Tampa Bay Research Articles

Environmental DNA evidence of the Critically Endangered smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, in historically occupied US waters

Abstract Formerly common in tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Critically Endangered smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, underwent severe declines over the past century, restricting population(s) to south and south‐west Florida in the US, and Bahamian waters. Anecdotal evidence (e.g. encounter reports from the public) suggests that P. pectinata have recently been observed in historically occupied US waters; however, no directed surveys have been conducted to verify their extent of occupancy. Here, environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys were used to investigate the occurrence of P. pectinata in three formerly occupied estuaries in US waters. Water samples were collected in the summer from the Indian River Lagoon and Tampa Bay, Florida, in 2018 and 2019, and from Mississippi Sound, Mississippi, in 2018, and screened for target DNA using a highly sensitive Droplet Digital™ polymerase chain reaction assay. Target DNA was detected at four sites in the Indian River Lagoon in 2018 and at one site in 2019 (average concentration: 0.086 copies μl−1; SE = 0.004), but was not detected in either year in Tampa Bay. Target DNA was also detected at three sites near Deer Island in Mississippi Sound in 2018 (average concentration: 0.090 copies μl−1; SE = 0.005). These surveys provide additional lines of evidence that P. pectinata is re‐occurring within two historically occupied estuaries in US waters. More comprehensive eDNA surveys in historically occupied regions, combined with clearly defined post‐survey management actions, can direct additional research and outreach initiatives in emerging priority areas, fostering recovery of this Critically Endangered species.

Examining Effectiveness of Optimal Groundwater Management at Multiple Timescales in Tampa Bay Region

AbstractAlthough there is extensive work related to design and implementation of model-driven optimal groundwater management, evaluation of the performance of those models is less reported. This hi...

The Media and Race in the Trump Era: An Analysis of Two Racially Different Newsrooms’ Coverage of Blm and Daca

Journalists play a part in the public’s perception of issues through priming, framing, and agenda setting media effects (McCombs, 2014; Power et al., 1996; Quinsaat, 2014), because they serve as a conduit of information. Professional norms dictate how journalists do their newswork; however, implicit biases and the media’s systematic structure can influence common journalistic practices, which can further stereotype marginalized populations (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). This study examines how two structurally different newsrooms covered the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). By sampling content from the Tampa Bay Times, a predominantly White newsroom, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a more diverse newsroom, a textual analysis of articles written nine months before Donald Trump was elected president to the end of his presidency ascertained differences in word choice, frames, sourcing, and other factors in coverage of BLM and DACA. This study found that the ethnicity of journalists likely influences coverage of Black people and Hispanic/Latino immigrants, that coverage of DACA was more sympathetic, ethical framing grew for BLM stories in the wake of extrajudicial killings of Black and brown individuals in 2020, and that specialized reporting leads to better representation of these two issues.

Examining Community Vulnerabilities through multi-scale geospatial analysis of social media activity during Hurricane Irma

Natural disasters may cause a substantial but spatially uneven increase in online activity among users in disaster zones seeking food, shelter, and medical assistance through social media. However, the presence of a digital divide affects social media participation among users. Therefore, the social and spatiotemporal inequality in the usage of social media data should be fully considered before such data can be leveraged to predict damage, investigate impacted populations, and prioritize activities during disaster management. Using Hurricane Irma as the case study, this research integrates Twitter data from September 2017 with other public data sets to examine spatial variation in social media activity during disasters. To investigate the social and spatiotemporal inequality in the usage of social media and examine the association between social media activity and flood rate at census tracts level, Multiscale geographically weighted regression was conducted. Our results show counties should not be seen homogeneous during disasters, specifically when using social media as a platform to disseminate information or direct help to affected people. It is clear from this work that in the Tampa Bay area, coastal, affluent communities have considerable representation on social media while poorer, inland areas are absent. It is important to note the limitations of online social media and microblogs in terms of access. Social media use varies across demographics and geographic location. Disaster management plans must consider the specific demographic, physical, and socioeconomic characteristics of each area before taking advantage of social media.

