On Wednesday, April 2nd at 7:00 PM, Dr. Christopher Gobler of SoMAS at Stony Brook University will present his annual lecture "State of the Bays, 2025: Keep calm and carry on".
This Lecture will take place in-person in Duke Lecture Hall, which is located inside Chancellor's Hall on the SBU Southampton campus.
There will also be a Student Poster Session before the lecture.
Student Poster Session: 7-7:30pm
Lecture: 7:30-8:30pm
The abstract appears below. We hope to see you there!
On Long Island, our sole-source aquifer is our drinking water supply and is the primary source of freshwater, nitrogen, and other contaminants to coastal ecosystems. Recent trends in the quality of both groundwater and surface waters on Long Island have been concerning. Emerging contaminants such as PFAS and 1,4-dioxane have contaminated some drinking water supplies. Since the late 20th century, nitrogen levels in groundwater have risen by more than 60%, critical marine habitats on Long Island including eelgrass and salt marshes have declined by up to 90%, landings of Long Island’s top shellfisheries have declined more than 90%, and harmful algal blooms have become annual occurrences. In 2024, freshwater and marine HABs were widespread across Long Island with cyanobacteria HABs occurring in more than two dozen lakes and ponds. The overgrowth of algae can increase oxygen demand, and 2024 saw a recording-breaking, 36 individual low oxygen, dead zones across Long Island that had levels of oxygen below state standards. Compounding the effects of nitrogen pollution on coastal zones is climate change and 2024 provided clear evidence that climate change has arrived. 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded with ocean temperature also reaching all-time highs. Beyond high temperatures, 2024 saw a recording-setting precipitation event on Long Island that destroyed dams and closed shellfish beds across Long Island. While Vibrio vulnificus, the ‘flesh-eating bacteria’, was responsible for several deaths and illnesses on Long Island in 2023, in 2024, it also grew to high levels with growth promoted by domestic wastewater. Given that continued climate change will intensify heat waves, hypoxia, HABs, and mass precipitation events, action is needed to mitigate these problems. In good news, Long Island has become a hub for novel solutions to mitigate water quality impairment and climate change. ‘In the water’ remediation approaches involving seaweeds and bivalves have locally ameliorated nitrogen loads, algal blooms, and ocean acidification, and recent shellfish restoration efforts have led to estuarine ecosystem recovery. The New York State Clean Water Technology Center at Stony Brook University has identified cost-effective technologies that dramatically reduce the delivery of nitrogen and other contaminants from individual homes to coastal water bodies. Implementation of such technologies coupled with ‘in the water’ solutions will be required to restore water quality and fisheries.
