Fine sediment effects on seagrasses: A global review, quantitative synthesis and multi-stressor model.

This review collates research into fine sediment as a stressor of seagrass and emphasizes the multiple modes of action of this contaminant. The article is based on a bibliographic database search that identified 201 articles describing sediment impacts on seagrasses. Articles were classified by one of three non-exclusive modes of action: 1) light reduction; 2) smothering (burial), and 3) effects via rhizosphere physico-chemistry. Most citations (104) investigated multi-mode impacts of sediments, but the most frequently investigated single mode was light reduction (57 citations), followed by substrate rhizosphere chemistry (31) then smothering effects (6). Mud with high organic content is particularly problematic and smaller seagrasses are particularly vulnerable. Research gaps include polyphasic approaches, and studies of interactions between smothering, rhizosphere biogeochemistry and light climate. Identifying the thresholds of seagrass health indicators under mud stress should benefit coastal resource management, enabling improved decision-making and implementation of protective actions.

Sunlight-mediated inactivation of health-relevant microorganisms in water: a review of mechanisms and modeling approaches.

Health-relevant microorganisms present in natural surface waters and engineered treatment systems that are exposed to sunlight can be inactivated by a complex set of interacting mechanisms. The net impact of sunlight depends on the solar spectral irradiance, the susceptibility of the specific microorganism to each mechanism, and the water quality; inactivation rates can vary by orders of magnitude depending on the organism and environmental conditions. Natural organic matter (NOM) has a large influence, as it can attenuate radiation and thus decrease inactivation by endogenous mechanisms. Simultaneously NOM sensitizes the formation of reactive intermediates that can damage microorganisms via exogenous mechanisms. To accurately predict inactivation and design engineered systems that enhance solar inactivation, it is necessary to model these processes, although some details are not yet sufficiently well understood. In this critical review, we summarize the photo-physics, -chemistry, and -biology that underpin sunlight-mediated inactivation, as well as the targets of damage and cellular responses to sunlight exposure. Viruses that are not susceptible to exogenous inactivation are only inactivated if UVB wavelengths (280-320 nm) are present, such as in very clear, open waters or in containers that are transparent to UVB. Bacteria are susceptible to slightly longer wavelengths. Some viruses and bacteria (especially Gram-positive) are susceptible to exogenous inactivation, which can be initiated by visible as well as UV wavelengths. We review approaches to model sunlight-mediated inactivation and illustrate how the environmental conditions can dramatically shift the inactivation rate of organisms. The implications of this mechanistic understanding of solar inactivation are discussed for a range of applications, including recreational water quality, natural treatment systems, solar disinfection of drinking water (SODIS), and enhanced inactivation via the use of sensitizers and photocatalysts. Finally, priorities for future research are identified that will further our understanding of the key role that sunlight disinfection plays in natural systems and the potential to enhance this process in engineered systems.

Microbial Transport, Retention, and Inactivation in Streams: A Combined Experimental and Stochastic Modeling Approach.

Long-term survival of pathogenic microorganisms in streams enables long-distance disease transmission. In order to manage water-borne diseases more effectively we need to better predict how microbes behave in freshwater systems, particularly how they are transported downstream in rivers. Microbes continuously immobilize and resuspend during downstream transport owing to a variety of processes including gravitational settling, attachment to in-stream structures such as submerged macrophytes, and hyporheic exchange and filtration within underlying sediments. We developed a stochastic model to describe these microbial transport and retention processes in rivers that also accounts for microbial inactivation. We used the model to assess the transport, retention, and inactivation of Escherichia coli in a small stream and the underlying streambed sediments as measured from multitracer injection experiments. The results demonstrate that the combination of laboratory experiments on sediment cores, stream reach-scale tracer experiments, and multiscale stochastic modeling improves assessment of microbial transport in streams. This study (1) demonstrates new observations of microbial dynamics in streams with improved data quality than prior studies, (2) advances a stochastic modeling framework to include microbial inactivation processes that we observed to be important in these streams, and (3) synthesizes new and existing data to evaluate seasonal dynamics.

Light attenuation - a more effective basis for the management of fine suspended sediment than mass concentration?

