1. Current projects 
2. Logistics
3. Field program and data collection
   1. Autonomous data loggers
   2. Daily sampling
   3. Bio-oceanographic surveys
   4. Seine netting
   5. Sediment cores
   6. Paleoecology of intertidal wetlands
4. Publications and presentations
5. Acknowledgements

Current projects 

• Hydrodynamic modeling of surface water flow (Maureen Yeremy)

• Statistical analysis of long term physical data (Laurie Ainsworth)

• Description of the physical oceanography and nutrient budget (Mike Hodal, MSc)

• Environmental factors determining the timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom, and development of a one-dimensional predictive model (Megan Wolfe, MSc)

• The seasonal cycle of primary production (Jade Shiller, MSc)

• Seasonal and inter-annual dynamics of the zooplankton community, and its relationship to variation in the physical environment and phytoplankton production (Desiree Tommasi, PhD)

• Diet and growth rate of juvenile sockeye salmon (Asha Ajmani, MSc)

• Juvenile sockeye salmon biology (Claire Li Loong, MSc)

• Paleoecology of Long Lake (Janice Brahney, PhD)

• Paleoecology of intertidal wetlands (Jonathan Hughes)

Logistics

Dawsons Landing

The MV Western Bounty

Wetlands and lake research is based out of Oweekeno Village, located on the Wannock River at the head of the inlet, or Rivers Inlet Cannery. 

Field program and data collection

• Autonomous data loggers

1. Wannock River temperature logger
2. Fluorescence logger for phytoplankton biomass estimation
3. Weather station

Weather station

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• Daily sampling

• Bio-oceanographic surveys

Map illustrating the location of stations sampled during fortnightly bio-oceanographic
surveys, and the daily station. (Figure produced by Mike Hodal)

1. CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) probe, light transmission, oxygen - 
2. Nutrients
3. Virus and bacterial biomass
4. Bacterial production
   
5. Fluorescence, phytoplankton biomass and community composition
6. Primary production, measured with a fast repetition rate fluorometer (FRRF)
   
7. Zooplankton abundance, biomass and species composition
8. Frozen samples for stable C and N isotope analysis (food web structure)  
   

Survey work

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• Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC) survey

The LOPC counts and measures particles in the water column. When housed in a towed body it can be used to collect high spatial and temporal resolution data on the vertical and horizontal distribution of zooplankton. Our LOPC is mounted in a BOT wing, and is integrated with a CTD and fluorometer for concurrent measurement with zooplankton data. Every two weeks, during each bio-oceanographic survey, a repeat LOPC transect is completed across the width of the inlet providing high resolution data for the upper 30m of the water column.

BOT wing housing the Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC)

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• Seine netting

Seine netting is conducted at 13 stations every two weeks from April to late June. The primary focus of seine netting is to collect juvenile sockeye salmon for growth rate and dietary measurements. The occurrence and quantity of all other fish species collected during surveying is recorded.   

Setting a retrieving the seine net

Seine net catch - juvenile sockeye salmon top right

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• Sediment cores

Sediment coring

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• Paleoecology of intertidal wetlands

Sedimentation patterns and nutrient flux have been assessed using bulk density, total nitrogen, total carbon, radioisotopes of carbon-14, lead-210, and cesium-137. Pollen and spores isolated from these intertidal sediments support distinct floral assemblages that likely correspond to intertidal sediment-accumulation regimes. Sediment stratigraphy beneath a prominent wetland at the mouth of the Wannock river reveals a peaty unit (~30-50 cm depth) that is underlain and overlain by sediments with lower organic-matter content and characterized by low bulk density and high levels of nitrogen and carbon. At Kilbella Bay at least eight discrete sandy units that we interpret as rapid sedimentation events interrupt gradual changes in peat accumulation over time. Comparing intertidal sediments of Kilbella Bay and Wannock River estuaries demonstrates that nearby wetlands can have strikingly different sedimentation histories. Further study of their paleoecological records will link past ecosystem function of wetland plant communities to landscape evolution.

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Publications and presentations

• Brahney, J., Bos, D., Routledge, R., and Pellatt, M. 2009. Changes to the productivity and trophic structure of a sockeye salmon rearing lake in British Columbia.North American Journal of Fisheries Management, in press.

• Tommasi, D. Seasonal and interannual variability of primary and secondary productivity in a coastal fjord. MSc Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2008.

• Buchanan, S. Factors influencing the early marine ecology of juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Rivers Inlet, British Columbia. MSc Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2006.

• Hughes, J., Helmer, E., van Ardenne, L. (2010) Development of intertidal wetlands at the head of Rivers Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. Society for Wetland Scientists, Pacific Northwest Chapter conference, Bellingham, Washington, USA. Abstract submitted.

• Helmer, E., Gielens, G., Gilbert, A., and Hughes, J. (2009) Intertidal sedimentation, peat accumulation, and vegetation community analysis at the head of Rivers Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Quaternary Association and The Canadian Geomorphology Research Group biennial meeting, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
  
• Hodal M. and Pawlowicz R. (2009) Developing a Nutrient Budget for Rivers Inlet, BC. Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada.

• Wolfe M. and Allen S. (2009) Modifying a coupled bio-physical model to predict the timing of the spring bloom in Rivers Inlet, British Columbia. Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic society Congress, Halifax, Canada.

• Tommasi D., Routledge R., Hunt B., and Pakhomov E. (2009) Variability in the timing of the spring bloom and observed changes in the zooplankton community of a coastal fjord. 3rd GLOBEC Open Science Meeting, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

• Tommasi D., Routledge R., Hunt B., and Pakhomov E. (2009) Modeling Spring Phytoplankton Bloom Dynamics in a British Columbia Fjord. Poster Presentation at the 2009 Statistical Society of Canada Annual General Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

• Routledge, R., Ainsworth, L, Buchanan, S, Cao, J. Springford, A., Tanasichuk, R., and Tommasi, D. Oweekeno Lake sockeye salmon: evidence of critical habitat in the downstream fjord. Presented at the Coastal Ecology Research Foundation Biennial Conference, Portland, OR, November, 2009.