Trends in Fish Abundance in Mount Hope Bay: Is the Brayton Point Power Station Affecting Fish Stocks?

DeAlteris, Joseph T.; Englert, Thomas; Burnett, John A.D.

doi:10.1656/1092-6194(2006)13[95:tifaim]2.0.co;2

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…This effluent leads to ~ 1 °C temperature anomaly throughout Mount Hope Bay [33], but has varied thermal impacts on smaller spatial scales due to incomplete mixing and advection of the thermal plume [34]. There are few predicted ecological impacts of the thermal effluent at Brayton Point [35, 36], although increased temperature may interact with other anthropogenic stressors in this region [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population genomics of rapid evolution in natural populations: polygenic selection in response to power station thermal effluents

Dayan

Baris

et al. 2019

BMC Evol Biol

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Background Examples of rapid evolution are common in nature but difficult to account for with the standard population genetic model of adaptation. Instead, selection from the standing genetic variation permits rapid adaptation via soft sweeps or polygenic adaptation. Empirical evidence of this process in nature is currently limited but accumulating. Results We provide genome-wide analyses of rapid evolution in Fundulus heteroclitus populations subjected to recently elevated temperatures due to coastal power station thermal effluents using 5449 SNPs across two effluent-affected and four reference populations. Bayesian and multivariate analyses of population genomic structure reveal a substantial portion of genetic variation that is most parsimoniously explained by selection at the site of thermal effluents. An F ST outlier approach in conjunction with additional conservative requirements identify significant allele frequency differentiation that exceeds neutral expectations among exposed and closely related reference populations. Genomic variation patterns near these candidate loci reveal that individuals living near thermal effluents have rapidly evolved from the standing genetic variation through small allele frequency changes at many loci in a pattern consistent with polygenic selection on the standing genetic variation. Conclusions While the ultimate trajectory of selection in these populations is unknown and we survey only a minority of genomic loci, our findings suggest that polygenic models of adaptation may play important roles in large, natural populations experiencing recent selection due to environmental changes that cause broad physiological impacts. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-019-1392-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population genomics of rapid evolution in natural populations: polygenic selection in response to power station thermal effluents

Dayan

Baris

et al. 2019

BMC Evol Biol

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“…With compounding ecological stressors such as climate change, overfishing, and increased predator prevalence, the effect of the BPPS effluent on declining fish populations has been difficult to isolate, though some studies have found local declines specific to Mt. Hope Bay and distinct rapid evolution in fish living near the BPPS thermal effluent (Gibson, 2002;DeAlteris et al, 2006;Dayan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Narragansett Bay Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing Thermal Effluent Impacts in Narragansett Bay Using Landsat-Derived Surface Temperature

Benoit

Fox‐Kemper

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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This work utilizes remotely sensed thermal data to understand how the release of thermal pollution from the Brayton Point Power Station (BPPS) affected the temperature behavior of Narragansett Bay. Building upon previous work with Landsat 5, a multi-satellite analysis is conducted that incorporates 582 scenes from Landsat 5, Landsat 7, and Landsat 8 over 1984–2021 to explain seasonal variability in effluent impacts, contrast data after the effluent ceased in 2011, identify patterns in temperature before and after effluent ceased using unsupervised learning, and track how recent warming trends compare to the BPPS impact. Stopping the thermal effluent corresponds to an immediate cooling of 0.26 ± 0.1°C in the surface temperature of Mt. Hope Bay with respect to the rest of Narragansett Bay with greater cooling of 0.62 ± 0.2°C found near Brayton Point; though, cooling since the period of maximal impact (1993–2000) totals 0.53 ± 0.2°C in Mt. Hope Bay and 1.04 ± 0.2°C at Brayton Point. During seasons with lower solar radiation (winter) and lower mean river input (autumn and late summer), the BPPS effluent impact is more prominent. The seasonal differences between the high impact and low impact periods indicate that river input played an important role in the heat balance when emissions were lower, but surface fluxes dominated when emissions were higher. Putting the BPPS effluent in context, Landsat data indicates that Narragansett Bay warmed 0.5–1.2°C over the period of measurement at an average rate of 0.23 ± 0.1°C/decade and that net warming in Mt. Hope Bay is near zero. This trend implies that Narragansett Bay has experienced climatic warming over the past four decades on the scale of the temperature anomaly in Mt. Hope Bay caused by the BBPS effluent.

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Enhanced Surface Cooling as an Alternative for Thermal Discharges

MacDonald

2009

J. Environ. Eng.

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Trends in Fish Abundance in Mount Hope Bay: Is the Brayton Point Power Station Affecting Fish Stocks?

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Population genomics of rapid evolution in natural populations: polygenic selection in response to power station thermal effluents

Population genomics of rapid evolution in natural populations: polygenic selection in response to power station thermal effluents

Contextualizing Thermal Effluent Impacts in Narragansett Bay Using Landsat-Derived Surface Temperature

Enhanced Surface Cooling as an Alternative for Thermal Discharges

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