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Multivariate Analysis of Water Quality and Plankton Assemblages in an Urban Estuary

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Abstract

Raritan Bay, located between the states of New York and New Jersey, has a long history of cultural eutrophication and associated harmful algal blooms (HABs). Despite striking chemical and biological alterations occurring in Raritan Bay, publications in the early 1960s were the last to report consecutive measurements of both water quality parameters and plankton species composition in this system. The objectives of this study were to characterize water quality trends and plankton composition in a eutrophic estuary, compare current environmental conditions to those documented in Raritan Bay 50 years ago (i.e., at the same six sampling sites), and to further clarify the relationship among nutrients, secondary consumers, and algal bloom generation in this system using ordination techniques. This study (monthly data collected from April 2010–October 2012) indicates that Raritan Bay continues to exhibit numerous symptoms of eutrophication, including high algal biomass, high turbidity, violations of the dissolved oxygen standard to protect fish health, and blooms of potentially harmful phytoplankton species. Altered spatial and temporal patterns for nitrate and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) over the past 50 years may suggest new, changing, or expanding sources of nutrients. A total of 14 HAB species have been identified, including Heterosigma akashiwo, which formed a bloom in the upper Raritan Bay during summer 2012 in association with hypoxic conditions. Multivariate analyses indicate that abundance of this species is positively associated with high temperature, salinity, nitrate, and SRP and negatively associated with spring river discharge rates and total zooplankton abundance in Raritan Bay.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Captain Mick Trzaska, captain and owner of the CRT II, for transporting us to our sampling sites and for technical support in the field. We thank Andrew Chun for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) support, Phil Auerbach for technical support in the laboratory and with field equipment, Penn State Analytical laboratories for total iron analysis, and Jeffrey Hollander, Raphael Cuomo, Danielle Sobol, Carly Feiro, Shane Foye, Alexander Pong, Ryan Hughes, Sam Rosen, and Elizabeth Cole for assistance with water sampling and nutrient analyses. We thank two anonymous reviewers for counsel on the manuscript. Funding support for this research was provided by the Lafayette College Department of Biology.

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  1. Biology Department, Lafayette College, Kunkel Hall, Easton, PA, 18042, USA

    Megan B. Rothenberger, Thomas Swaffield & Carolyn D. Cabrey

  2. School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, G17 Lehotsky Hall, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Alyssa J. Calomeni

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Rothenberger, M.B., Swaffield, T., Calomeni, A.J. et al. Multivariate Analysis of Water Quality and Plankton Assemblages in an Urban Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 695–711 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9714-0

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