Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research

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Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Symposium

Nutrient Over-Enrichment in Coastal Waters: Global Patterns of Cause and Effect

October 11-13, 2000

The National Academies, Washington, DC

Through two and one-half days of plenary discussion, invited presentations by distinguished scientists from around the world, and a session of contributed poster presentations, this symposium will explore the role of nutrient over-enrichment in the declining environmental quality of the world's coastal regions. Topics to be covered include: (1) nutrient sources and pathways, (2) natural controls on ecosystem response, (3) effects on living resources, (4) economic impacts, (5) technical approaches to monitoring and mitigation, and (6) policy behind monitoring and mitigation. Results of national and international efforts to assess, understand, and mitigate this increasing problem (e.g., International SCOPE Nitrogen Project, Coastal GOOS, GEOHAB, U.S. Clean Water Action Plan) will be presented in an effort to facilitate the exchange of understanding and experience between scientists and managers working in coastal areas around the world. This symposium will be co-convened by the U.S. National Committee to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), and the Estuarine Research Federation (ERF). The Ocean Studies Board of the National Academies will host the symposium with funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Electric Power Research Institute.

Symposium Agenda

Symposium on Nutrient Over-Enrichment of Coastal Waters: Global Patterns of Cause and Effect

National Academy of Sciences Building, NAS Auditorium, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418

October 11-13, 2000

Co-convened by U.S. National Committee for the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, and Estuarine Research Federation

Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Electric Power Research Institute

Wednesday, October 11

9:00 a.m. Welcome: Kenneth Brink, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Chair of the Ocean Studies Board and U.S. National Committee to SCOR

OPENING SESSION

Moderator: Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium

These two keynote presentations are intended to introduce the audience to the nature and the worldwide distribution of nutrient over-enrichment of coastal waters and efforts to address it. By providing context, these presentations should facilitate greater understanding of the more detailed information to be presented in each of the following sessions.

9:15 a.m. Global distribution of nitrogen inputs to coastal marine ecosystems in 1990 and projections for the year 2050--Sybil Seitzinger, Rutgers University

9:45 a.m. Reversing nutrient over-enrichment of coastal waters: Challenges and opportunities for science--Donald Boesch, University of Maryland

10:15 a.m. Break

SESSION 1: New Understanding of Nutrient Sources and Pathways

Moderator: Donald Goolsby, U.S. Geological Survey

Session 1 provides a detailed review of our understanding of the sources,

sinks, and pathways of nutrients that enter the marine environment. Greater

knowledge of the components of the key biogeochemical processes is a

prerequisite to both a full understanding of the scope of the problem and the

development of successful mitigation strategies.

10:45 a.m.

Sources of nutrient pollution to coastal waters--Robert

Howarth, Environmental Defense/Marine Biological

Laboratory

11:15 a.m.

Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen: Implications for

nutrient over-enrichment of coastal waters--Hans Paerl,

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

11:45 a.m.

Lunch

1:15 p.m.

Reducing nonpoint source nitrogen from agriculture to

acceptable levels--Dennis Keeney, Iowa State

University

1:45 p.m.

Changes in wastewater management in the developing

world: Implications for nutrient pollution--Lee Travers,

World Bank

2:15 p.m.

Break

SESSION 2: System Controls on Ecosystem Responses

Moderator: Scott Nixon, University of Rhode Island

Session 2 explores the effects of changing nutrient loads on basic

ecosystem health. By focusing on the lower levels of the food chain, the

session will help establish the fundamental relationship between nutrients,

primary productivity, and ecosystem function. A greater understanding of

this key link in the chain of events associated with nutrient over-enrichment

is needed to devise effective mitigation strategies.

2:45 p.m.

Shifts in nutrient ratios and effects on food webs: An

overview--R. Eugene Turner, Louisiana State University

3:15 p.m.

Toxic and harmful algal blooms in coastal

waters--Donald Anderson, Woods Hole Oceanographic

Institution

3:45 p.m.

Chesapeake Bay eutrophication: Historical and recent

patterns of nutrient inputs, effects on water quality,

fate of nutrients, and likely responses to load

reductions--Walter Boynton, University of Maryland

4:15 p.m.

The development of paradigms and typologies to

assess the susceptibility of tropical estuaries to

eutrophication -- Robert Twilley, University of Louisiana

at Lafayette

4:45 p.m.

Nutrient enrichment on coral reefs: Is it a wide-spread

cause of coral reef decline?--Alina Szmant, University

of North Carolina at Wilmington

5:15 p.m.

Symposium Adjourns for the Day

Reception and Poster Session in Great Hall

Posters will be available for viewing in the Great Hall on Wednesday,

Thursday, and Friday morning.

Thursday, October 12

SESSION 3: Effects on Living Resources

Moderator: Edward Houde, University of Maryland

Session 3 explores the impacts of changing nutrient loads on living

resources. By tracing the ripple effect of nutrient over-enrichment up the

food web, the session will help establish the effects on species of economic

and ecological interest. Again, greater understanding of the manifestation of

nutrient over-enrichment at multiple levels is needed to form effect

mitigation strategies and to protect marine resources.

