The Influence of Nutrient Loading and Phytoplankton Blooms on Vibrio spp. in the Neuse River Estuary (2010)

Undergraduate: Sarah Hiser

Faculty Advisor: Rachel Noble
Department: Geology

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Changing environmental conditions such as climate change have an important impact on the biogeochemical cycles that influence chlorophyll a amounts and Vibrio spp. populations. Understanding the relationships between Vibrio spp. and the microbial community in respect to species interaction and organism reaction to changing parameters is an important aspect of future human health policy. To understand these relationships, in situ experiments of eight Neuse river bottles were subjected to nutrient loading conditions over the period of 48 hours from Vibrio spp. populations found in the Neuse in Summer 2008 and again in Summer 2009.
These nutrient amendments were formulated to simulate a storm loading event with Nitrogen, Phosphate, and a combination of the two. While the data showed little or no direct correlation between the influx of nutrients and Vibrio spp. growth, Vibrio spp. did have strong reactions to the nutrient input in terms of positive growth and corresponded to similar growth patterns in the chlorophyll a. However, these relationships between nutrient loading and the growth rates of Vibrio spp. and chlorophyll a seem to be extremely sensitive to changing environmental conditions and a differing community structure from Summer 2008 to Summer 2009.