Microbial diversity analysis of two full-scale seawater desalination treatment trains provides insights into detrimental biofilm formation

Detrimental biofilms on RO membranes remain a crucial challenge for seawater desalination. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data revealed differences and commonalities of biofilm communities associated with unit operations in the two largest seawater desalination facilities in the U.S., the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant and the Tampa Bay Seater Desalination facility. At both plants, feedwater collected at a single time point was a poor indicator of the RO membrane communities, which showed far greater taxa diversity. The analysis of prefilter cartridges from the Carlsbad plant revealed similarly high taxon diversity as the RO module biofilms, with relevant differences. Algal sequences were enriched on the prefilter cartridges as were sequences representing Bdellovibrionota, which are predatory bacteria. Sequences representing opportunistic Gammaproteobacteria (i.e., Shewanella, Woesia) were present in significantly higher relative abundance on the RO membranes than in the prefilter cartridges, suggesting growth of certain taxa in the RO modules. Untargeted metabolomics distinguished intra- and inter-desalination plant biofilm samples, highlighting the potential value of this tool for biofilm monitoring. These findings underscore the value of omics tools for effective microbial monitoring, to understand biofouling dynamics within RO desalination plants, and to provide insight for the development of ecologically-informed biofilm control measures.

Offshore Sea Levels Measured With an Anchored Spar‐Buoy System Using GPS Interferometric Reflectometry

AbstractConventional tide gauges are usually housed along the coast. Satellite altimetry works well in the open ocean but poorly near the coast due to signal contamination by land returns. These limitations lead to an observational gap in the transition zone between the coast and open ocean. Using data collected by a GPS installed on top of an anchored spar‐buoy in Tampa Bay, we retrieved water levels through a combination of precise positioning and interferometric reflectometry. Individual water level retrievals agree with a nearby acoustic tide gauge (19.5 km distance) at ∼15 cm level. Amplitude and phase of the major tidal constituents are well recovered by the GPS spar‐buoy measurements. Over a 2.9‐year period, agreement of de‐tided daily mean sea levels measured by the GPS spar‐buoy and the nearby acoustic tide gauge is 4.4 cm. When sea level data measured by the GPS spar‐buoy are included in the local coastal ocean circulation model, low‐frequency error propagated from the open boundary is significantly reduced.

A Spatially Distributed Groundwater Metric for Describing Hydrologic Changes in a Regional Population of Wetlands North of Tampa Bay, Florida, from 1990 to 2015

A groundwater condition metric is presented and used to evaluate hydrologic changes in a regional population of wetlands in and around municipal well fields with large groundwater withdrawals. The approach compares a 26-year, monthly time series of groundwater potentiometric surfaces to light detection and ranging (LiDAR) land-surface elevations at 10,516 wetlands in a 1505-km2 area. Elevation differences between the potentiometric surface and the wetland land surface provide flow direction (upward or downward) and a proxy for vertical hydraulic-head difference in Darcy’s groundwater flow equation. The resulting metric quantifies the groundwater condition at a wetland through time as the potential for groundwater to discharge upward into a wetland or for water in a wetland to leak downward to recharge the underlying aquifer. The potential for wetland leakage across the regional wetland population decreased by 33% in the 13 years after cutbacks in groundwater withdrawals (2003 – 2015) compared to years before cutbacks (1990 – 2002). Inside well-field properties, wetland leakage potential decreased by 24%. In the wet season month of September, wetlands with the potential to receive groundwater discharge increased to 21.6% of the regional population after cutbacks compared to 13.3% before cutbacks. When mapped across regional drainage basins, discharging wetlands formed spatial connections, suggesting they play a critical role in generating streamflow.

Conflict Contagion: How Interdependence Shapes Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation in Polycentric Systems

Abstract In this article, we bridge and extend concepts from behavioral game theory and the Ecology of Games Theory of Polycentricity (EGT) to test possible mechanisms for conflict contagion across the array of actors and policy forums that constitute a polycentric governance system. We argue that actors who experience conflict in one forum will develop similar strategies in other forums, which then impacts the level of conflict exhibited in within-forum interactions. This behavioral spillover of conflict is a different mechanism than conflict that might be experienced when two forums are addressing the same policy issue(s), which may be characterized by higher or lower levels of conflict. We use survey data collected in the Tampa Bay (FL) and California Delta (CA) water governance systems to examine conflict contagion across forums. Using a series of spatial autoregressive models, we find evidence that co-membership networks serve as a conduit for conflict contagion among forums. Our results show that forum deliberations can be strongly impacted by interactions from other institutions and processes. Consistent with the idea of path dependence, “new” forums are not necessarily independent of the forums they replace, but rather, preexisting levels of conflict and cooperation may constrain available outcomes.

