Introduction

Methods

Goals

Discussion

Sequencing New York Harbor: Effects of Salinity Gradients on Biodiversity (Hudson Raritan Estuary, 2019)

Cyd Bloomfield & Jacqueline Obermayer, New York Harbor School

New York Harbor’s Estuary is a unique habitat and community that is home to thousands of marine species (Nyman, 2012). It used to be full of thriving fish and plentiful estuary life (Juet, 1609). When Henry Hudson and Robert Juet came to New York in 1609, Juet described the incredible biodiversity of the estuary. When the Erie Canal was built in 1825, the waters became less about the marine life that lived there and more about shipping and transportation of goods (Finch, 1998). These waters are not only used by the marine species that live there, but the people as well. As of 2010, 86% of people in the United States rely on public supply water, which comes from city or county water departments (Perlman, 2017). Not only do people rely on water, they heavily impact it as well, through nitrate infiltration (Re et al., 2017) and runoff. New York’s Estuary is and has been immensely important to the economy and social workings of New York. Between 1887 and 1996, the total produce from the New York Harbor Estuary’s most important commercial fish and fisheries decreased approximately 90%, attributed in large part to depleted dissolved oxygen (DO) levels caused by pollution (Tetra Tech and Stoddard, et al., 2000). Dissolved estuary salinity is another major factor that affects biodiversity (Narragansett Bay Commission, 2009). They can fluctuate based on natural occurrences or human induced climate change (Curry, 2003) (Ojaveer, et al., 2005). Although natural ocean currents and tides cause salt levels throughout the system to change daily, marine species can only live in specific salinity tolerances (Bayly, 1972). Environmental factors can also influence phenotypic gene expression. If the salinity levels go below 10 ppt biodiversity can decrease in some macroinvertebrates (Ahmadi, et al., 2011). Little research has been done to compare salinity to biodiversity in the NY Harbor.

The goal of this project is to test the hypothesis that salinity affects biodiversity by determining the species richness, Shannon entropy, and percent cover of organisms on settling tiles at four sites in New York Harbor.

After discovering different color morphologies of tunicates we sequenced mitochondrial DNA to determine if they were different species.

Results

Figure 01: Salinity gradient map of NY Harbor on July 20, 2018 as taken from Stevens Institute of Technology. Sampling sites are labeled with grey circles. Percent cover is shown as pie charts on the right.

Figure 05: Phylogenetic tree showing samples of Molgula manhattensis, Blackfordia virginica, Botrylloides violaceus, and Conopeum tenuissimum

Hill number qD, where q=0

Hill number qD, where q=1

Hill number qD, where q=2

SiteAvg. Salinity (psu)

Salinity Range (psu)

Species Richness

Shannon Entropy Inverse of

Simpson Dominance

UWS 12.57143 3 to 26 5 0.8261.7

LIC 22.37143 7 to 30 5 0.4251.23

RH 21.14286 13 to 28 6 1.12.13

GK 23.71429 17 to 30 4 0.9042.04

Table 1: Table displaying average salinity, salinity range, species richness, Shannon entropy, and the inverse of Simpson dominance of all organisms

• Organisms were not using all the space available to them. This could mean that either, they die before they can spread out, or the substrate is not ideal for sessile organisms to settle on.

• The most common organisms were tunicates (both colonial and individuals), barnacles, bryozoans, and slipper snails.

• The species richness was fairly uniform across all sites, the highest being 6 and the lowest being 4, suggesting no relationship between salinity and biodiversity.

• The Shannon entropy was very similar, except in the case of the LIC site which had a SE of 0.425, much lower that the other sites. This suggests that even though there were the same number of species, the distribution in those numbers was different. This suggests no relationship between salinity and biodiversity.

• When we thought we were extracting individual tunicates we were actually extracting jellyfish polyps or bryozoans. This means that there is a missing piece of the biodiversity picture because we physically can not see microinvertebrates.

• Botrylloides violaceus and Botryllus schlosseri would appear to be different species and that those different species have different morphological differences.