9:00 a.m.

Multiple effects of nutrient enrichment: An

overview--Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities

Marine Consortium

9:30 a.m.

Nutrient over-enrichment from uplands compromises

estuarine ecosystem support of higher trophic

levels--Linda Deegan, Marine Biological Laboratory

10:00 a.m.

Effects of low dissolved oxygen of fish populations and

fisheries harvests: Assessing the negative effects of

nutrient over-enrichment in coastal waters--Denise

Breitburg, Academy of Natural Sciences

10:45 a.m.

Break

11:15 a.m.

Nutrient inputs and the production of higher trophic

levels--Scott Nixon, University of Rhode Island

11:45 a.m.

Patterns in the expression of nutrient enrichment:

Perspectives on fisheries and fisheries habitat in

eutrophic ecosystems--Edward Chesney, Louisiana

Universities Marine Consortium

12:15 p.m.

Lunch

SESSION 4: Economic Dimensions of Nutrient over-enrichment

Moderator: Paul Faeth, World Resources Institute

Session 4 explores the role of economics in our understanding of the

problems presented by nutrient over-enrichment. By exploring both the

economic impacts of nutrient over-enrichment as well as the role economics

plays as a driver of human actions that contribute to increased nutrient

loadings, a stronger foundation for decision making can be established.

1:45 p.m.

Harmful algal blooms in the United States: Estimates

of economic impacts and policy responses--Porter

Hoagland, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

2:15 p.m.

Economic linkages driving agriculture's potential

response to nitrogen over-enrichment--Otto Doering,

Purdue University

2:45 p.m.

Economics as a tool for better decisionmaking

(tentative title)--Kathleen Segerson, University of

Connecticut

3:15 p.m.

Break

SESSION 5: Approaches to Managing Nutrient Loads to Coastal

Waters--Technical Approaches or Natural/Societal Experiments in

Reduction

Moderator: Peter Bondo Christensen, National Environmental Research

Institute, Denmark

Session 5 explores in greater detail efforts to reduce nutrient loads to the

marine environment or otherwise mitigate the effects of nutrient

over-enrichment. By exploring the experiences of resource managers

worldwide, the session will provide greater understanding of the multiple

aspects of the problem that must be addressed to achieve meaningful

results.

3:45 p.m.

The importance of scale in managing nutrient

over-enrichment to coastal waters: Local, regional, and

federal roles in a national strategy--Holly Greening,

Tampa Bay National Estuary Program

4:15 p.m.

Strategies for reducing nutrient inputs to the Gulf of

Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin -- William

Mitsch, Ohio State University<P>

4:45 p.m.

Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea: Can ecology

contribute to a decision-support system for

cost-effective measures? (tentative title) -- TBA

5:15 p.m.

Mitigating atmospheric nitrogen inputs--Robert

Perciasepe, Environmental Protection Agency

5:45 p.m.

Coastal eutrophication and the Danish national aquatic

monitoring and assessment program--Daniel J.

Conley, National Environmental Research Institute,

Denmark

6:15 p.m.

Symposium Adjourns for the Day

Friday, October 13

SESSION 6: Approaches to Managing Nutrient Loads to Coastal

Waters--Policy Considerations

Moderator: Donald Scavia, National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

Finally, Session 6 builds on the technical discussion presented in the

proceeding five sessions to provide a greater understanding of policy options

available. By exploring policy efforts in both the United States and around

the world, this session should serve to advance efforts to reduce nutrient

over-enrichment and its impacts on the marine environment.

9:00 a.m.

Effective policymaking: The role of good science

(tentative title)--The Honorable Christine Todd

Whitman, Governor of the State of New Jersey

9:30 a.m.

The role of science in federal policy development for

environmental issues on the continental to global

scale--Rosina Bierbaum, White House Office of

Science and Technology Policy

10:00 a.m.

Nutrient reduction, policy options, and the "Dead

Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico--Paul Faeth, World

Resources Institute

10:30 a.m.

Break

11:00 a.m.

Federal agency perspective on nutrient

management--Jonathan Charles Fox, Environmental

Protection Agency

11:30 a.m.

Healthy waterways: A vision of integrated science and

policy from Australia--William Dennison, University of

Queensland, Australia

CLOSING SESSION

Moderator: Donald Boesch, University of Maryland

12:00 p.m.

Group Discussion and Concluding Remarks

12:30 p.m.

Symposium Adjourns: Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana

Universities Marine Consortium, Ocean Studies

Board, and U.S. National Committee to SCOR<P>

If you have additional questions, you may also contact Jodi Bachim, Symposium Coordinator

or Dr. Dan Walker, Symposium Director, by email at jbachim@nas.edu and dwalker@nas.edu,

respectively, or by telephone at (202) 334-2714.

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