Chemical Fractionation of Sediment Phosphorus in Residential Urban Stormwater Ponds in Florida, USA

Stormwater ponds collect and transform pollutants (including nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus) in urban runoff and are often hydrologically connected to downstream waters, making it important to maximize their pollutant retention efficiency. A key mechanism for phosphorus (P) removal in stormwater ponds is sedimentation. However, sediment P in stormwater ponds may be present in several chemical forms with varying bioavailability and potential to move from sediments into the overlying water column. The purpose of this study was to characterize the chemical fractions of sediment P in residential urban stormwater ponds, with the goal of better understanding expected movement of P from sediments to water. We used a chemical fractionation scheme to separate sediment P into the following pools: loosely adsorbed and readily available P, Fe- and Al-bound P, Ca- and Mg-bound P, NaOH-exchangeable organic P, and refractory P. From six stormwater ponds in the Tampa Bay, Florida urban area, we found the pool of readily available P was less than 3% of total sediment P, and the refractory P pool was 28–40% of Total P. However, both Fe/Al-bound and Ca/Mg-bound P each accounted for about 18% of total sediment P. These latter pools may become available under anoxic or low pH (<6) conditions, respectively, demonstrating that a change in environmental conditions could cause internal P loading from sediments to pond water.

Fatal Blowhole Obstruction by Eel in Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Florida, USA.

Esophageal and pharyngeal obstruction are commonly reported in marine mammals, but asphyxiation from blowhole and nasal cavity obstruction has been reported only rarely: in two long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), several harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and one common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). We describe two cases of blowhole obstruction and subsequent asphyxiation in bottlenose dolphins caused by eels. A whip eel (Bascanichthys scuticaris) was found obstructing the blowhole of a deceased dolphin from the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, US (2011) and a shrimp eel (Ophichthus gomesii) was found obstructing the blowhole of a deceased dolphin from Tampa Bay, Florida (2020). Normally, the respiratory and digestive tracts of cetaceans do not communicate. Consuming large or oddly shaped prey can result in laryngeal displacement and subsequent interaction between the two systems. It is likely the eels entered the oral cavity while the dolphins were consuming or playing with prey, and laryngeal displacement enabled the eels to slither into and become stuck in the nasal passage, causing asphyxiation. These novel findings underscore the importance of continued investigation into causes of mortality in stranded marine mammals and can contribute to the knowledge of feeding ecology in bottlenose dolphins. As changing environmental conditions contribute to shifts in prey availability and abundance, mortality due to prey-related asphyxiation could become more common in odontocetes.

Treatment of Pharyngitis in Uninsured Patients: A Multicenter Study of Free Clinics.

IntroductionAppropriate antibiotic prescription practices for pharyngitis slow anti-microbial resistance. Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing and non-adherence to practice guidelines remain a clinical problem. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between group A Streptococcus (GAS) throat culture testing and antibiotic prescriptions at 10 free clinics in the Tampa Bay Area serving the uninsured population.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from patient charts from January 2018 to December 2019. We obtained data regarding a chief complaint related to strep pharyngitis: sore throat, enlarged tonsils, pharyngeal erythema, and/or cervical lymphadenopathy. The frequency and relative proportions of throat swab administration and antibiotic prescription were also analyzed.ResultsOf the 12,005 patients serviced during the study period, 245 (2.0%) reported one or more of the chief complaints related to strep pharyngitis. Of the patients reporting pharyngitis, the mean age was 40.2 years, with 66% being female. Of the patients receiving antibiotics for pharyngitis symptoms, 93 (91.2%) did not receive a throat swab. Patients receiving a throat swab showed a significantly increased odds of antibiotic prescription (OR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.1-12.7). Patients reporting symptoms of pharyngitis commonly had other comorbidities, including smoking (14.7%) and diabetes (13.5%).ConclusionThe large proportion of patients receiving antibiotics for pharyngitis symptoms reveals the need for provider counseling on current recommendations of antibiotic prescription practices, which state that a throat swab with a rapid antigen detection test and/or culture should be performed for all patients where bacterial symptoms of rhinorrhea, cough, and/or oral ulcers are present. Another potential area of improvement indicated by this study may be providing additional supplies of throat swabs for these underserved clinics. Further research is needed to understand the root causes of providers' non-compliant prescribing patterns in the free clinics and to assess the role of the uninsured population in reducing anti-microbial resistance.