Figure 02: The number of individuals over 1mm per cm^2 as compared to site. (upper left)

Figure 03: The number of individuals over 1mm per cm^2 as compared to site, excluding barnacles in order to take a closer look at the similarities and differences. (lower right)

Figure 04: The number of colonials tunicates per cm^2 as compared to site. (upper right)

Field Sampling

Genetic Extractions

Analysis

Photographing

Data Collection

Analysis

Final WordsTaking a look at cryptic biodiversity is important to get the whole picture of what is living in a community. Scientists should consider reevaluate how we look at biodiversity in general. Though there does not appear to be a correlation between salinity and biodiversity in this study, that doesn’t mean that there is not one on a larger scale.

Suggestions for Future Research• Look at salinity as compared to biodiversity on a larger scale• Use a bigger sample size• Deploy tiles farther from shore• Attach cameras on tiles to see if/how the organisms die

I would like to thank my mentors and advisors Mauricio Gonzalez, Elizabeth Burmester, Christine Marizzi, Jacqueline Obermayer, Heather Flanagan, Mary Lee, Cedric Penders, and Emily Hollyday. References

Ahmadi, R., et al. “Macro-Invertabrates in the Wetlands of the Zarrineh Estuary at the Sounth of Urmia Lake (Iran).” International Journal of Environmental Research, vol. 5, no. 5, 15 June 2011. Summer 2011.Bayly, I A E. “Salinity Tolerance and Osmotic Behavior of Animals in Athalassic Saline and

Marine Hypersaline Waters.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systmeatics, vol. 3,no. 1, 1972, pp. 233-268., doi:10.1146/annurev.es.03.110172.001313.Curry, Ruth, et al. “A Change in the Freshwater Balance of the Atlantic Ocean over the Past Four

Decades.” Nature, vol. 426, no. 6968, 2003, pp. 826–829., doi:10.1038/nature02206.Finch, R. G. (1998). The Story of the New York State Canals: Historical and … Retrieved

November 10, 2018, from http://www.canals.ny.gov/history/finch_history.pdfJuet, R. (2006, June 28). Juet's Journal of Hudson's 1609 Voyage, from the 1625 Edition of

Purchas His Pilgrimes (B. Barthel, Trans.). Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.halfmoon.mus.ny.us/Juets-journal.pdf

Written in July and August of 1609Narragansett Bay Commission. (2009, February). Estuarine Science. Retrieved November 10,

2018, from http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/physical/chsal1.htm

Nyman, T., Linder, H. P., Peña, C., Malm, T., & Wahlberg, N. (2012). Climate-driven diversity dynamics in plants and plant-feeding insects. Ecology Letters,15(8), 889-

898. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01782.x

Ojaveer, E., & Kalejs, M. (2005). The impact of climate change on the adaptation of marine fish in the Baltic Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 62(7), 1492-1500. doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2005.08.002

Perlman, H., & USGS. (2017, December 06). Public-supply water use. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://water.usgs.gov/edu/wups.htmLRe, V., Sacchi, E., Kammoun, S., Tringali, C., Trabelsi, R., Zouari, K., & Daniele, S. (2017).

Integrated socio-hydrogeological approach to tackle nitrate contamination in groundwater resources. The case of Grombalia Basin (Tunisia). Science of The Total Environment, 593-594, 664-676. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.151Tetra Tech, Inc. and Andrew Stoddard & Associates. 2000. Progress in Water Quality: An

Evaluation of the National Investment in Municipal Wastewater Treatment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Washington, DC,

EPA-832-R-00-008.f

Acknowledgments/References

Figure 04

Figure 03

Botryllus schlosseri (Site 2, Tile 2) Botryllus schlosseri (Site 2, Tile 1)

Botrylloides violaceus (Site 3, Tile 3)

Botrylloides violaceus (Site 3, Tile 1)

Botrylloides violaceus (Site 2, Tile 2)

Botrylloides violaceus (Site 3, Tile 5)

Molgula Manhattensis (Site 1, Tile 2)

Blackfordia verginica (Photo Credit: Maria Alexandra Teadaslo Chicharo, Universidad de Algarve)

Botryllus schlosseri and Botrylloides violaceus (Site 2, Tile 1)

Bryozoan colony (Site 1, Tile 1) Diagram of a Bryozoan colony (Photo Credit: Lucy Muir, Natural History Museum in London)

Diagram of Botryllus schlosseri (Photo Credit: Kevin C. K. Ma, Lavel University)

Life cycle of a jellyfish (Photo Credit: Seonald Davis, Havergal College)

Figure 02