Sustainability Seminar Series, 2017

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Human Effects on the Environment

JD Lewis, Fordham University

Every habitat and ecosystem on Earth has been affected by human activities. The three primary mechanisms through which humans affect the environment are climate change, the spread of invasive species, and habitat fragmentation. The rapid environmental changes associated with these factors have few parallels in Earth’s history, leading paradoxically to an extinction crisis and to the spread of a few dominant species. Because these effects are not uniformly distributed among locations or ecosystems, they are creating ecologic and economic winners and losers. These discrepancies, in turn, are a key factor driving global patterns of urbanization, and is projected to be a major, if not the major, cause of warfare and humanitarian crises during the 21st Century. Conversely, these changes also present opportunities for developing more sustainable cities and societies.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Using the Oxford Nanopore MinION (a portable DNA sequencer) for Microbial Ecology

Lee Kerkhof, Rutgers University

An approach utilizing the MinIon to sequence bacterial ribosomal operons within natural samples has been developed. Bacterial rRNA operons were amplified from 6 samples employing a mixture of farm soil and bioreactor DNA in known concentrations. Replicate extraction/amplifications (n=4) yielded over 10,000 2D sequences which were analyzed using a simplified data analysis pipeline based on NCBI Blast and assembly with Geneious software. The method could detect over 1000 operational taxonomic units in a quantitative manner. An iterative assembly scheme was developed to re- construct those rRNA operons with > 30x coverage from 30 OTUs among the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Gemmatimonadetes. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA and 23S rRNA genes from each operon demonstrated similar tree topologies with species/strain level resolution. Because the MinIon is small, portable, and runs on a laptop, the possibility of microbiome characterization in the field or on robotic platforms becomes realistic.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Offshore Wind Power: Can New Jersey find a place at the table?

Jeremy Firestone, University of Delaware

NJ enacted an offshore renewable energy certificate (OREC) law in 2010. It was thought that the OREC law would usher in a new era for New Jersey, with it enjoying clean, carbon-free renewable offshore wind energy. Offshore wind development, however, has so far been stalled in New Jersey. This presentation looks beyond past and existing conflicts with elected officials and regulators that has resulted in the OREC law effectively being sidelined to consider research that sheds light on public perceptions and de-conflicting uses with an emphasis on New Jersey, but as enlightened by broader research findings and trends.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Applied Research at American Water – Turning Ideas into Applications

Orren D. Schneider, American Water

Dr. Schneider will present an overview of American Water’s Research and Development program. American Water is the largest investor-owned utility in the US and its research program has been investigating issues critical to the water industry for over 30 years. The R&D team, based in New Jersey, is comprised of more than 15 engineers, chemists, and microbiologists and is currently involved with research related to such diverse topics as biofiltration, management of Legionella, advanced oxidation of trace organic compounds, remote sensing for algae detection as part of multi- layer early warning systems for mitigation of harmful algae blooms, remote sensing for water leak detection, evaluation of particle (and pathogen) removal in beach wells for desalination plants and other topics. Beyond a general overview of the research program, two specific case studies – biofiltration and ultrasonic algae control will be presented.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Using Bayesian Networks to Forecast Barrier Island Geomorphology and Impacts to Piping Plover Habitat Due to Sea-Level Rise

Ben Gutierrez, USGS Woods Hole Science Center

The ability to evaluate the impact of sea-level rise (SLR) on coastal landforms and habitats is important for informing management and policy decisions. A particular area of concern exists along the east coast of the United States, where the evolution of barrier islands over the remainder of the 21st century and beyond will require management and policy decisions in order to effectively balance human development demands and the protection of habitat quality. We developed methods to evaluate the evolution of barrier islands and associated habitat changes for piping plovers (Charadrius melodus), a threatened species that relies on beach and barrier island habitats, under different SLR scenarios. Our modeling approach provides probabilistic forecasts of barrier island morphology and habitat suitability under different rates of relative SLR. To implement this approach, we use Bayesian networks to predict the most likely (1) shoreline change rate, (2) barrier island morphology, and (3) plover habitat suitability. We show applications for several national parks and wildlife refuges in the northeastern United Sates. Our results show that distinct geomorphic conditions are associated with different long-term shoreline change rates and that shoreline change rates depend on SLR rates. This modeling framework also allows us to evaluate scenarios related to coastal management plans and/or future scenarios where shoreline-change rates may differ from those observed historically. Initial results show that modest SLR rates may increase the area of suitable piping plover nesting habitat in 50‒100 years and also indicate the level of effectiveness of certain management strategies in promoting habitat availability.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Morphodynamics of Atolls, Reef Flats, and the Islands Atop Them

Andrew Ashton, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The atolls that dot the tropical oceans of (primarily) the Pacific and Indian Oceans contain shallow and emergent coastal environments that often comprise the only subaerial, inhabitable land of many island chains and island nations. Created foremost by calcifying organisms, and composed of both biogenic rocky substrate and detrital sediment, these shallow environments are shaped by waves, currents, and tides. The low-lying, geomorphically active reef islands sitting atop of atolls face considerable hazards from climate change. I will present a series of recent and ongoing research projects addressing the formation mechanisms and potential climate change response of coastal atoll environments, including the “spurs and grooves” on the offshore fore-reef, the shallow reef flat itself, and the islands that can be found up on top.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Coasts in Times of Sea-Level Rise

Robert E. Kopp, Rutgers University

Around the world, sea levels are rising in response to warming oceans, melting glaciers, and shrinking ice sheets – and even faster rise is projected in the coming century. In this talk, I will explore the different physical processes driving sea-level rise, the geological record of past sea-level changes, methods for assessing the probability of different levels of future changes, and the implications for future coastal flood risks.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

