Ariana E. Sutton-Grier

Out of sight but not out of mind: harmful effects of derelict traps in selected U.S. coastal waters.

There is a paucity of data in the published literature on the ecological and economic impacts of derelict fishing traps (DFTs) in coastal ecosystems. We synthesized results from seven NOAA-funded trap fisheries studies around the United States and determined that DFT-caused losses to habitat and harvestable annual catch are pervasive, persistent, and largely preventable. Based on this synthesis, we identified key gaps to fill in order to better manage and prevent DFTs. We conclude with suggestions for developing a U.S. DFT management strategy including: (1) targeting studies to estimate mortality of fishery stocks, (2) assessing the economic impacts of DFTs on fisheries, (3) collaborating with the fishing industry to develop solutions to ghost fishing, and (4) examining the regional context and challenges resulting in DFTs to find effective policy solutions to manage, reduce, and prevent gear loss.

Connecting stressors, ocean ecosystem services, and human health

Ocean and coastal ecosystems provide many critical ecosystem services that support human health and well-being including providing food, storm protection, and carbon sequestration. Environmental stressors acting individually or concurrently and synergistically are reducing the ability of coastal ecosystems to provide key ecosystem services that may result in decreases in human health and well-being. We outline some impacts to human health and well-being that may result from the effects on coastal and ocean ecosystem services of five example stressors: rising temperatures, nutrient enrichment, ocean acidification, habitat destruction and the concomitant loss of biodiversity, and extreme weather events. We conclude with suggestions for research and related actions to improve our understanding and management of coastal ecosystems. These include the need for natural and biomedical/public health scientists, and their respective professional organizations, to work together to increase understanding of the connections between healthy and degraded coastal and marine ecosystems and human health, and for policy and decision-makers to account for these impacts when considering trade-offs among management alternatives.

Considering “Coastal Carbon” in Existing U.S. Federal Statutes and Policies

Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses provide important ecosystem services, including nursery habitat for fish, shoreline protection, and the recently recognized service of carbon sequestration and storage. When these wetland ecosystems are degraded or destroyed, the carbon can be released to the atmosphere, where it adds to the concentration of greenhouses gases (GHGs) that contribute to climate change. Many federal statutes and policies specifically require that impacts on ecosystem services be considered in policy implementation. Yet, no federal statute, regulation, or policy accounts directly for the carbon held in coastal habitats. There are a number of federal statutes and policies for which coastal carbon ecosystem services could reasonably be added to environmental and ecosystem considerations already implemented. We look at a subset of these statutes and policies to illustrate how coastal carbon ecosystem services and values might affect the implementation and outcomes of such statutes generally. We identify key steps for the inclusion of the ecosystem services of coastal habitats into the implementation of existing federal policies without statutory changes; doing so would increase the degree to which these policies consider the full economic and ecological impacts of policy actions.

Leveraging Carbon Services of Coastal Ecosystems for Habitat Protection and Restoration

ABSTRACT Coastal “blue carbon,” (carbon sequestered in salt marsh, mangroves, and seagrasses) is a newly recognized benefit. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with partners, has been exploring and developing new policy opportunities for coastal conservation using the climate benefits of these ecosystems. We detail NOAAs efforts (federal and international, market and non-market) to leverage blue carbon for coastal conservation including: (1) how blue carbon is or could be incorporated into U.S. federal policies (both existing and new policy activities); (2) market-based policy solutions including the development of a Verified Carbon Standard methodology for carbon credits for wetland restoration and two landscape assessments of the climate mitigation benefits of watershed-scale restoration; and (3) international efforts to build a North American community of practice for blue carbon science and policy with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Canada, and Mexico, and an assessment of where blue carbon can be incorporated into international policy frameworks (including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Wetlands Supplement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)). Protecting coastal carbon leads to co-benefits including resilience to storms and erosion, and fishery benefits, thus blue carbon is a “triple win” for climate mitigation, adaptation, and conservation.

Primary literature across the undergraduate curriculum: teaching science process skills and content

Emily Rauschert, Joseph Dauer, Jennifer L. Momsen, and Ariana Sutton-Grier presented a workshop titled “101 Ways to Effectively Use Journal Articles as Teaching Tools.” They show us a number (not sure there are exactly 101 but who is counting) of ways to use primary literature to meet a multitude of learning objectives, primarily in the undergraduate classroom, but many of the approaches can be used in other settings. They also present some feedback and comments from the participants, so it is almost as if you were there.

A conceptual model to assess stress‐associated health effects of multiple ecosystem services degraded by disaster events in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere

Abstract Few conceptual frameworks attempt to connect disaster‐associated environmental injuries to impacts on ecosystem services (the benefits humans derive from nature) and thence to both psychological and physiological human health effects. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first, if not the first, to develop a detailed conceptual model of how degraded ecosystem services affect cumulative stress impacts on the health of individual humans and communities. Our comprehensive Disaster‐Pressure State‐Ecosystem Services‐Response‐Health model demonstrates that oil spills, hurricanes, and other disasters can change key ecosystem components resulting in reductions in individual and multiple ecosystem services that support peoples livelihoods, health, and way of life. Further, the model elucidates how damage to ecosystem services produces acute, chronic, and cumulative stress in humans which increases risk of adverse psychological and physiological health outcomes. While developed and initially applied within the context of the Gulf of Mexico, it should work equally well in other geographies and for many disasters that cause impairment of ecosystem services. Use of this new tool will improve planning for responses to future disasters and help society more fully account for the costs and benefits of potential management responses. The model also can be used to help direct investments in improving response capabilities of the public health community, biomedical researchers, and environmental scientists. Finally, the model illustrates why the broad range of potential human health effects of disasters should receive equal attention to that accorded environmental damages in assessing restoration and recovery costs and time frames.