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SFS Annual Meeting

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USING HIGH FREQUENCY AUTOMATED DATA COLLECTION TO DESCRIBE BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN AN IMPAIRED TRIBUTARY OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

There is increasing awareness of the utility of long-term, high frequency data collection for understanding dynamic environmental systems. High frequency data collection allows for the investigation of environmental processes at fine scales and can provide insight into mechanisms that would be obscured by more infrequent sampling. The Longwood Environmental Observatory (LEO), is a network of environmental sensors that collects high frequency data on atmospheric and water chemistry parameters at a piedmont and coastal plain site in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Virginia. We used the data collected from the coastal plain site to evaluate the range and variation in temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, fluorescent dissolved organic matter, turbidity, and salinity in Aimes Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River estuary. Aimes Creek is eutrophic with consistently poor water quality that has led to the closure of its shellfish fishery. Describing fine scale variation in ecologically relevant water parameters will allow for greater insight in the processes that may be contributing to the continued impairment of Aimes Creek and will help to guide future research into the management and assessment of this tributary to the Chesapeake Bay.

Brittney Beazley (Primary Presenter/Author), Longwood University , brittney.beazley@live.longwood.edu;


Kenneth Fortino (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, fortinok@longwood.edu;


Dina Leech (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, leechdm@longwood.edu;


Mark Fink (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, finkml@longwood.edu;


Kathy Gee (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, geekd@longwood.edu;


Alec Hosterman (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, hostermanar@longwood.edu;


Chris Labosier (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, labosiercf@longwood.edu;


Robert Marmorstein (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Longwood University, marmorsteinrm@longwood.edu;