Contested Commoning: Urban Fishing Spaces and Community Wellbeing

This paper analyzes how the more-than-human elements and relationships of urban fishing—piers, bridges, fish, social interactions—constitute spaces that offer the possibility of affecting community wellbeing. In particular, it applies theories of commoning to questions of how urban fishing spaces might affect the social and material dimensions of wellbeing. The paper argues that approaching ideas of community wellbeing from a commoning perspective enables deeper analysis of the ‘messiness’ and contradictions that can arise in accounting for the complex socio-natural interactions that affect wellbeing. The paper examines these questions via a case study of urban fishing in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Employing survey, interview, and field research, the paper asks how urban fishing spaces support processes of commoning that could lead to increases in wellbeing, while also highlighting where disruptions in the ecological, physical, or social spaces involved in commoning might decrease wellbeing. The paper finds evidence that commoning can increase community wellbeing in concrete ways (e.g., by contributing to collective food security, knowledge-sharing, exposure to economic and racial diversity, and shared experiences), but that these processes and infrastructures are simultaneously precarious and subject to social strife, changes in legality, and ecological contamination which can decrease wellbeing. The paper suggests that particularly for geographies of urban wellbeing, adopting a commoning lens is useful for better parsing how the elements of and challenges to wellbeing are intertwined, and where possibilities might exist for addressing these challenges. The paper contributes to theoretical discussions about the characteristics of commoning, links between commoning and socionatural wellbeing, and shifting understandings of urban space and infrastructures of care.

Young-Of-The-Year Stone Crab (Genus Menippe) Recruitment in the Gulf of Mexico Off Florida: Key Shallow-Water Hotspots

Knowledge of juvenile recruitment (defined here as the quantitative addition of early benthic life stages to a local population) is important for conserving heavily harvested species and their critical habitats. Stone crabs (genus Menippe) are commercially and ecologically important throughout the Gulf of Mexico nearshore waters off Florida, but very little is known about their recruitment. Using standard commercial stone crab traps, megalopal and postsettlement juvenile (collectively, young-of-the-year, “YOY”) stone crabs were sampled at multiple spatial scales and for multiple stone crab generations to characterize geographical, seasonal, and interannual variation in their distribution and relative abundance (numbers collected on traps) in the Gulf of Mexico off peninsular Florida and north of the Florida Keys (the “Florida Gulf”). The influences of potentially relevant oceanographic and biological variables [temperature, salinity, benthic community on the traps (trap fouling community), depth, distance from shore] on YOY stone crabs were investigated at locations distributed throughout the study area. Trap fouling communities had never been analyzed in detail prior to this study; an importance index was developed to quantify the seasonality, commonality, and density of the fouling communities and organisms composing the communities. Continuous, long-term data from the Tampa Bay location allowed investigation of the effects of biological relationships [relative abundance of female Menippe carrying eggs (ovigerous), occurrences of red tide (Karenia brevis, a toxic dinoflagellate) blooms] and meteorological events [tropical cyclones, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurrences] on temporal patterns of variation in recruitment. High relative abundances of YOY stone crabs were collected off peninsular Florida from dense, complex benthic biota that grew on crab traps located off large, pristine estuaries in relatively turbid water less than 5 m deep, where salinity ranged 24–36 and water temperature averaged 29°C–32°C. Two major recruitment locations, stable through decades, consistently accounted for approximately 50% of the YOY stone crabs collected; two secondary recruitment locations similarly accounted for another 25%. Relative abundance of YOY stone crabs was highest nearshore at the major recruitment locations, particularly during years of high relative abundance. Approximately 65%–75% of the recruits were collected August to October; however, the timing of both peak relative abundance and lowest relative abundance shifted to later in the year as latitude decreased. Patterns of change among months in relative abundance differed among locations within years and among years within locations. Water temperature, salinity, and trap fouling community were the important determinants of temporal and spatial variation in YOY stone crab relative abundance; depth and distance from shore were also important in areas where they varied notably among stations within locations and across broader expanses of the study area. At Tampa Bay, a sharp increase in relative abundance of ovigerous females in spring was followed by a similarly sharp increase in YOY stone crab relative abundance (principally stage 3–5 crabs) 3 mo later; whereas a sharp decrease in ovigerous female relative abundance in autumn was followed by a similarly sharp decrease in YOY stone crab relative abundance 1 mo later. Coincidence of the normal autumnal decrease in YOY stone crab relative abundance with red tides and tropical cyclones prevented assigning clear relationships between seasonal change in relative abundance and these potential external influences. Annual decreases in relative abundance were significantly related to the occurrence of tropical cyclones that came near Tampa Bay during the previous year. Twice, confluences of multiple hurricanes, timely red tides, and ENSO events were followed by nearly complete, 1- to 2-y recruitment collapses. In contrast, a single meteorologically and oceanographically highly anomalous year coincided with exceptionally high abundances of both YOY and ovigerous female stone crabs. A relationship between YOY stone crabs and subsequent fishery harvest was not evident, possibly due to a variety of fishery practices. Because stone crabs are subjected to intense fishing pressure throughout the Florida Gulf, the YOY stone crab recruitment grounds and their associated estuaries should be protected from the effects of development, agriculture, aquaculture, and commercial and recreational crabbing.

