Ecological Monitoring Program at VIMS ESL : Annual report 2020

Abstract

An Ecological Monitoring Program (EMP) has been established at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Laboratory (VIMS ESL) for the coastal environment near the Wachapreague lab. The goals of the initiative are to 1) provide status and trends information to scientists who study and regulators who manage Virginia’s marine resources, 2) provide a scientific context for short-term research and grant proposals 3) provide pedagogical enrichment for educators to use in their classes, and 4) build capacity in staff expertise and training of interns and students at VIMS ESL. The program formalizes and standardizes data collection for a long-term status and trends database as an asset of VIMS ESL in addition to our marine operations and shore support facilities. The EMP standard methods also provide visiting scientists and educators with protocols for consistent and comparable work and training. The EMP includes electronic water quality stations, oyster settlement and adult population dynamics, microbial biofilm growth, characterization of benthic communities in soft sediments and oyster reefs, sediment characteristics, and drone surveillance of salt marsh die back, Wachapreague Inlet dynamics and macroalgae distribution on mudflats. While this document focuses on these core areas of our monitoring activities, results of other VIMS ESL research on shellfish aquaculture, bay scallop restoration, and shorter-term grant supported research projects are reported elsewhere. Highlights of the 2025 EMP follow. Requests for access to full data sets and potential collaborations should be addressed to the editors. Real-time water quality data collection was continued with the relatively new station in Burton’s Bay near Wachapreague. Weekly biofilm growth on standardized plates provided a biological sensor for water quality, system level microbial productivity, and microbial diversity. Data on oyster settlement rates reflected the present and potential future condition of seaside oyster populations, combining historical records with ongoing assessment. In 2025, annual cumulative spat set as high as 135,117 oysters per m2 was recorded. Overall, it was a relative high year for this settlement. Oyster population demographics in 2025 were similar to benchmarks established in 2018-2024, and continue to show a potentially increasing oyster population. The soft-substrate epi-benthic community was described based on data gathered from >700 individual organisms representing ~ 70 genera. We were able to continue to establish baselines in 2025 for highly mobile fauna based on >8,000 individuals representing >45 species collected in trawls and seines.

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