This focus area employs science and policy research and outreach in support of ecosystem-based approaches to managing coastal environments. Emphasis is on ecosystem processes and relationships between coastal stressors and long-term human and ecosystem health and on programs that provide lifelong opportunities to enhance understanding and promote stewardship.

Specific areas of interest to Delaware Sea Grant include:

• Research in support of baseline data that informs ecosystem-based planning and management approaches.
• Development of regional coastal observation systems to advance our capability to make predictions about human impacts and environmental changes on coastal resources.
• Development of new technologies, methods, and policies to address water quality degradation.
• Innovation and demonstration of best practices in support of citizens and businesses with specific mitigation and restoration problems.
• Efforts to enhance lifelong learning to promote ecosystem stewardship and informed decision making.

Delaware Sea Grant has funded the following research projects for the 2009–2011 period:

• Assessing the equilibrium sediment flux of Delaware tidal wetland rivers
• Chemical and biological sensors for the in situ determination of biogeochemical processes
• AUV-based geoacoustical mapping of benthic habitats in Delaware Bay
• Quantifying short-term morphologic evolution and alongshore sediment transport rates at Cape Henlopen, Del., using remote sensing and rapid response GPS-equipped vehicles
• Development of diatoms as indicators of water quality in Delaware’s Inland Bays

For information about outreach and education activities related to this focus area, visit here.

For additional information, please also see our latest annual report.

Project: Assessing the equilibrium sediment flux of Delaware tidal wetland rivers (R/ETE-11)

Principal Investigator: Christopher Sommerfield, University of Delaware

Sea Grant researcher Chris Sommerfield is studying how sediments are carried by rivers, tides, and storm surges and get trapped in coastal marshes — low-lying ecosystems that help to reduce upland flooding during storms, absorb pollutants, and serve as important habitat for wildlife.

This work is particularly relevant in the face of rising sea levels. Coastal marshes build up through a combination of vegetative growth and deposition of muddy sediments supplied by tidal creeks during spring tides and storm surges. If coastal marshes can’t outpace rising sea levels, they and the services they provide could disappear.

“In part, our ability to predict marsh stability rests on a firm understanding of the underlying sediment dynamics,” said Sommerfield. “Data we collect on sediment transport, deposition, and erosion help determine how marshlands could respond to sea-level rise and changes in sediment delivery.”

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: Chemical and biological sensors for the in situ determination of biogeochemical processes (R/ETE-13)

Principal Investigators: George Luther and Matthew Oliver, University of Delaware

Delaware Sea Grant researchers George Luther and Matt Oliver are using a new type of sensor to help determine how efficiently Delaware Bay phytoplankton grow. The sensor measures how changes in sunlight and nutrients affect the growth of the microscopic plants.

When phytoplankton occur in high concentrations — events known as blooms — they can degrade water quality and harm fish and other marine life. Knowing how efficiently the plants grow will help resource managers looking to monitor the bay’s health.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: AUV-based geoacoustical mapping of benthic habitats in Delaware Bay (R/ECO-6)

Principal Investigators: Arthur Trembanis and Doug Miller, University of Delaware

Researchers Art Trembanis and Doug Miller are using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to learn more about specific habitats on the bottom of Delaware Bay. Some of these habitats support diverse communities of organisms and are known as fishing hotspots by recreational anglers, but scientists don’t know much about them.

The AUV is a torpedo-shaped robot that can swim untethered through the water to collect data. It uses sophisticated sonar sensors to take acoustic “pictures” of the seafloor and gathers water quality information and other data that will help the scientists determine the factors contributing to the areas’ ecological productivity.

“The AUV can get close to the seabed without actually disturbing it,” Trembanis said.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: Quantifying short-term morphologic evolution and alongshore sediment transport rates at Cape Henlopen, Del., using remote sensing and rapid response GPS-equipped vehicles (R/ETE-14)

Principal Investigators: Jack Puleo and Michael O’Neal, University of Delaware

This study is using GPS and imaging systems to learn more about the accumulation of sand around Cape Henlopen Point. Researchers Jack Puleo and Michael O’Neal are using a sophisticated GPS system to map the shape of the beach and the amount of sand present, and a camera system will take near real-time images of the shoreline.

The scientists will compare the GPS information with measurements collected by their new navigable unmanned airship. The 60-foot airship offers the opportunity to gather high-resolution images over a large land area.

Information about how sediment is transported will help state program managers assess how moving shorelines affect beaches, developed areas, and wildlife.

For the full project abstract, click here.

Project: Development of diatoms as indicators of water quality in Delaware’s inland bays (R/BT-2)

Principal Investigator: Kathryn Coyne

Scientist Kathy Coyne addresses the effects of pollution from sources such as residential or agricultural runoff on Indian River, Little Assawoman, and Rehoboth bays, the waterways collectively known as Delaware’s Inland Bays.

Coyne is working to identify specific types of microscopic algae called diatoms that can serve as indicators of water quality. Certain diatom species do better than others in polluted waterways; therefore, the species found in a particular area can tell scientists a lot about environmental conditions there.

Once armed with the new information, Coyne plans to provide the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and monitoring groups such as the UD Citizen Monitoring Program with training on how to incorporate diatom indicators into their monitoring efforts.

“It’s really important for us to involve citizens. They are our eyes on the bays,” she said. Water quality monitoring, she added, benefits not only the ecosystem, but it also helps to protect the health of people using the waterways.

For the full project abstract, click here.