Transportation Fuel Resiliency: Case Study of Tampa Bay

This case study presents findings from an analysis of the emergency preparation and response for Hurricane Irma, the most recent hurricane impacting the Tampa Bay region. The Tampa Bay region, in particular, is considered one of the most vulnerable areas in the United States to hurricanes and severe tropical weather. A particular vulnerability stems from how all petroleum fuel comes to the area by marine transport through Port Tampa Bay, which can be (and has been in the past) impacted by hurricanes and tropical storms. The case study discussed in this paper covers previous fuel challenges, vulnerabilities, and lessons learned by key Tampa Bay public agency fleets during the past 10 years (mainly as a result of the most recent 2017 Hurricane Irma) to explore ways to improve the area’s resilience to natural disasters. Some of the strategies for fuel-supply resiliency include maintaining emergency fuel supply, prioritizing fuel use, strategically placing the assets around the region to help with recovery, investing in backup generators (including generators powered by alternative fuels), planning for redundancies in fuel supply networks, developing more efficient communication procedures between public fleets, hurricane preparedness-planning, and upgrading street drainage systems to reduce the threat of local flooding.

Nudges for Networks: Community‐Level Effects of a Health Plan Initiative to Address Social Determinants

Research ObjectiveHealth plans are among the many stakeholders seeking to improve health and reduce costs by screening and intervening on social determinants of health (SDOH). Humana Health Plan launched its Bold Goal Initiative in 2015 to test a novel approach for SDOH intervention not only at the individual patient level, but also at the community level through multi‐sector partnerships. We examined the community‐level effects of this initiative using data from a national, longitudinal survey of community health networks collected during 2012‐2018.Study DesignThe National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems was used to measure networks of community organizations that work together in implementing health improvement activities in a national sample of U.S. communities. Changes in the network characteristics of Bold Goal communities were compared with a matched, synthetic comparison group of similar U.S. communities using difference‐in‐difference analysis focusing on the years before (2012‐2014) and after (2016‐2018) implementation. Data from each wave of the survey were linked with county‐level community characteristics from the Area Health Resource File, mortality data from the CDC Compressed Mortality File, and Medicare spending data from the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare. A new surrogate‐index methodology proposed by Athey, Chetty and colleagues was used with the full panel of network survey data from 1998‐2018 to estimate the possible long‐term effects of Bold Goal on mortality and medical spending over 10 years, using network measures as short‐term statistical surrogate variables.Population StudiedThe Bold Goal initiative was initially implemented in seven U.S. metropolitan areas with large concentrations of Humana members and employees: Baton Rouge, LA; Broward County, FL; Knoxville, TN; Louisville, KY; New Orleans, LA; San Antonio, TX; and Tampa Bay, FL. The synthetic control group was constructed from a national sample of 280 U.S. communities having at least 100,000 residents that were included in the National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems.Principal FindingsCross‐sector network density increased by an average of 18.4 percentage‐points in Bold Goal Communities compared to 1.8 percentage points in the comparison group (p<0.01). Results were driven by large increases in network participation rates among employers, hospitals, health insurers, physicians, schools, and faith‐based organizations in the Bold Goal communities (all p<0.05). Surrogate index results indicated that the program could generate a 5.1 percentage point reduction in all‐cause mortality and a 6.4 percentage‐point reduction in Medicare spending per person in affected communities if network effects are maintained over 10 years.ConclusionsA health plan‐sponsored initiative can stimulate substantial changes in community networks with the potential to benefit not only enrolled plan members but also the public at large.Implications for Policy or PracticeThe expanding array of SDOH screening and referral initiatives hold considerable health improvement potential, but only if community capacity to address unmet social needs can be strengthened commensurately. Results show that health plan engagement in community‐level SDOH initiatives are likely feasible and effective in strengthening community capacity and improving outcomes by expanding community networks. As such, insurers and other sponsors should consider expanded engagement in these initiatives as part of their SDOH strategies.Primary Funding SourceThe Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Why Florida?

