Corrections
Assessment Report I: Estuary Characteristics
 Since dredging has been done, there should be some record of what type of sediments
exist in the estuary.
 What organisms currently live in the estuary? (include benthic fauna)
 What does preliminary data show regarding stratification in the estuary?
 Dams may not necessarily slow the rate of water entering the estuary.
 Estimate volume of water in estuary given the provided information.
 How does seasonal variation and ice cover affect things like oysters? Does ice cover
make it impossible to put them there?
 Measure amount of wetlands that currently exist in estuary using google earth and DEP
information
 Where I said that information wasn’t available, I should have used other
systems/estuaries where the information is known and draw comparisons
 When I cite NOAA Office of Coast Survey, I should have cited a peer reviewed journal
article
 Under Nutrient Limitation, I cited that Cooke et al. 2003 found that a sampling station
within the estuary yielded high levels of bacteria, nitrogen, and orthophosphate. I should
have contacted the authors to see if they could provide actual quantitative data so that I
could evaluate and interpret their findings.
 Under Nutrient Limitation section, I should have tried to find MWRA, DEP, or Mass
Gov data on oxygen levels, sediment load, and chlorophyll levels in estuary rather than
just stating that the levels were high or low.
 I should have found more definitive information when I stated that Massachusetts Surface
Water Quality Standards are vague qualitative guidelines
 When I stated that eelgrass and oysters may benefit the ecosystems, I should have said
why they would be appropriate strategies.
 Overall, I should have tracked down more data that I allude to, but don’t quantify
 I should have extrapolated from other systems
Assessment Report II: Benthic Filter Feeders in Estuary
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I used two studies to decide which bivalves to study. Comment: If you google scholar
“particle retention efficiency bivalves” you get 4540 studies. How do the two studies
compare? What is the distribution of these data? Why do you assume these two studies
represent all that is known? How did Riisgard make these measurements? Was it the
‘right’ method? I wanted you to dig deeper into the data.
I wrote that I would use the eastern oyster and blue mussel for the rest of the discussion.
Comment: At a minimum you should provide a summary of multiple sources that report
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these rates for other potentially important taxa here. What are all the possible taxa that
could be used? Which taxa that could be used are native here?
I wrote that eastern oysters can survive freezing and warm temperatures, but their feeding
rate will be affected. Comment: How? Average annual water temp here is 11-14°C
(suboptimal) and average winter temp is 2-3°C. How do these quantitatively affect
grazing/feeding rates? This matters in regard to how much they can filter annually.
In the blue mussel section. Comment: Again, there are >6500 studies dealing with
filtration rates in M. edulis. Just highlighting 2-3 without commentary on how
representative they are of the field, or how the data are collected is not sufficient.
Oyster vs. Mussel section. Comment: What are the temps in the Neponset? How do these
values relate to our system?
Case studies section. I wrote of the Gren, Lindahl, and Lindqvist 2009 study that it
demonstrates the uptake by mussels of nitrogen, carbon, and small amounts of
phosphorus from the water. Comment: This illustrates that they take up food only.
Mussels don’t directly take up C:N:P (i.e. if you ground up a lion it would have C:N:P
too – everything does, so the presence of this in tissue is not a demonstration of uptake of
nutrients from the water.
In the case studies section, I wrote that transplant studies should be done in order to
measure actual effects of bivalves on eutrophic systems. Comment: If you know the
approximate volume of water an oyster or mussle can filter, and the approximate volume
of the estuary, you could calculate how many oysters/mussels it would take to filter the
water in say 30 days, or 10 days etc. This is the kind of analysis I am looking for.
Case studies section, about non-native bivalves. Comment: The reason they are talking
about introducing non-native oysters is because of two parasite diseases that affect C.
virginica, but not C. ariakensis
Last paragraph of case studies section: This does not present a very balanced view. Are
there papers that advocate for restoration as well?
Overall, my data on filtration rates and particle capture could have been much more
complete and I did not make an effort to apply this information to the Neponset