Establishing Baseline Moss Tissue and Snowpack Elemental Concentrations at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA), and Validation of Coastal and Interior Moss Tissue Concentration-Atmospheric Deposition Models for use in Critical Loads/Early Warning

Project ID: G20AC00076

Federal Agency: U.S. Geological Survey

Partner Institution: Oregon State University

Fiscal Year: 2020

Initial Funding: $12,908

Total Funding: $12,908

Principal Investigator: Shiel, Alyssa

Agreement Technical Representative: Cleveland, Danielle

Abstract: The goal of this research is to determine an empirical critical load for N, S, and heavy metals based on lichen communities and known deposition levels.

The proposed objectives are as follows: 1. Collect mosses at random locations within four log-based coastal buffer zones (0-3 km, 3-10 km, 10-31 km, and greater than 31 km) while ensuring a good geographic spread of points throughout BELA according to three east-to-west geographic zones (final sampling points to be determined by NPS). Process and analyze 1-year growth segments of the mosses to establish baseline elemental concentrations. 2. Model elemental concentrations in BELA mosses using Bayesian posterior predictions (spatial interpolation). 3. Collect composite snowpack samples at the transect locations to (a) determine the applicability of the correlation models established by Brumbaugh et al. (2016) to the BELA transect locations, (b) evaluate the reproducibility of correlations between moss concentrations and snowpack deposition, and (c) corroborate the observation that snowpack is an important uptake route for contaminants in moss.
Substantial involvement is anticipated through the terms of this Agreement between the USGS and the Recipient. A summary of the involvement is as follows: The USGS will be involved in all stages of this project, from project conception and sampling and analytical design, quality assurance and quality control, sample analyses, data interpretation, and publication. The USGS is also responsible for analyses and processing of sample splits.
The success of all these tasks will require close collaboration among USGS, NPS, and CESU team members. In return, USGS staff will learn invaluable information about stable isotope analysis and data interpretation from the CESU recipients; the ability to perform source attribution using stable isotopes is a critical component for contaminants analysis across the USGS mission areas. In this way, this CESU agreement will provide cutting edge science and impact future USGS science in a meaningful way.