Around 1990, Florida was rapidly put on the international musical map by an obscure phenomenon. Bands like Death, Deicide, Obituary or Morbid Angel established a regional music scene starting in the suburbs of Tampa Bay and Orlando that around 1992 was finally labelled “Florida death metal.” Although this upcoming scene has been much discussed due to its musical and praxeological characteristics or its occasionally strong use of satanic imagery, and to this day includes some of the best-selling extreme metal bands, its history nevertheless has been less of an issue in popular music studies or metal music studies. On these grounds, this article addresses itself to the historization of the “Florida death metal” scene from its beginnings around 1984 to the peak of its fame around 1993/94. With the aid of different concepts of scene and using fanzine/magazine interviews and newspaper articles, it suggests a modified approach of categories to contextualize the scene’s development as a mixture of structural, social, cultural and experience-based evolutions. Beyond that, the article shortly investigates another neglected issue by arguing that the scene was not as exclusive and obscure as widely believed. Instead, the death metal scene obtained a disregarded media coverage in regional newspapers that—together with other progressions—launched a slow rethinking, which epitomizes some important links concerning the shift to postmodernism.

Integrating High-Resolution Coastal Acidification Monitoring Data Across Seven United States Estuaries.

Beginning in 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Estuary Program (NEP) started a collaboration with partners in seven estuaries along the East Coast (Barnegat Bay; Casco Bay), West Coast (Santa Monica Bay; San Francisco Bay; Tillamook Bay), and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Coast (Tampa Bay; Mission-Aransas Estuary) of the United States to expand the use of autonomous monitoring of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and pH. Analysis of high-frequency (hourly to sub-hourly) coastal acidification data including pCO2, pH, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen (DO) indicate that the sensors effectively captured key parameter measurements under challenging environmental conditions, allowing for an initial characterization of daily to seasonal trends in carbonate chemistry across a range of estuarine settings. Multi-year monitoring showed that across all water bodies temperature and pCO2 covaried, suggesting that pCO2 variability was governed, in part, by seasonal temperature changes with average pCO2 being lower in cooler, winter months and higher in warmer, summer months. Furthermore, the timing of seasonal shifts towards increasing (or decreasing) pCO2 varied by location and appears to be related to regional climate conditions. Specifically, pCO2 increases began earlier in the year in warmer water, lower latitude water bodies in the GOM (Tampa Bay; Mission-Aransas Estuary) as compared with cooler water, higher latitude water bodies in the northeast (Barnegat Bay; Casco Bay), and upwelling-influenced West Coast water bodies (Tillamook Bay; Santa Monica Bay; San Francisco Bay). Results suggest that both thermal and non-thermal influences are important drivers of pCO2 in Tampa Bay oxygen, National Estuary Program and Mission-Aransas Estuary. Conversely, non-thermal processes, most notably the biogeochemical structure of coastal upwelling, appear to be largely responsible for the observed pCO2 values in West Coast water bodies. The co-occurrence of high salinity, high pCO2, low DO, and low temperature water in Santa Monica Bay and San Francisco Bay characterize the coastal upwelling paradigm that is also evident in Tillamook Bay when upwelling dominates freshwater runoff and local processes. These data demonstrate that high-quality carbonate chemistry observations can be recorded from estuarine environments using autonomous sensors originally designed for open-ocean settings.

