Stephen B Weisberg

Southern California Coastal Water Research Project | SCCWRP

The accuracy and precision of ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) pH sensors have been well documented, but primarily by ocean chemistry specialists employing the technology at single locations. Here we examine their performance in a network context through comparison to discrete measurements of pH, using different configurations of the H...

Rainstorms increase levels of fecal indicator bacteria in urban coastal waters, but it is unknown whether exposure to seawater after rainstorms increases rates of acute illness. Our objective was to provide the first estimates of rates of acute illness after seawater exposure during both dry- and wet-weather periods and to determine the relationshi...

Background: Coliphages have been proposed as indicators of fecal contamination in recreational waters because they better mimic the persistence of pathogenic viruses in the environment and wastewater treatment than fecal indicator bacteria. We estimated the association between coliphages and gastrointestinal illness and compared it with the associ...

Here we examine a 50+ yr data set from a regionally coordinated southern California water quality monitoring program to assess temporal trends and determine whether nearshore waters are exhibiting changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) content similar to those reported offshore. DO in sub–mixed layer nearshore waters (< 10 km from shore) have declined up...

Climate change has altered the physiochemical conditions of the coastal ocean but effects on infaunal communities have not been well assessed. Here, we used multivariate ordination to examine temporal patterns in benthic community composition from 4 southern California continental shelf monitoring programs that range in duration from 30 to 50 yr. T...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) data make it possible to measure and monitor biodiversity at unprecedented resolution and scale. As use-cases multiply and scientific consensus grows regarding the value of eDNA analysis, public agencies have an opportunity to decide how and where eDNA data fit into their mandates. Within the United States, many federal and...

Previous studies have evaluated method performance for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in clean water, but little is known about the efficacy of procedures used to extract microplastics from complex matrices. Here we provided 15 laboratories with samples representing four matrices (i.e., drinking water, fish tissue, sediment, and surfa...

The Second National Workshop on Environmental DNA was held on September 12–15, 2022, at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) in Southern California and was focused on transitioning eDNA from research to management applications. The Workshop was attended by 150 people in‐person and an additional 200 more online. Workshop a...

Coliphage have been suggested as an alternative to fecal indicator bacteria for assessing recreational beach water quality, but it is unclear how frequently and at what types of beaches coliphage produces a different management outcome. Here we conducted side-by-side sampling of male-specific and somatic coliphage by the new EPA dead-end hollow fib...

Microscopy is often the first step in microplastic analysis and is generally followed by spectroscopy to confirm material type. The value of microscopy lies in its ability to provide count, size, color, and morphological information to inform toxicity and source apportionment. To assess the accuracy and precision of microscopy, we conducted a metho...

Assessing microplastics risk to aquatic ecosystems has been limited by lack of holistic exposure data and poor understanding of biological response thresholds. Here we take advantage of two recent advances, a toxicological meta-analysis that produced biotic response thresholds and a method to quantitatively correct exposure data for sampling method...

To assess the potential risk of microplastic exposure to humans and aquatic ecosystems, reliable toxicity data is needed. This includes a more complete foundational understanding of microplastic toxicity and better characterization of the hazards they may present. To expand this understanding, an international group of experts was convened in 2020–...

Microplastic particles (MPs) are ubiquitous across a wide range of aquatic habitats but determining an appropriate level of risk management is hindered by a poor understanding of environmental risk. Here, we introduce a risk management framework for aquatic ecosystems that identifies four critical management thresholds, ranging from low regulatory...

Microplastics have been documented in drinking water, but their effects on human health from ingestion, or the concentrations at which those effects begin to manifest, are not established. Here, we report on the outcome of a virtual expert workshop conducted between October 2020 and October 2021 in which a comprehensive review of mammalian hazard s...

Background Children may be at higher risk for swimming-associated illness following exposure to fecally-contaminated recreational waters. We analyzed a pooled data set of over 80,000 beachgoers from 13 beach sites across the United States to compare risks associated with the fecal indicator bacteria Enterococcus spp. (measured by colony forming uni...

Assessing microplastics risk to aquatic ecosystems has been limited by lack of holistic exposure data and poor understanding of biological response thresholds. Here we take advantage of two recent advances, a toxicological meta-analysis that produced biotic response thresholds and a method to quantitatively correct exposure data for sampling method...

California Senate Bill 1422 requires the development of State-approved standardized methods for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in drinking water. Accordingly, we led an interlaboratory microplastic method evaluation study, with 22 participating laboratories from six countries, to evaluate the performance of widely used methods: sample...

Aims: Widespread adoption of the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Method 1642 for enumeration of coliphage in recreational waters requires demonstration that laboratories consistently meet internal method performance goals and yield results that are consistent across laboratories. Methods and results: Here we assess performance o...

