Many of the nation’s estuaries have been environmentally stressed since the turn of the 20th century and will continue to be impacted in the future. Tampa Bay, one of the Gulf of Mexico’s largest estuaries, exemplifies the threats that our estuaries face (EPA Report #EPA-620/R-01/005, Tampa Bay Estuary Program-Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan).
More than 2 million people live in the Tampa Bay watershed, and the population continues to grow. Demand for freshwater resources, conversion of undeveloped areas to residential and industrial uses, increases in storm-water runoff, and increased air pollution from urban and industrial sources are some of the known human activities that impact Tampa Bay.Beginning in 2001, additional anthropogenic modifications began in Tampa Bay including construction of an underwater gas pipeline and a desalinization plant, expansion of existing ports, and increased freshwater withdrawal from three major tributaries to the bay.
In January of 2001, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and its partners identified a critical need for participation from the USGS in providing multidisciplinary expertise and a regional-scale, integrated science approach to address complex scientific research issues and critical scientific information gaps that are necessary for continued restoration and preservation of Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay stakeholders identified several critical science gaps for which USGS expertise was needed (Yates et al. 2001).
These critical gaps, listed in following sections, fall under four topical categories (or system components):
- water and sediment quality,
- hydrodynamics,
- geology and geomorphology, and
- ecosystem structure and function.
However, scientists and resource managers participating in Tampa Bay studies recognize that it is no longer sufficient to simply examine each of these estuarine system components individually. Rather, the interrelation among system components must be understood to develop conceptual and predictive modeling tools for effective ecosystem adaptive management. As a multidisciplinary organization, the U.S.G.S. possesses the unique capability of developing and coordinating an integrated science strategy for estuarine research founded on partnerships and collaborative efforts, multidisciplinary teams of scientists, and integrated field work, data analysis and interpretation, and product development.
The primary role of the U.S.G.S. in Tampa Bay research was defined with our partners based upon this capability to address estuarine issues using an integrated science approach with a regional perspective and within a national context to complement the numerous ongoing science efforts by state and local agencies that address local issues within Tampa Bay.
Thus, the primary science goal for the U.S.G.S. Gulf of Mexico Estuaries Integrated Science-Tampa Bay Study is:
Establish relations among estuarine system components to develop conceptual and predictive models that describe the natural and anthropogenic changes that impact estuarine health.
Six primary project tasks were developed to address critical gaps within each of the four estuarine system components. The primary task objectives of the Tampa Bay Study, listed below, are designed such that project components are linked to addresses the unified project science goal stated above. Links among primary task objectives are described in task sections below.
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