EPA "Encouraging" on Dual Approach to Nitrogen Levels in Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Estuary Program is "quite encouraged" by initial response from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following a request for dual options as part of the numeric nitrogen criteria under development for Tampa Bay. "We've asked them to consider the work we've already done and they've agreed to consider a dual approach," said Holly Greening, executive director of the TBEP.

The criteria, due in November, are expected to use models developed in other parts of the country to identify appropriate nitrogen levels in Tampa Bay. Those models may not be the best alternative in an estuary which already is responding positively to nitrogen input levels developed on a voluntary basis by the members of the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium.

"The DEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) is a staunch supporter of what we've already done and the EPA has indicated that the approach we've taken in Tampa Bay will be one of the options they consider," Greening added. Guidance from a committee of EPA's Science Advisory Board created to review the estuarine criteria also supports the TBEP approach to nutrients in estuaries where the science is available.

In a separate action, EPA opened a door that may allow DEP to develop more appropriate nutrient criteria for Florida's lakes, rivers and streams. In April, DEP petitioned the EPA to rescind its rules, saying the federal government had not taken the strength of the locally developed criteria into account. DEP is currently writing its own numeric nutrient criteria and hopes to have them complete before the EPA rules become effective in March 2012.

Clean Your Plate, Protect Critical Habitat?

A new report from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that about one-third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted. With about 36% of the Earth's surface already committed to agriculture, and global food demand expected to double by the year 2050, eliminating food waste could minimize habitat loss.

The FAO recommends a two-pronged strategy to minimize conversion of land to agriculture. In the US, where the average American wastes over 200 pounds of food each year, each household that eliminates food waste could save an acre of habitat. In developing countries, most waste occurs during processing, storage and transport. Improved infrastructure could reduce those losses. Other findings from the report:

• Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa.
• At the same time, if the percentage of food lost through insufficient infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa was the same as that wasted in other parts of the world, 53 million acres could be saved from conversion to agriculture.
• The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world’s annual cereals crop.
• Fruits and vegetables, plus roots and tubers have the highest wastage rates of any food.

The full report is available online at www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf

A Retro Look at Red Tide Takes Top Award at Mote

Photo courtesy Mote Marine Laboratory

From left, Rebecca Parham, Autumn Fritsch, Brittany Godwin and Christine Kim created the winning video.

A retro look at red tide – complete with '50s-style bathing suits, well-coiffed hair and double entendres — took the top award at the Art of Red Tide Science exhibit at Mote Marine Laboratory. Fourteen art and outreach projects created by students from Ringling College of Art and Design were judged by a panel of experts on scientific accuracy, creativity, originality, artistic approach and effort.

Funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the exhibit brings communicators and scientists together to help explain the complex biology, chemistry and physics that result in the noxious outbreaks.

Red tide, caused by high concentrations of harmful algae, has not been a problem in Tampa Bay since the last major event in 2006 which resulted in millions of dead fish and birds. Along with its impact on wildlife, red tide has an estimated economic impact of $75 million per year, including lost tourism.

Although no one knows for sure how they start, some scientists have linked red tide to high levels of nutrients in offshore waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A recent U.S. Geological Survey report indicates nitrogen loads are 35% higher than average because of flooding this spring.

The winning entry is online at YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjcV5Rke40.

Putting a Price Tag on Nature

Working from the premise that putting a value on natural ecosystems will promote conservation, a team of scientists is building a website that puts a price tag on the services provided by resources ranging from mangroves and seagrasses to urban tree canopies.

Tampa Bay is one of four regions in the U.S. selected to participate in a pilot study developed by the Environmental Protection Agency in a partnership with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. "The goal is to elevate ecological decisions to the same level as economic decisions," said research ecologist Jim Harvey when the project started in 2008.

A new website at www.epa.gov/ged/tbes/ details the work completed so far including maps of current land use, and values for flood protection, climate stabilization and biodiversity support as well as potable water and clean air.

The second phase of the project will look at alternative future scenarios specifically relating to the value of ecosystems.

"We should have some kind of valuation of the majority of ecosystems when we're finished but there will still be gaps in the data," notes Marc Russell in a report back to the TBEP's management and policy boards.

The final phase will be a website with relationship browsers that tie together the human benefits of an ecosystem and the specific management actions required to create or maintain that benefit. "We're piecing together trusted models to connect them back to human well-being," Russell said.

Read more about the EPA ecosystems services study in the Fall 2008 issue of Bay Soundings.

"Bug Factory" to Help Fight Plant Invaders

Photo courtesy USDA

Melaleuca weevils have cut seed production on South Florida trees by more than 90%.

Bugs including moths, mites and weevils are proving to be the most effective tool in fighting invasive plants in Florida. A new research laboratory funded through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District is expected to begin producing hundreds of thousands of insects beginning next year in Miami.

The emphasis on bio-controls follows the success of a tiny weevil that has cut seed production on melaleuca by more than 90% in South Florida. The new "bug factory" facility is scheduled to open in September 2012. International research is underway to identify bugs that eat invasive plants but aren't likely to become a problem for native plants or other crops. With melaleuca nearly under control, Brazilian pepper is a top priority. After several trips to Brazil, scientists have identified 12 species that can be used to build lab colonies for testing.

For more information about invasive species in the Tampa Bay region, see the Summer 2010 issue of Bay Soundings.