Cary to monitor Hudson River’s health with grant

MILLBROOK — The Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research has awarded $1.7 million to Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies to monitor Hudson River ecosystems for three years.

Cary’s Chris Solomon, an aquatic ecologist, will work with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to lead a study of the lower food web in the river — the web of plants and small animals that species, such as striped bass, feed on.

Monthly monitoring will begin in January. The team will collect data on water quality, along with information about the biomass and abundance of small plants and animals — phytoplankton, zooplankton, bivalves, and other invertebrates.

Solomon said the survey will build on historical data, including data from the DEC, Stony Brook University, and more than 30 years of research by Cary Institute scientists.

The years of research make “it a uniquely well studied, large river ecosystem” that has been supported by the federal government and by foundations like Cary and others.

The Hudson River estuary is diverse and features fresh water as well as sea water. The study will focus on an approximate 150-mile stretch from Lower Manhattan to Troy.

“We’re excited to be working with our partners in the Hudson research and management community to help sustain the history and imagine the future of ecosystem monitoring in this iconic river estuary,” said Solomon.

“These (lower food web) organisms are critical food for fish like striped bass,” said Solomon. “They support the river’s fisheries, and they control how the ecosystem works in a lot of really fundamental ways.”

Understanding trends in these species at the base of the food web will help in anticipating changes in fish abundance, so managers can adjust harvest levels accordingly. Solomon cited a few species found in the river, including Atlantic sturgeon, eel, herring, shad.

Data from the survey may also help to reveal how changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level due to climate change will alter Hudson ecosystems and water quality, with important implications for communities that rely on the river for drinking water and recreation.

Solomon said a half dozen or more communities rely on the Hudson for a drinking water supply.

In addition, the survey will keep tabs on invasive zebra and quagga mussels and their impacts on the river ecosystem, and may help provide early warning if other invasive species arrive.

“The Hudson River Foundation is pleased to work with Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies on this new three-year survey to monitor the Hudson River’s lower food web,” said Jim Lodge, senior scientist at the Hudson River Foundation. “This work builds on the pioneering work of Cary’s long-term monitoring of the freshwater Hudson and will provide critical new insights and understanding of the Hudson River ecosystem from Lower Manhattan to Troy.”

Cary’s Heather Malcolm and David Fisher will lead the field work for the Interim Lower Food Web Survey. Partners at Upstate Freshwater Institute will analyze the water chemistry samples, and scuba divers from Seaway Dive and Salvage will collect rock and sediment samples from the riverbed.

“The Hudson River estuary is a vital resource for New York, and one that’s really intertwined with our culture and way of life,” said Solomon.