R/P-53

Regional Refinement of a Diagnostic Tool for Setting Water Quality Targets for the Protection and Restoration of Submersed Aquatic Vegetation

Principal Investigator:

Charles Gallegos

Start/End Year:

2002 to 2003

Institution:

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Topic(s):

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

Description:

The objective of this work is to assist in the goal of restoring and protecting 114,000 acres of SAV by providing scientifically defensible procedures for translating light requirements of SAV into water quality criteria, in a manner able to accommodate regional differences in the optical properties of the suspended particulate matter.

Featured Research Project

Role of a Resilient Submersed Plant Bed in Mitigating the Effects of Increasing River-borne Particulate Inputs to Chesapeake Bay: Sediment Dynamics

The Conowingo Dam has historically trapped a significant fraction of the sediments and particulate nutrients carried by the Susquehanna River bound for Chesapeake Bay (CB). However, the effective trapping capacity of the dam may be decreasing, such that more of these materials reach the CB than in the past. However, the role of the extensive beds of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) that occupy the Susquehanna Flats (SF) in modulating these inputs has not yet been addressed. The resurgence of these SAV beds, and their cold-season senescence, may significantly mitigate the ecosystem effects of inflowing materials from behind the dam through seasonal trapping, re-release, burial, and transformation. The proposed study focuses on the sedimentary history of the SF over the last ~100 years, and on the modern, seasonally varying, dynamics of sediment trapping and release on the SF.