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A Paleoecological History of the Late Precolonial and Postcolonial Mesohaline Chesapeake Bay Food Web

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Abstract

Geochemical (total nitrogen, total organic carbon, total phosphorus, total sulfur, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes) and selected biotic (diatom, foraminifera, polychaete) indicators preserved in two estuarine sediment cores from the mesohaline Chesapeake Bay provide a history of alterations in the food web associated with land-use change. One core from the mouth of the Chester River (CR) (collected in 2000) represents a 1,000-year record. The second core (collected in 1999), from the Chesapeake Bay’s main stem opposite the Choptank River (MD), represents a 500-year record. As European settlers converted a primarily forested landscape to agriculture, sedimentation rates increased, water clarity decreased, salinity decreased in some areas, and the estuarine food web changed into a predominantly planktonic system. Representatives of the benthic macrofaunal community (foraminifera and the polychaetes Nereis spp.) were affected by local changes before there were widespread landscape alterations. Nitrogen stable isotope records indicated that land-use changes affected nitrogen cycling beginning in the early 1700s. Extreme changes were evident in the mid-nineteenth century following widespread deforestation and since the mid-twentieth century reflecting heightened eutrophication as development increased in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Results also demonstrate how paleoecological records vary due to the degree of terrestrial inputs of freshwater runoff and nutrients at core locations within the Chesapeake Bay.

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research was provided by Maryland Sea Grant (cooperative agreement 00–21), the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future, and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute (Mia J. Tegner Memorial Award). We thank J. Halka for collecting core CR2-2000; T. Cronin for providing MD99-2205 sediment samples, core stratigraphy, MD99-2205 foraminifera counts, and radiocarbon dates (WW2719, WW2722); J. Cornwell for performing 210Pb analyses plus technical assistance; and R. Hatfield for assistance with calibration of radiocarbon dates. We thank the following for helping with microfossil identification: J. Cann (foraminifera), K. Fauchald (polychaetes), and S. Cooper (diatoms). We acknowledge the following laboratories for performing geochemical analyses: Maryland Cooperative Extension (sulfur and phosphorus), the University of California, Davis—Stable Isotope Facility (carbon, nitrogen, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes), and Beta Analytic (radiocarbon dating, Beta 162639). We thank Hilary Collier for assistance with the figures. We also thank Dr. Denise Breitburg for a prior manuscript review and Sandy Rodgers of Maryland Sea Grant for assistance with copyediting.

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  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Angela A. Sowers & Grace S. Brush

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  1. Angela A. Sowers
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Correspondence to Angela A. Sowers.

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Communicated by Judy Grassle

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online resource 1

Lithostratigraphy for CR. The MD profile has been compiled by USGS and is available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-306/chapter5/index.html (PDF 365 kb)

Online resource 2

a CR and b MD pollen profiles. Percent Ambrosia spp. and Quercus spp./Ambrosia spp. ratio are plotted on the first x-axis versus depth (cm). Total pollen grains 0.1 mL−1 are plotted on second x-axis versus depth (cm). The agricultural horizon is assigned to the depth in the core where % Ambrosia spp. is >1 but <10, and the ratio Quercus spp./Ambrosia spp. is >5 (PDF 399 kb)

Online resource 3

210Pb activity versus depth for CR (filled diamond) and MD (open diamond). Sedimentation rates were determined for CR using the CIC method for the top 50 cm of the core. Sedimentation rates were determined for MD using the CRS method for the top 100 cm of the core (PDF 162 kb)

Online resource 4

CR and MD sedimentation rates (cm y−1) where CR is represented by (open circle) and MD by (filled circle). Average pre- and post-1700 AD sedimentation rates are provided (PDF 92.7 kb)

Online resource 5

Single factor ANOVA results. Time periods evaluated were grouped based on general land use history and the dual isotope method of plotting δ 15N (‰) vs. δ 13Corg (‰) and δ 13Corg (‰) vs. TOC/N (Figs. 5 and 6) for CR and MD, respectively. A single factor ANOVA was utilized to determine whether changes in δ 13Corg, δ 15N, and TOC/N, and therefore shifts in organic matter sources were statistically different between age clusters. Level of significance for F values was σ = 0.05. The time periods determined to be significantly different are marked with an “X” (PDF 219 kb)

Online resource 6

The foraminiferal assemblage in a CR and b MD shown as percent of assemblage. Minor constituents are shown grouped as other (CR: Ammonia spp., Trochammina spp., Miliammina spp., and an unknown species. MD: Ammonia spp., and Buccella frigida) (PDF 202 kb)

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Sowers, A.A., Brush, G.S. A Paleoecological History of the Late Precolonial and Postcolonial Mesohaline Chesapeake Bay Food Web. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 1506–1515 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9781-x

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