COMPARISON OF GEUKENSIA DEMISSA POPULATIONS ALONG A NITROGEN LOADING GRADIENT IN NARRAGANSETT BAY, RI

i Anthropogenic eutrophication of coastal estuaries impacts these vital ecosystems by increasing primary production, hypoxic conditions, pathogen concentration, and greenhouse gas emissions, all of which are leading to the degradation of shorelines, disease transmission, and hypoxia-related fish kills. Narragansett Bay is a prominent feature of Rhode Island, making up over 500 km of coastline and acting as a watershed for over 2,000 square meters of land in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This estuary is important to both the economy of the state of Rhode Island and its fringing ecosystems are necessary for a healthy shoreline. The beaches of Narragansett Bay revenue over $5 billion a year in tourism, stimulate more than 40,000 jobs, and are a source of many economically important marine organisms such as oysters, mussels, hard shell clams, finfish, and lobsters. The numerous fringing habitats of Narragansett Bay, including rocky intertidal zones, seagrasses, and estuarine marshes all play important roles for the coastlin