Assessing decapod sensitivity to regional-scale ocean acidification (OA) conditions is limited because of a fragmented understanding of the thresholds at which they exhibit biological response. To address this need, we undertook a three-step data synthesis: first, we compiled a dataset composed of 27,000 datapoints from 55 studies of decapod respon...

Coastal nitrogen enrichment is a global environmental problem that can influence acidification, deoxygenation, and subsequent habitat loss in ways that can be synergistic with global climate change impacts. In the Southern California Bight, an eastern boundary upwelling system, modeling of wastewater discharged through ocean outfalls has shown that...

The rapid emergence of wastewater based surveillance has led to a wide array of SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantification methodologies being employed. Here we compare methods to store samples, inactivate viruses, capture/concentrate viruses, and extract/measure viral RNA from primary influent into wastewater facilities. We found that heat inactivation of the...

Significance We conduct a modeling study of the effects of enhanced coastal nutrient export from human activities on the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen cycles of the Southern California Bight, in the context of emerging global climate change. The modeling approach used is innovative in the breadth of its scope, and simulations are generally consisten...

Assessing the vulnerability of marine invertebrates to ocean acidification (OA) requires an understanding of critical thresholds at which developmental, physiological, and behavioral traits are affected. To identify relevant thresholds for echinoderms, we undertook a three-step data synthesis, focused on California Current Ecosystem (CCE) species....

Microplastics are pervasive in the environment, with biological communities exposed to microplastics particles on a continuous basis. Although health risks of microplastics exposure are poorly understood, microplastics have the potential to bioaccumulate through food webs, to serve as an exposure pathway for other contaminants that have stuck to th...

The beach environment creates many barriers to effective sun protection, putting beachgoers at risk for sunburn, a well-established risk factor for skin cancer. Our objective was to estimate incidence of sunburn among beachgoers and evaluate the relationship between sunburn incidence and sun-protective behaviors. A secondary analysis, of prospectiv...

Mapping wastewater effluent plumes is typically conducted using ammonia as a tracer, but this provides low spatial resolution since it is collected as discrete bottle samples. Here we evaluate the use of colored dissolved organic matter fluorescence (CDOM) collected continuously with a CTD+ water column profiler as potential plume tracer alternativ...

Interpreting the vulnerability of pelagic calcifiers to ocean acidification (OA) is enhanced by an understanding of their critical thresholds and how these thresholds are modified by other climate change stressors (e.g., warming). To address this need, we undertook a three-part data synthesis for pteropods, one of the calcifying zooplankton group....

Shoaling of the saturation horizon for aragonite in the California Current System has been well-documented; however, these reports are based primarily on surveys conducted in waters off the continental shelf. Here we characterize, for the first time, regional spatial and seasonal patterns in aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) in the shallow, nearsh...

There are numerous reasons to conduct scientific research within protected areas, but research activities may also negatively impact organisms and habitats, and thus conflict with a protected area’s conservation goals. We developed a quantitative ecological decision-support framework that estimates these potential impacts so managers can weigh cost...

Estimating the strength of ecological interactions. (DOCX)

Estimating recovery times for populations, assemblages, and habitats. (DOCX)

Overview of model parameterization methods. (DOCX)

Estimating the impacts of study methods on organisms and habitats. (DOCX)

Sensitivity analysis results plotted in Fig 2. (DOCX)

Swimming and recreating in lakes, oceans, and rivers is common, yet the literature suggests children may be at greater risk of illness following such exposures. These effects might be due to differences in immunity or differing behavioral factors such as poorer hygiene, longer exposures to, and greater ingestion of potentially contaminated water an...

The multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI) is an extension of the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) that has been used extensively in Europe, but not in the United States. In a previous study, we adapted AMBI for use in US coastal waters (US AMBI), but saw biases in salinity and score distribution when compared to locally calibrated indices. In this study we mod...

Distinguishing between local, anthropogenic nutrient inputs and large-scale climatic forcing as drivers of coastal phytoplankton biomass is critical to developing effective nutrient management strategies. Here we assess the relative importance of these two drivers by comparing trends in chlorophyll-a between shallow coastal (0.1–16.5 km) and deep o...

Human fecal pollution of recreational waters remains a public health concern worldwide. As a result, there is a growing interest in the application of human-associated fecal source identification quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) technologies for water quality research and management. However, there are currently no standardized approaches for fiel...

Host-associated genetic markers that allow for fecal source identification have been used extensively as a diagnostic tool to determine fecal sources within watersheds, but have not been used in routine monitoring to prioritize remediation actions among watersheds. Here, we present a regional assessment of human marker prevalence among drainages th...

