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...pH, conductivity, salinity, and water clarity in the field, samples are also analyzed for concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus at the Woods Hole Research Center.

Nitrogen input is one of the most important variables regulating the health of the Oyster Pond ecosystem. Though some nitrogen is essential to the functioning of all ecosystems, too much can lead to severe degradation of ecosystem health. Throughout Cape Cod and indeed throughout much of the world, increasing nitrogen inputs to coastal waters are causing a wide range of environmental problems including nuisance algal blooms, loss of eelgrass and shellfish habitat, and oxygen depletion resulting in fish kills. In Oyster Pond, nitrogen inputs have increase many-fold since Colonial times, with the largest sources being wastewater from septic systems and leaching of nitrogen from fertilizers applied to lawns and gardens in the Oyster Pond watershed. In winter when biological activity is low, nitrogen concentrations in the pond are elevated, reflecting the high inputs from the watershed. In contrast, concentrations of nitrogen in the pond during summer are relatively low, because nutrient uptake by phytoplankton and macroalgae in the pond draws down nitrogen concentrations in the water-column.

Whether the increased phytoplankton and macroalgal growth in the pond caused by elevated nitrogen inputs is having deleterious impacts on the health of the pond is an important question that the new OPET water quality monitoring program will help to answer.

Sampling results will be posted on the OPET website (www.opet.org) and updated throughout the year. We will also periodically post data summaries and reports. Though the primary purpose of this program is local monitoring of the health of the Oyster Pond ecosystem, the data will also be freely available to all others interested in Oyster Pond. In a sense, this water quality monitoring program is a continuation of the legacy of scientific study of Oyster Pond begun decades ago by K.O. Emery.
-R. Max Holmes
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OPET does not have an official phone, but you can leave a message at 508-540-7345. We'll gladly get back to you!
Or email Email OPET or Wendi Buesseler. And do visit our website, www.opet.org.