A Paleo-perspective on Ocean Heat Exchange: Lessons from the Holocene and Common Era

Yair Rosenthal, Rutgers University

The ocean constitutes the largest heat reservoir in the Earth’s energy budget and thus exerts a major influence on its climate. Instrumental observations show an increase in ocean heat content (OHC) associated with the increase in greenhouse emissions. Here we review proxy records of intermediate water temperatures from sediment cores in the equatorial Pacific and northeastern Atlantic Oceans, spanning 10,000 years beyond the instrumental record. These records suggests that intermediate waters were 1.5-2°C warmer during the Holocene Thermal Maximum than in the last century. Intermediate water masses cooled by 0.9°C from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age. The observed changes are significantly larger than the temperature anomalies documented during these time intervals. The implied large perturbations in OHC and Earth’s energy budget may seem at odds with very small radiative forcing anomalies throughout the Holocene and Common Era. We suggest that even very small radiative perturbations can change the latitudinal temperature gradient and strongly affect prevailing atmospheric wind systems and hence air-sea heat exchange. These dynamic processes provide an efficient mechanism to amplify small changes in insolation into relatively large changes in OHC.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Wake Up Barren Soil! Improving Enzymatic Function of Contaminated Soils

Nina M. Goodey, Montclair State University

A legacy of industrial use in metropolitan areas has left many soils contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds. In some impacted soils, contaminants have altered the soils’ properties and ability to function. Soil microorganisms exude enzymes that break down nutrients, helping to nourish microorganisms and plants. Productive soils are often characterized by high enzymatic activities that are needed to convert decaying matter to plant nutrients. In soils where enzymatic function is low or nonexistent, plants may lack nutrients and fail to thrive. This case-study focuses on such a site within Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ, a brownfield that was once a railyard built on landfill from development in New York City. Our work is aimed at understanding why differently contaminated areas within the park have varying levels of enzymatic function. One application of this work is to discover processes to enhance soil biochemical function, to convert contaminated soils to productive and functional environments, and to increase enzyme function in contaminated, poorly functioning soils.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Challenges to Managing Sewage Pollution in Estuaries: Insights from Emerging Monitoring Tools and Investigation of Microbial Exchange Among Water, Sediment and Air

Gregory O’Mullan, CUNY Queens College

In recent decades, focused environmental management and re-investment in wastewater treatment infrastructure have resulted in significant improvements to water quality of the Hudson River Estuary and the connected waterways of New York City. However, urban stormwater, Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), incomplete sewage treatment, and wildlife remain as sources of allochthonous bacteria, oxygen consuming waste, and other emerging contaminants. Once delivered to the waterway pollutants are transported within the estuary and exchange can occur among sediment, water, and adjacent air masses. Using data from microbial cultivation, high throughput DNA sequencing, geochemical assays, and environmental sensors this seminar will address patterns in common water quality indicators, pollution source identification, as well as the distribution and exchange processes influencing sewage pollutants, with a particular emphasis on fecal bacteria. The data will be discussed in the context of current management challenges and planned sewage pollution mitigation activities.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Creepy Landscapes and Critical Points: How Rivers and Hillslopes Behave like Glass

Doug Jerolmack, University of Pennsylvania

Soil on hillslopes slowly and imperceptibly creeps downhill, but suddenly liquefies to produce landslides. The transition between creeping and flowing is a critical point, often defined in terms of the shear stress, that depends on the characteristics of the soil and the geologic environment. We show that the nature of this transition, however, is general. Creep is the localized and erratic motion of soil grains below the critical point; because this kind of fragility is a generic consequence of disorder (no minimum energy state can be achieved because there is no crystal), soil creep should be similar to amorphous glass. Indeed, we find that the transition from creeping to landsliding is a continuous phase transition that follows predictions from glass transition models. The generality of this transition suggests that the onset of sediment transport in rivers should behave in a similar manner, and we demonstrate that this is the case using laboratory experiments and simulations. Because the sediment transport rate rapidly increases for stresses above critical, many landscapes such as rivers organize to be close to the critical point. In essence, landscapes flicker back and forth across the glass transition. We show that this critical behavior has consequences for how landscapes respond to external forcings such as climate. In particular, self-organization of near-critical river channels filters the climate signal evident in discharge, blunting the impact of extreme rainfall events on landscape evolution.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Exploiting Synchrotron “Light” to Study Chemistry of Trace Elements in Soils and Plants

Ryan Tappero, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Biogeochemical studies often require characterization of elemental abundances and speciation in samples that are chemically and physically heterogeneous at the micrometer scale. Synchrotron radiation sources are ideal for developing high intensity, highly-focused X-ray probes for interrogating the speciation, transport, and reactions of trace elements in heterogeneous earth and biological materials with detection sensitivities in the attogram range and spatial resolutions less than 1 micrometer.

X-ray Fluorescence Microprobe (XFM) is a new, multi-modal X-ray fluorescence microscope recently installed at the National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. XFM has capabilities for X- ray micro-fluorescence (μ-XRF) imaging and tomography, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (μ-XAS), and X-ray microdiffraction (μ-XRD). Micro-XRF allows one to image and quantify the distribution of trace elements in heterogeneous samples. Micro-XAS analysis allows one to interrogate oxidation state and chemical speciation of the trace elements. Coupled XRF-, XAS-, XRD- microanalysis allows one to quantify the abundance and speciation of elements at trace concentrations and evaluate the mineralogy to which they are adsorbed or bound in soil. Such information is crucial in understanding the toxicity, mobility and containment of toxic metals in the environment and the mechanisms of nutrient uptake and partitioning in plants. Examples will be given of how these instruments are applied in the Plant and Soil Sciences.

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM