Dr. Matthew C Schwartz

The Florida Sea Grant partnered with UWF and volunteers to perform their annual seagrass survey of the Pensacola Bay system, including western Santa Rosa Sound (Caffrey, 2024). Their findings indicated that Choctawhatchee Bay does not have Thalassia testudinum, commonly known as Turtle Grass, present. T. testudinum is a vital nursery habitat for Argopecten irradians, the Bay Scallop. A. irradians has faced population declines that began sometime around the 1960s. Identifying the growth limiting parameters of T. testudinum in Choctawhatchee Bay can be useful for restoration efforts of A. irradians population.

This project has two goals: to produce porewater concentration data for a shore-normal transect at the site of other similar ongoing studies and to explore potential three-dimensional
artistic visualizations of this data.
This porewater nutrient data is determined in a lab using standard nutrient spectroscopy alongside concentration standards and its distribution is mapped In SlgmaPlot. Meanwhile, rough sketches and digital illustrations are made of a possible sculpture that would represent the collected nutrient data in a novel fashion.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the process by which fresh or brackish groundwater moves through porous sediments to the surface water. SGD is a method of transportation for different nutrients, metals, pollutants, and freshwater to enter our coastal waters. Tidal pumping and sub-surface hydraulic pressure are the key driving forces that move groundwater through the land-sea interface. At high tide, porewater in the subterranean estuary (STE) is predicted to have a low concentration of nutrients due to seawater recirculation. During the ebb tide, SGD through the STE will cause nutrient concentrations to increase. The objective of this study is to observe how porewater nutrient concentrations are impacted by tides at an SGD positive zone. The area of study is located at the Gulf Islands Nation Seashore: Naval Live Oaks Preservation Area in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The area of interest ranges from the shoreline to about 30 meters offshore in Santa Rosa Sound. Previous research has indicated this site as an SGD positive through radon isotope analysis. Piezometers are inserted into the sediment on the seafloor at different depths to extract groundwater. The transects of porewater extent to three different distances away from shore to show the movement of groundwater. Elevated nutrient levels are present in the subterranean estuary. The nutrient concentrations appear to have spatial variability but are showing changes as the tidal cycle progresses. Collecting evidence of nutrients moving through a subterranean estuary and interacting with the SGD interface can provide a better understanding of tidal pumping and the impacts that it can have on an aquatic ecosystem.

The UWF GeoScholars program was designed based on the inherently interdisciplinary nature of geoscience research and careers. Specifically, we sought to demonstrate to undergraduate geoscience students the need for including content and skills from other academic areas, while also showing non-geoscience undergraduate majors the application of their fields of study to a range of geoscience topics, including climatology, soil science, and geomorphology. We secured NSF IUSE funding to pair faculty and undergraduate researchers from the UWF Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences with faculty-student partners from non-geoscience UWF departments, including Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Information Technology, and Mathematics & Statistics. Research team faculty mentors collaborated to identify an interdisciplinary geoscience research project that employed specific areas of interest and expertise from the geoscience and non-geoscience participants. Faculty then worked with the UWF GeoScholars directors to identify and recruit students from a targeted pool of eligible undergraduate students. Research teams then conducted related research, with students funded as part of the UWF Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and continuing through the subsequent academic year(s) culminating in each student presenting research at a regional or national geoscience conference, also attended by the non-geoscience faculty mentors. Additionally, the UWF GeoScholars program developed a series of professional development engagement activities that began in the UWF SURP program and continued in regular GeoScholars programs during the academic year. Professional development highlights included student researcher sessions with regional geoscience employers and representatives from national geoscience PhD graduate programs. Now in its third year, the UWF GeoScholars has facilitated multiple new interdisciplinary faculty collaborations, trained more than 20 undergraduate students in research and professional skills, and engaged regional industry partners with the University community as demonstration of the multitude of paths into the geosciences.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a hydrological phenomenon of terrestrial groundwater entering coastal surface waters through porous sediments. While past research has analyzed SGD nutrient influxes, the distributions of seagrasses relative to SGD, and more, this research aims to connect SGD inputs to the ecological responses of Thalassia testudinum, a seagrass commonly known as turtle grass. More specifically, we are investigating the impact of SGD-transported nutrients into the local environment (including porewaters and bottom waters) in which Thalassia is growing by analyzing for variations in elemental abundance and stable isotope composition of seagrass in areas receiving SGD as compared to control areas in which no SGD is measured. We sampled eight site locations within Florida's Gulf Islands National Seashore's Naval Like Oaks (NALO) Preserve for bottom-water nitrate, nitrite, ammonium and phosphate; physical water quality parameters (dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, temperature, pH, and turbidity); and dissolved radon. Additionally, Thalassia testudinum seagrass samples were collected from all stations for IRMS analysis for delta (super 15) N and delta (super 13) C to investigate SGD influences on C:N ratios and stable isotope composition in the local seagrasses, including spatial and tidal controls on any variability in water column chemistry and seagrass biogeochemistry. Preliminary stable isotope results from selected pilot sites showed a substantial difference in delta (super 15) N and delta (super 13) C between Thalassia rhizomes and leaves; however, they did not show stable isotope differences between SGD and non-SGD sites within the study area. We have added additional sampling sites to those pilot sites to further identify the relationship between SGD and seagrass biogeochemistry at the NALO site.

Online analytical processing databases allow for the efficient analysis of vast amounts of data. In this paper, we describe the design of an online analytical processing data cube structure for use in the analysis of multiple measures of environmental water quality data. The measures, also known as facts, will be the quantitative values returned by various water quality tests while the dimensions will be the attributes that describe the what, when and where of the water quality test measures. The data model and build process presented here will allow for varying types of tests and for the insertion of new data as it becomes available. The overall goal of this design is to provide business intelligence capabilities to water quality decision makers.

In recent years, alternative strategies for shoreline armoring have become increasingly popular with coastal property owners. In Northwest Florida, local agencies implemented plans to attenuate wave action and reduce landward shore recession in an urban bayou by installing living shorelines. Living shorelines are constructed in the inter-tidal zones and incorporate both hard and soft structured stabilization. Generally, the hard component is fossilized oyster shells and the soft component is planted intertidal vegetation, such as Spartina alterniflora (Smooth cordgrass) and Juncus roemererianus (Black needlerush). Living shorelines were intended to comprise both ecological and societal implications by significantly slowing erosion processes for property owners, by utilizing oyster beds to improve water quality, and by fostering new ecological habitats in the marsh grasses. The issue presented with living shoreline management is long-term studies have not been carried out on these engineered systems. For this study, geospatial technology was utilized to create 3D images of terrain by interpolation of data points using a TotalStation to compute geomorphic change. Additionally, water samples were analyzed using traditional wet chemistry laboratory methods to determine total oxidized nitrogen (TON), ammonium, and orthophosphate content in water. Over a short three-month preliminary study, sediment accretion was observed primarily within the vegetation with the bulk of the erosion occurring around the oyster beds. TON was detected at levels between 10 mu M and 30 mu M, ammonium up to 5 mu M, and orthophosphate was only detected in very low levels, consistently < 2 mu M. The project is in its infancy, as the topographic profiles and water quality data will be used to establish baseline data for future research to determine volumetric geomorphic change,and to set a standard for water quality trends, surrounding oyster beds and vegetation in response to climatic events.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is described as groundwater flowing from land into water in coastal environments via a submerged shoreline. Determining the spatial distribution of SGD flux is important because this hydrologic flux can have a significant influence on nutrient and water volume input into coastal environments. The objectives of this study were to identify locations of submarine groundwater discharge, and to determine if there was a relationship between the spatial distribution of SGD and the seagrass beds along the coast of the Naval Live Oaks Preserve, Santa Rosa County, Florida. Surface water and groundwater samples were taken to determine nutrient concentrations in nearshore groundwater as well as near depth surface water over seagrass beds. Nutrient analysis was done initially to begin looking for variability in the water composition. Identification of possible SGD sites was done via detection of naturally occurring radioisotopes, Rn-220 and Rn-222 using a RAD7 instrument. From this study, most of the possible SGD sites were identified nearshore within the study area, especially within the approximately 10 meters closest to shore based on elevated Rn-220 and Rn-222 concentrations. Despite a possible correlation between higher radon signals and seagrass beds from visual reviews of the data, the relationship between seagrass and SGD distribution are still indeterminate for the study area.

Foraminifera are an important component of benthic communities in oxygen-depleted settings, where they potentially play a significant role in the processing of organic matter. We tracked the uptake of a C-13-labelled algal food source into individual fatty acids in the benthic foraminiferal species Uvigerina ex. gr. semiornata from the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The tracer experiments were conducted on the Pakistan margin during the late/post monsoon period (August-October 2003). A monoculture of the diatom Thalassiosira weisflogii was C-13-labelled and used to simulate a pulse of phytoplankton in two complementary experiments. A lander system was used for in situ incubations at 140m water depth and for 2.5 days in duration. Shipboard laboratory incubations of cores collected at 140 m incorporated an oxystat system to maintain ambient dissolved oxygen concentrations and were terminated after 5 days. Uptake of diatoms was rapid, with a high incorporation of diatom fatty acids into foraminifera after similar to 2 days in both experiments. Ingestion of the diatom food source was indicated by the increase over time in the quantity of diatom biomarker fatty acids in the foraminifera and by the high percentage of C-13 in many of the fatty acids present at the endpoint of both in situ and laboratory-based experiments. These results indicate that U. ex. gr. semiornata rapidly ingested the diatom food source and that these foraminifera will play an important role in the short-term cycling of organic matter within this OMZ environment. The presence of 18:1(n-7) in the experimental foraminifera suggested that U. ex. gr. semiornata also consumed non-labelled bacterial food items. In addition, levels of 20:4(n-6), a PUFA only present in low amounts in the diatom food, increased dramatically in the foraminifera during both the in situ and shipboard experiments, possibly because it was synthesised de novo. This "essential fatty acid" is often abundant in benthic fauna, yet its origins and function have remained unclear. If U. ex. gr. semiornata is capable of de novo synthesis of 20:4(n-6), then it represents a potentially major source of this dietary nutrient in benthic food webs.