A wealth of historical coastal water pH data has been collected using potentiometric glass electrodes, but the accuracy and stability of these sensors is poorly understood. Here we compared pH measurements from five potentiometric sensors incorporated into profiling Sea-Bird instrument packages and compared them to spectrophotometric measurements o...

Pteropods, planktonic marine snails with a cosmopolitan distribution, are highly sensitive to changing ocean chemistry. Graphical abstract shows pteropod responses to be related to aragonite saturation state, with progressing decrease in Ωar causing deteriorating biological conditions. Under high saturation state (Ωar > 1.1; zone 0), pteropods are...

Objectives: To provide summary estimates of gastroenteritis risks and illness burden associated with recreational water exposure and determine whether children have higher risks and burden. Methods: We combined individual participant data from 13 prospective cohorts at marine and freshwater beaches throughout the United States (n = 84 411). We m...

Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is increasingly being used for ambient water monitoring, but development of digital polymerase chain reaction (digital PCR) has the potential to further advance the use of molecular techniques in such applications. Digital PCR refines qPCR by partitioning the sample into thousands to millions of miniature reactions...

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations for action developed by the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel. This Panel was convened by the Ocean Science Trust at the request of the California Ocean Protection Council in 2013, working in collaboration with ocean management agencies in Oregon, Washington, and British...

Ocean wastewater dischargers in southern California maintain extensive water quality monitoring programs to assess their effects on coastal receiving waters, but there is no shared protocol to analyze these measurements for compliance with California Ocean Plan standards. Here we present an assessment methodology that we apply regionally to determi...

Enterococci are fecal indicator bacteria used to monitor fecal pollution of recreational waters. When enterococci levels exceed health standards, fecal pollution is assumed as the cause. Enterococci growing on plants limit their usefulness as fecal indicator bacteria. Here we examined enterococcal growth on eelgrass in Mission Bay, CA where enteroc...

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has become a frequently used technique for quantifying enterococci in recreational surface waters, but there are several methodological options. Here we evaluated how three method permutations, type of mastermix, sample extract dilution and use of controls in results calculation, affect method reliabili...

Introduction: Advances in molecular methods provide new opportunities for directly measuring pathogens or host-associated markers of fecal pollution instead of relying on fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) alone for beach water quality monitoring. Adoption of new indicators depends on identifying relationships between either the presence or concentrat...

Most Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium are harmless to humans; however, strains harboring virulence genes, including esp, gelE, cylA, asa1 , and hyl , have been associated with human infections. E. faecalis and E. faecium are present in beach waters worldwide, yet little is known about their virulence potential. Here, multiplex PCR was used to c...

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The chemical-specific risk-based paradigm that informs monitoring and assessment of environmental contaminants does not apply well to the many thousands of new chemicals that are being introduced into ambient receiving waters. We propose a tiered framework that incorporates bioanalytical screening tools and diagnostic non-targeted chemical analysis...

Numerous monitoring efforts are underway to improve understanding of ocean acidification and its impacts on coastal environments, but there is a need to develop a coordinated approach that facilitates spatial and temporal comparisons of drivers and responses on a regional scale. Toward that goal, the California Current Acidification Network (C-CAN)...

Natural circulation patterns along the west coast of North America periodically draw subthermocline, low pH waters into shallow coastal areas. The presence of corrosive, low pH waters, caused by ocean acidification (OA), is frequently observed along the North American west coast. Reduction of global atmospheric CO2 inputs is the appropriate managem...

In 2007, the US west coast shellfish industry began to feel the effects of unprecedented levels of larval mortality in commercial hatcheries producing the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. Subsequently, researchers at Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery, working with academic and government scientists, showed a high correlation between aragonite satur...

Much of the detailed, incremental knowledge being generated by current scientific research on ocean acidification (OA) does not directly address the needs of decision makers, who are asking broad questions such as: Where will OA harm marine resources next? When will this happen? Who will be affected? And how much will it cost? In this review, we us...

Some molecular methods for tracking fecal pollution in environmental waters have both PCR and quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays available for use. To assist managers in deciding whether to implement newer qPCR techniques in routine monitoring programs, we compared detection limits (LODs) and costs of PCR and qPCR assays with identical targets that are...

Use of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) for monitoring beach water quality is based on their co-occurrence with human pathogens, a relationship that can be dramatically altered by fate and transport processes after leaving the human intestine. We conducted a prospective cohort study at Avalon Beach, California (USA), where the indicator relationship...

Determine the extent to which discrepancies between qPCR and culture-based results in beach water quality monitoring can be attributed to: a) within-method variability, b) between-method difference within each method class (qPCR or culture), and c) between-class difference. We analyzed 306 samples using two culture-based (EPA1600 and Enterolert) an...