Benthic Communities as Mediators of Water Quality in Lower San Francisco Bay, California (2012-2019)

Dates

Start Date: 2012
End Date: 2019
Publication Date: 2021-09-15

Citation

Zierdt Smith, E.L., Shrader, K.H., Parchaso, F., Thompson, J.K., 2021, Benthic Communities as Mediators of Water Quality in Lower San Francisco Bay, California (2012-2019): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P98VDE7V.

Summary

San Francisco Bay and Estuary is largely urbanized and developed, and the southern bay is the most urbanized with many sources of nutrients, many concerns that the system might become eutrophic, and many questions about how South Bay has maintained its relatively good health. The hypotheses for why South Bay is not eutrophic, where other bays have not been so fortunate, include high bivalve grazing that limits net phytoplankton growth and high turbidity which also limits the phytoplankton growth rate. Understanding the bivalve grazing rates in the south bay includes the necessity of understanding temporal and spatial distributions of bivalves. Despite the critical need to understand all controls on eutrophication, there are very few [...]

Summary

San Francisco Bay and Estuary is largely urbanized and developed, and the southern bay is the most urbanized with many sources of nutrients, many concerns that the system might become eutrophic, and many questions about how South Bay has maintained its relatively good health. The hypotheses for why South Bay is not eutrophic, where other bays have not been so fortunate, include high bivalve grazing that limits net phytoplankton growth and high turbidity which also limits the phytoplankton growth rate. Understanding the bivalve grazing rates in the south bay includes the necessity of understanding temporal and spatial distributions of bivalves. Despite the critical need to understand all controls on eutrophication, there are very few aquatic systems with good concurrent temporal and spatial data of bivalve grazing and phytoplankton biomass.

Benthic communities, and especially bivalves, are critical in understanding water quality dynamics in aquatic systems, and therefore water availability for both human and ecological needs. As filter feeders, bivalves remove a large volume of organic and inorganic particles from pelagic habitats and consume and assimilate them into their tissues. In so doing, bivalves also produce and deposit organic rich feces and pseudofeces on the bottom where nutrients can be recycled. Through these processes, bivalves offer strong controls on nutrients, phytoplankton, suspended sediment, and contaminant dynamics.

Bivalves are critical for nutrient translocation, storage, and transformation. The roles of bivalves in nutrient cycling are driven by many factors such as lifestyle (i.e., infaunal and epifaunal), habitat (e.g., river, intertidal zone), eutrophication, and hydrodynamics. Suspension feeding (i.e., biofiltration of the water column) and deposit feeding (i.e., sediment consumption) move nutrients from pelagic and benthic zones, respectively, into bivalves, where elements are assimilated or egested (Vaughn and others, 2018).

Contacts

Originator :: Emily L Zierdt Smith, Kelly H Shrader, Francis Parchaso, Janet K McHendrie
Point of Contact :: Emily L Zierdt Smith
Metadata Contact :: Emily L Zierdt Smith
Publisher :: U.S. Geological Survey
USGS Mission Area :: Water Resources
SDC Data Owner :: Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Distributor :: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase

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Metadata_Record_Benthic Communities as Mediators in Lower San Francisco Bay (2012-2019).xml Original FGDC Metadata	View	37.19 KB	application/fgdc+xml
SFEI_DataDictionary.csv		38.99 KB	text/csv
SFEI_DataDictionary.xlsx		18.52 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T1_SFEI_SpeciesList.csv		4.56 KB	text/csv
T1_SFEI_SpeciesList.xlsx		12.15 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T2_SFEI_BivalveBioRecGR.csv		15.95 KB	text/csv
T2_SFEI_BivalveBioRecGR.xlsx		30.2 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T3_SFEI_2012BenthicData.csv		84.14 KB	text/csv
T3_SFEI_2012BenthicData.xlsx		40.08 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T4_SFEI_2013BenthicData.csv		41.5 KB	text/csv
T4_SFEI_2013BenthicData.xlsx		26.66 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T5_SFEI_2014BenthicData.csv		41.21 KB	text/csv
T5_SFEI_2014BenthicData.xlsx		26.51 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T6_SFEI_2015BenthicData.csv		78.94 KB	text/csv
T6_SFEI_2015BenthicData.xlsx		39.03 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T7_SFEI_2016BenthicData.csv		78.41 KB	text/csv
T7_SFEI_2016BenthicData.xlsx		38.51 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T8_SFEI_2017BenthicData.csv		169.67 KB	text/csv
T8_SFEI_2017BenthicData.xlsx		70.91 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T9_SFEI_2018BenthicData.csv		83.02 KB	text/csv
T9_SFEI_2018BenthicData.xlsx		40 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
T10_SFEI_2019BenthicData.csv		249.76 KB	text/csv
T10_SFEI_2019BenthicData.xlsx		99.22 KB	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
Morning on the water in San Francisco Bay, CA facing southeast towards the Dumbarton Bridge and Mission Peak Regional Preserve. Taken by Emily Zierdt Smith (USGS) on October 30, 2018.jpg		106.11 KB	image/jpeg

Related External Resources

Type: Citation

Vaughn, Caryn & Hoellein, Timothy. (2018). Bivalve Impacts in Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 49. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110617-062703	https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110617-062703

Purpose

Data were collected to examine the benthic community dynamics and bivalve grazing rates in the lower San Francisco Bay. These data support the collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. We are working with Dr. David Senn to support the South San Francisco Bay Phytoplankton model (a collaborative study with Dr Lisa Lucas USGS, WMA/IMPD/ESMB).

Benthic Communities as Mediators of Water Quality in Lower San Francisco Bay, California (2012-2019)

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