By Janet Krenn, Staff Writer
This August, researchers released a new tool to help land-use managers on the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia (Delmarva) Peninsula predict how their decisions will affect the environment.
The new Delmarva Coastal Bays Nitrogen Loading Model shows how much nitrogen will flow into bays that border the Atlantic, allowing managers to test out proposed land use changes to see how they would affect nitrogen levels. The model will provide managers with important information about nitrogen before they actually enact a change.
Nitrogen is a nutrient, but at high levels, it can spur algae blooms that lead to reduced oxygen levels. Monitoring and controlling nitrogen are key to restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Originally, researchers built the models so managers could see how changes in factors like the area of vegetated land and the area of developed land would affect nitrogen loading. Then they made additions and changes to make the model more useful for managers.
“I think incorporating these suggestions enhanced the model,” says Mark Brush, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) researcher who led the project. For example, users said they wanted to know how nitrogen loading would compare if water ran off an impervious surface, like a road, and into a storm drain, versus running into a ditch, where the water could percolate into the soil.
“We were able to take the model farther than I expected, and it’s great to have it out on the street and available for use,” says Brush.
The model, which was developed by researchers at Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the University of Maryland, and the University of Delaware with input from coastal resource managers in the region, was funded by mid-Atlantic Sea Grant programs, including Virginia Sea Grant and Maryland and Delaware Sea Grants. It is available online through the VIMS Coastal Systems Ecology and Modeling Program: http://netsim.vims.edu/netsims/brush/delcbm_beta3_hib/index.html
