Presentation Abstract
Padilla Bay, Washington is a shallow intertidal bay with over 8000 acres of eelgrass. Therefore, it can serve as a good proxy for the response to climate change for estuaries in the Salish Sea that are rich with aquatic vegetation. However, limited studies have been done in Padilla Bay to look at basic temporal and spatial patterns of such things as zooplankton despite its importance to nutrient cycling, energy transfer, population recruitment, and indicator of ecosystem health and changing climate. To address the lack of continuous monitoring, we initiated a monthly zooplankton monitoring program at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in 2007. Samples are collected at three sites in the bay. Two of these sites are located in channels draining eelgrass covered flats, and the third is in deep water outside the subtidal edge of the eelgrass beds. As part of the NERR system, long term monitoring of weather, water quality and nutrient concentrations have been conducted specific to each of these sites in Padilla Bay. With seven years of zooplankton, water, nutrient, and weather data, we can begin to look at zooplankton community changes in relation to physical and chemical changes both seasonally and interannually. This baseline data then serves as a place to evaluate changes in the zooplankton community due to natural oscillation, anthropogenic forces, and climate change.
Session Title
Session S-07E: Aquatic Vegetation
Conference Track
Habitat
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 3:30 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
Location
Room 613-614
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Marine zooplankton----Washington (State)--Padilla Bay; Environmental monitoring--Washington (State)--Padilla Bay
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Padilla Bay (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Zooplankton Monitoring in the Eelgrass Dominated Padilla Bay: A baseline for Examining Future Changes.
Room 613-614
Padilla Bay, Washington is a shallow intertidal bay with over 8000 acres of eelgrass. Therefore, it can serve as a good proxy for the response to climate change for estuaries in the Salish Sea that are rich with aquatic vegetation. However, limited studies have been done in Padilla Bay to look at basic temporal and spatial patterns of such things as zooplankton despite its importance to nutrient cycling, energy transfer, population recruitment, and indicator of ecosystem health and changing climate. To address the lack of continuous monitoring, we initiated a monthly zooplankton monitoring program at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in 2007. Samples are collected at three sites in the bay. Two of these sites are located in channels draining eelgrass covered flats, and the third is in deep water outside the subtidal edge of the eelgrass beds. As part of the NERR system, long term monitoring of weather, water quality and nutrient concentrations have been conducted specific to each of these sites in Padilla Bay. With seven years of zooplankton, water, nutrient, and weather data, we can begin to look at zooplankton community changes in relation to physical and chemical changes both seasonally and interannually. This baseline data then serves as a place to evaluate changes in the zooplankton community due to natural oscillation, anthropogenic forces, and climate change.
