an African tribe, the Lemba, claimed Jewish heritage, and then there were all those people in New Mexico, who were coming up with narratives about elderly relatives lighting candles in the basement and that meant they were really secret Jews. Our Melungeon informants too told me: "You know the real secret, don't you, the Melungeons are Jews!" The anthropologist I interviewed for the project was a skeptic. "People will go a long way to prove they are not Black," she sighed. (It turned out that the claim about being a Lost Tribe was especially common in communities where a Protestant missionary had at some point taught Hebrew Scripture—who wouldn't want to be the Israelites?) We were curious to understand how elaborate genealogical narratives, ones that told of endurance, true love across time, and exotic encounters that played out in the ordinary worlds of Tennessee mountain towns and New Mexican desert landscapes, would survive. Twenty and so years later, of course, all the beautiful stories, all the Lost Tribes and the lost Jews have been refracted and reframed just as we suspected they might, by the language and calculus of genetics. So now, instead of faint memories of lost candle lighters or the search for Mogen Davids on tombstones, we have YouTube videos of people who have sent their saliva away and gotten an answer that seems far more sciencey: a little chart with numbers and percentages. One YouTube video shows the actor Mayim Bialik revealing her 23andMe results, in which she makes jokes about her body and her character, both of which are "in her DNA," with the certainty that a medieval theologian would locate them in the soul. Indeed, the DNA code and the percentages have become the stand-in for the idea that deep within each of us, unseen, yet powerfully determinative, is a secret, inner self, an authentic self, our "really real," untouched by history, or context, or our actual choices. "It can tell you why you cry at commercials with puppies," says Bialik, "but what if I am really a boy?" She finds out that her "genetic muscle composition is common in elite power athletes!" and after reading off...

Long-term data reveal greater intertidal oyster biomass in predicted suitable habitat

Habitat suitability models have been used for decades to develop spatially explicit predictions of landscape capacity to support populations of target species. As high-resolution remote sensing data are increasingly included in habitat suitability models that inform spatial conservation and restoration decisions, it is essential to validate model predictions with independent, quantitative data collected over sustained time frames. Here, we used data collected from 12 reefs over a 14 yr sampling period to validate a recently developed physical habitat suitability model for intertidal oyster reefs in coastal Virginia, USA. The model used intertidal elevation, water residence time, and fetch to predict the likelihood of suitable conditions for eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica across a coastal landscape, and remotely sensed elevation was the most restrictive parameter in the model. Model validation revealed that adult oyster biomass was on average 1.5 times greater on oyster reefs located in predicted ‘suitable’ habitat relative to reefs located in predicted ‘less suitable’ habitat over the 14 yr sampling period. By validating this model with long-term population data, we highlight the importance of elevation as a driver of sustained intertidal oyster success. These findings extend the validation of habitat suitability models by quantitatively supporting the inclusion of remotely sensed data in habitat suitability models for intertidal species. Our results suggest that future oyster restoration and aquaculture projects could enhance oyster biomass by using habitat suitability models to select optimal site locations.

Assessing Long-Term Trends in Lateral Salt-Marsh Shoreline Change along a U.S. East Coast Latitudinal Gradient

Burns, C.J.; Alexander, C.R., and Alber, M., 2021. Assessing long-term trends in lateral salt-marsh shoreline change along a U.S. East Coast latitudinal gradient. Journal of Coastal Research, 37(2), 291–301. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Marshes are valuable intertidal habitats that respond to changes in their environment, and their perimeters can rapidly advance or retreat over time. This study used the analyzing moving boundaries using R (AMBUR) tool kit to measure approximately 70 years of edge change at salt marshes within three Long-Term Ecological Research sites along the U.S. East Coast: Georgia Coastal Ecosystems (GCE), Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR), and Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE). At each site, changes were assessed at the open-fetch marsh outer perimeter as well as throughout interior channels of varying sizes. At the open-fetch marsh outer perimeter, both the PIE and VCR study marshes exhibited significant net retreat, with the fastest rates in areas exposed to high fetch where wave action is strong, whereas the GCE marsh exhibited significant net advance. Changes in the sinuous interior channels were smaller, with channels often retreating on one edge but were balanced by advance on the opposite bank. When advance and retreat in the interior channels were considered along with the outer perimeter, the GCE and VCR study marshes exhibited dynamic stability in which overall marsh edge showed no significant net change, and the overall rate of marsh retreat at PIE, although still significant with respect to the uncertainty of the analysis, was considerably reduced. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing shoreline changes throughout the marsh, as rates of retreat and advance at the open-fetch marsh perimeter may differ greatly from those in the interior, and not be indicative of the overall change in marsh edge.

The Role of Traditional Knowledge in Coastal Adaptation Priorities: The Pamunkey Indian Reservation

Coastal reservations are increasingly vulnerable to hazards exacerbated by climate change. Resources for restoration projects are limited. Storm surge, storms, tidal flooding, and erosion endanger artifacts and limit livelihoods of tribes in coastal Virginia. GIS offers a platform to increase communication between scientists, planners, and indigenous groups. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe engaged in a participatory mapping exercise to assess the role of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in coastal management decision-making and its capacity to address flooding. Priorities and strategies were spatially referenced using maps of potential sea level rise for 2040, 2060, and 2080, input into a resilience matrix to identify benchmarks for each phase of disaster resilience building, and contextualized with oral histories. Results highlight increased immediacy to protect housing and heritage sites along the shoreline as well as maintain access to the Reservation. Preferences toward structural solutions guided by and facilitating TEK options were expressed. Additional community capacities, tribal council support, federal assistance, impact assessments, and coordination would facilitate risk reduction project implementation. The screening process integrates TEK with planning and is transferable to neighboring tribes.