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Tidal Creek Sentinel Habitat Database

Dataset Summary

Agency	National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Hollings Marine Lab (HML)
Sub-Agency/Organization
Category
Date Released	2006
Date Updated
Time Period	1994 - Present
Frequency	As needed
Description	The Ecological Research, Assessment and Prediction's Tidal Creeks: SentinelHabitat Database was developed to support the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administrations' (NOAA) Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) Oceansand Human Health Initiative. The goal of the program is to provide thescientific information and framework for forecasting environmental and humanhealth risks across estuarine habitats, watersheds, and regions whichincludes the testing of new technologies developed by other HML OHH groups.This includes a wide range of data from tidal creek systems which are beingused as the sentinel habitat for assessing and predicting the impact ofcoastal development on estuarine systems. Sampling has occurred in SouthCarolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. Historical datafrom 1994, 1995, 2000 as well as recent data from 2005, 2006, and 2008 areincluded in the database. A wide range of parameters have been sampled inthe estuarine tidal creek systems and their watersheds to obtain data onwater quality (e.g., nutrients, pathogens, dissolved oxygen, salinity),sediment quality (e.g., characteristics, chemical contaminants), biologicalcondition (e.g., macrobenthos, fish, organism health) , human exposure (e.g.,pathogens), and watershed attributes (e.g., land cover, impervious cover,demographics). Each creek was sampled from its headwaters to its junctionwith a large open estuary. The creeks represented the range of land use typesand human uses that occur in the Southeastern and Gulf regions, includingforested, suburban, and urban watersheds. Results of these studies indicatethat the amount and type of watershed development are linked to changes increek environmental quality including increased fecal coliform levels,decreased sediment quality, changes in the kinds and abundances of biota,changes in the abundance of juvenile fish, and decreases in the abundance ofshrimp that use these habitats as nurseries. These findings suggest that theshallow estuarine habitats that form the primary link with the land provideearly warning of impairment and may be sentinels of ensuing harm fromland-based activities. The levels of microbial and chemical contamination inthese headwater environments are frequently an order of magnitude greaterthan that reported for deeper open water environments. Shallow or headwatertidal creeks are, in effect, the "first responders" to impacts of non-pointsource pollution runoff.

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Dataset Information

Data.gov Data Category Type	Geodata
Specialized Data Category Designation	Geospatial
Keywords	ISO 19115 Topic Category , biota , environment , health , inlandWaters , oceans , NOS Data Explorer Topic Category , Environmental Monitoring , Socioeconomics , None , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , Mississippi , Alabama , None
Unique ID	B4C8421C-9160-6034-8CB7-FCF2BAB9668F

Contributing Agency Information

Citation	Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Hollings Marine Laboratory(HML), Ecological Research, Assessment and Prediction
Agency Program Page
Agency Data Series Page	http://coastalhealth.noaa.gov/tidalcreek/

Dataset Coverage

Unit of Analysis
Granularity
Geographic Coverage	-88.54614 , -77.83271 , 34.19934 , 30.27166

Data Description

Collection Mode
Data Collection Instrument
Data Dictionary/Variable List	Water quality - basic (dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature, specific conductivity, pH), nutrients (NH4, TDN, Si, TSS, TP, TDP, PO4, TN, NO2+NO3),chlorophyll a, phaeophytin, pathogens (fecal coliform, enterococci, coliphages)Sediment quality - chemical contaminants (PBDEs, PCBs, PAHs, metals, pesticides), characteristics (sand, silt, clay, mud, TOC)Tissue contaminants - oyster chemical contaminants (PBDEs, PCBs, PAHs,metals, pesticides) and lipidsBiological quality - macrobenthic community, fish communityWatershed attributes - land cover, impervious cover, human population,demographics

Additional Dataset Documentation

Technical Documentation
Additional Metadata	XML Format

OMB Control No. 3090-0284