Fine sediment continues to be a major diffuse pollution concern with its multiple effects on aquatic ecosystems. Mass concentrations (and loads) of fine sediment are usually measured and modelled, apparently with the assumption that environmental effects of sediment are predictable from mass concentrations. However, some severe impacts of fine sediment may not correlate well with mass concentration, notably those related to light attenuation by suspended particles. Light attenuation per unit mass concentration of suspended particulate matter in waters varies widely with particle size, shape and composition. Data for suspended sediment concentration, turbidity and visual clarity (which is inversely proportional to light beam attenuation) from 77 diverse New Zealand rivers provide valuable insights into the mutual relationships of these quantities. Our analysis of these relationships, both across multiple rivers and within individual rivers, supports the proposition that light attenuation by fine sediment is a more generally meaningful basis for environmental management than sediment mass. Furthermore, optical measurements are considerably more practical, being much cheaper (by about four-fold) to measure than mass concentrations, and amenable to continuous measurement. Mass concentration can be estimated with sufficient precision for many purposes from optical surrogates locally calibrated for particular rivers.

Water quality trends in New Zealand rivers: 1989-2009.

Recent assessments of water quality in New Zealand have indicated declining trends, particularly in the 40 % of the country's area under pasture. The most comprehensive long-term and consistent water quality dataset is the National Rivers Water Quality Network (NRWQN). Since 1989, monthly samples have been collected at 77 NRWQN sites on 35 major river systems that, together, drain about 50 % of New Zealand's land area. Trend analysis of the NRWQN data shows increasing nutrient concentrations, particularly nitrogen (total nitrogen and nitrate), over 21 years (1989-2009). Total nitrogen and nitrate concentrations were increasing significantly over the first 11 years (1989-2000), but for the more recent 10-year period, only nitrate concentrations continued to increase sharply. Also, the increasing phosphorus trends over the first 11 years (1989-2000) levelled off over the later 10-year period (2000-2009). Conductivity has also increased over the 21 years (1989-2009). Visual clarity has increased over the full time period which may be the positive result of soil conservation measures and riparian fencing. NRWQN data shows that concentrations of nutrients increase, and visual clarity decreases (i.e. water quality declines), with increasing proportions of pastoral land in catchments. As such, the increasing nutrient trends may reflect increasing intensification of pastoral agriculture.

Sunlight inactivation of fecal indicator bacteria and bacteriophages from waste stabilization pond effluent in fresh and saline waters.

Sunlight inactivation in fresh (river) water of fecal coliforms, enterococci, Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages, and F-RNA phages from waste stabilization pond (WSP) effluent was compared. Ten experiments were conducted outdoors in 300-liter chambers, held at 14C (mean river water temperature). Sunlight inactivation (k(S)) rates, as a function of cumulative global solar radiation (insolation), were all more than 10 times higher than the corresponding dark inactivation (k(D)) rates in enclosed (control) chambers. The overall k(S) ranking (from greatest to least inactivation) was as follows: enterococci > fecal coliforms greater-than-or-equal E. coli > somatic coliphages > F-RNA phages. In winter, fecal coliform and enterococci inactivation rates were similar but, in summer, enterococci were inactivated far more rapidly. In four experiments that included freshwater-raw sewage mixtures, enterococci survived longer than fecal coliforms (a pattern opposite to that observed with the WSP effluent), but there was little difference in phage inactivation between effluents. In two experiments which included simulated estuarine water and seawater, sunlight inactivation of all of the indicators increased with increasing salinity. Inactivation rates in freshwater, as seen under different optical filters, decreased with the increase in the spectral cutoff (50% light transmission) wavelength. The enterococci and F-RNA phages were inactivated by a wide range of wavelengths, suggesting photooxidative damage. Inactivation of fecal coliforms and somatic coliphages was mainly by shorter (UV-B) wavelengths, a result consistent with photobiological damage. Fecal coliform repair mechanisms appear to be activated in WSPs, and the surviving cells exhibit greater sunlight resistance in natural waters than those from raw sewage. In contrast, enterococci appear to suffer photooxidative damage in WSPs, rendering them susceptible to further photooxidative damage after discharge. This suggests that they are unsuitable as indicators of WSP effluent discharges to natural waters. Although somatic coliphages are more sunlight resistant than the other indicators in seawater, F-RNA phages are the most resistant in freshwater, where they may thus better represent enteric virus survival.