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Janet K. Thompson

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Data for monitoring trace metal and benthic community near the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay, California (ver 2.0, November 2022)
Trace-metal concentrations in sediment and in the clam Limecola petalum (World Register of Marine Species, 2020; formerly reported as Macoma balthica and M. petalum), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were investigated in a mudflat located 1 kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (PARWQCP) in south San Francisco Bay, California. This report includes data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) starting in January 2019. These data append to long-term datasets extending back to 1974. This dataset supports the City of Palo Alto’s Near-Field Receiving-Water Monitoring Program, initiated in 1994. This data release is presented...
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Phytoplankton is an important and limiting food source in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay; the decline of phytoplankton biomass is one possible factor in the pelagic organism decline and specifically in the decline of the protected delta smelt. The bivalves Corbicula fluminea and Potamocorbula amurensis (hereafter Corbicula and Potamocorbula, respectively) have been shown to control phytoplankton biomass in several locations throughout the system, and their distribution and population dynamics are therefore of great interest. As one element of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR) Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP), the Generalized...
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Determining spatial distributions and temporal trends in trace metals in sediments and benthic organisms is common practice for monitoring environmental contamination. These data can be the basis for assessing metal exposure, the potential for adverse biological effects, and the response to regulatory or management actions (Suter, 2001). Another common method of environmental monitoring is to examine the community structure of sediment-dwelling benthic organisms (Simon, 2002). Spatial and temporal changes in community structure reflect the integrated response of resident species to environmental conditions, although the underlying cause(s) for the response may be difficult to identify and quantify. Together, measurements...
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