Automated flight planning of high-density urban air mobility

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an emerging concept for transporting people and cargo in urban, rural, regional, and interregional settings using revolutionary new aircraft. Urban Air Mobility (UAM), a part of AAM, focused on transport passengers in low-altitude urban airspace, has attracted extensive attention among industry, government, academia, and the public. Compared to existing commercial flights, AAM operations are expected to be at higher density; thus, an AAM system needs to be scalable, safe, and autonomous. Third-party service providers are recommended for offering air traffic management and information sharing services given the anticipated high density of UAM operations. To this end, we propose an Automated Flight Planning System (AFPS) that could be employed by such service providers. In the AFPS, a Low-Altitude Airspace Management System (LAMS) is proposed to automatically generate a route network with the capability of avoiding obstacles and obstructions in low-altitude airspace. The main components of this tool are the generation of a 3D map with LiDAR data, construction of a nodal network based on the map by using the visibility graph method, and initiation of 3D shortest paths. Given the requests of flight operations, i.e., origin, destination, departure time, the Low-Altitude Traffic Management System (LTMS) will design pre-departure conflict-free 4D trajectories and provide flexibilities of en-route maneuvering by taking system cost and equity among operators into consideration. In this study, a flight-level assignment strategy is proposed to solve the trajectory deconfliction problem in LTMS. In addition, a Nash Social Welfare Program (NSWP) is introduced to maintain fairness among different operators if the service is provided to multiple operators of UAM. A case study of the Tampa Bay area in Florida is used to demonstrate the operability of the proposed AFPS, and animations are built to visualize the optimized conflict-free operations of UAM in the study area.

Nonnative Pike Killifish Do Not Exert Predatory Pressure on Juvenile Common Snook

AbstractThe Pike Killifish Belonesox belizanus is an established nonnative fish species that was first documented in south Florida, USA, in 1957 and secondarily in Tampa Bay tidal tributaries in 1994. Decreased abundance and altered size structure in small‐bodied fish populations have been linked to Pike Killifish introductions in both of these regions. Increases in the range and abundance of Pike Killifish in Tampa Bay waters and overlap in habitat usage with juvenile Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis have led to concerns about potential predation on early juvenile (≤125 mm TL) Common Snook. We investigated predation of Pike Killifish on early juvenile Common Snook through experimental predation trials and stomach content analysis of Pike Killifish from field sampling. During predation trials, fasted, large adult (≥104 mm TL) Pike Killifish were presented with one of three prey taxa: Common Snook (N = 139), Pike Killifish conspecifics (N = 68), and Eastern Mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki (N = 68); the fate of the prey was recorded after 48 h. Common Snook with both intact (N = 70) and clipped (N = 69) anal spines were used as prey to investigate whether this structure deterred predation by Pike Killifish. Predation trials indicated that Pike Killifish were capable of consuming early juvenile Common Snook up to 60 mm TL and that the anal spine did not deter predation by Pike Killifish. Stomach content analysis was performed on 422 wild‐caught Pike Killifish from Tampa Bay tidal tributaries where early juvenile Common Snook co‐occurred, but no Common Snook remains were found in their diets. Combined, these studies indicate that despite being able to consume relatively large early juvenile Common Snook, Pike Killifish do not exert predatory pressure on early juvenile Common Snook in the wild and therefore do not appear to be a factor contributing to population‐level effects or delayed recovery in Common Snook populations.

Loving My New Neighbor: The Korean-American Methodists’ Response to the UMC Debate over LGBTQ Individuals in Everyday Life

The recent nationwide debate of American Protestant churches over the ordination and consecration of LGBTQ clergymen and laypeople has been largely divisive and destructive. While a few studies have paid attention to individual efforts of congregations to negotiate the heated conflicts as their contribution to the denominational debate, no studies have recounted how post-1965 immigrants, often deemed as “ethnic enclaves apart from larger American society”, respond to this religious issue. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a first-generation Korean Methodist church in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, this article attempts to fill this gap in the literature. In brief, I argue that the Tampa Korean-American Methodists’ continual exposure to the Methodist Church’s larger denominational homosexuality debate and their personal relationships with gay and lesbian friends in everyday life together work to facilitate their gradual tolerance toward sexual minorities as a sign of their accommodation of individualistic and democratic values of American society.