University of Southern California Sea Grant

Sea level rise and uncertainty in its projections pose a major challenge to flood risk management and adaptation investments in coastal mega cities. This study presents a comparative economic evaluation method for flood adaptation measures, which couples a cost-benefit analysis with the concept of adaptation pathways. Our approach accounts for uncertainty in sea level rise projections by allowing for flexibility of adaptation strategies over time. Our method is illustrated for Los Angeles County which is vulnerable to flooding and sea level rise. Results for different sea level rise scenarios show that applying adaptation pathways can result in higher economic efficiency (up to 10%) than individual adaptation strategies, despite the loss of efficiency at the initial strategy. However, we identified 'investment tipping points', after which a transition could decrease the economic efficiencies of a pathway significantly. Overall, we recommend that studies evaluating adaptation strategies should integrate cost-benefit analysis frameworks with adaptation pathways since this allows for better informing decision makers about the robustness and economic desirability of their investment choices.

Los Angeles (LA) County's coastal areas are highly valued for their natural benefits and their economic contributions to the region. While LA County already has a high level of exposure to flooding (e.g. people, ports, and harbors), climate change and sea level rise will increase flood risk; anticipating this risk requires adaptation planning to mitigate social, economic, and physical damage. This study provides an overview of the potential effects of sea level rise on coastal LA County and describes adaptation pathways and estimates associated costs in order to cope with sea level rise. An adaptation pathway in this study is defined as the collection of measures (e.g., beach nourishment, dune restoration, flood-proofing buildings, and levees) required to lower flood risk. The aim of using different adaptation pathways is to enable a transition from one methodology to another over time. These pathways address uncertainty in future projections, allowing for flexibility among policies and potentially spreading the costs over time. Maintaining beaches, dunes, and their natural dynamics is the foundation of each of the three adaptation pathways, which address the importance of beaches for recreation, environmental value, and flood protection. In some scenarios, owing to high projections of sea level rise, additional technical engineering options such as levees and sluices may be needed to reduce flood risk. The research suggests three adaptation pathways, anticipating a +1 ft (0.3 m) to +7 ft (+2 m) sea level rise by year 2100. Total adaptation costs vary between $4.3 and $6.4 bn, depending on measures included in the adaptation pathway.

Baseline genotypes were established for 256 individuals of Caulerpa collected from 27 field locations in Florida (including the Keys), the Bahamas, US Virgin Islands, and Honduras, nearly doubling the number of available GenBank sequences. On the basis of sequences from the nuclear rDNA‐ITS 1+2 and the chloroplast tuf A regions, the phylogeny of Caulerpa was reassessed and the presence of invasive strains was determined. Surveys in central Florida and southern California of >100 saltwater aquarium shops and 90 internet sites revealed that >50% sold Caulerpa . Of the 14 Caulerpa species encountered, Caulerpa racemosa was the most common, followed by Caulerpa sertularioides , Caulerpa prolifera , Caulerpa mexicana , and Caulerpa serrulata . None of the >180 field‐collected individuals (representing 13 species) was the invasive strain of Caulerpa taxifolia or C. racemosa . With one exception (a sample of C. racemosa from a shop in southern California belonged to the invasive Clade III strain), no invasive strains were found in saltwater aquarium stores in Florida or on any of the internet sites. Although these results are encouraging, we recommend a ban on the sale of all Caulerpa species (including “live rock”) because: morphological identification of Caulerpa species is unreliable (>12% misidentification rate) and invasive strains can only be identified by their aligned DNA sequences, and because the potential capacity for invasive behavior in other Caulerpa species is far from clear. The addition of the Florida region to the genetic data base for Caulerpa provides a valuable proactive resource for invasion biologists as well as researchers interested in the evolution and speciation of Caulerpa .

We identified 14 taxa (10 species) of Caulerpa from retail aquarium outlets in southern California, USA, suggesting that the aquarium industry has the potential to be an important vector for transporting these non-native seaweeds into distant geographic regions. Seaweeds were sold in 58% and species of Caulerpa in 52% of the 50 stores visited between November 2000 and August 2001. C. serrulata var. hummii (18%), C. taxifolia (14%), C. racemosa (14%), and C. racemosa var. lamourouxii (14%) were the most commonly encountered taxa. The 14 aquarium-traded Caulerpa taxa were distributed from tropical to temperate waters. Only 3 (C. ashmeadii, C. serrulata var. hummii and C. microphysa) were confined to the tropics, whereas 12 had distributions extending into temperate seas. These temperate components to their distributions indicate that, if introduced, several other taxa of aquarium-traded Caulerpa besides C. taxifolia might be capable of establishing populations in southern Californian or other temperate waters.

The coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden and nearby waters of the Indian Ocean stand as the most pirate-ridden area of the seas at this time and naval forces from many nations have descended upon the region to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels; yet piracy for ransom continues. The US, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and now the European Union deploy their navies to disrupt raids, intercept and capture pirates attacking ships passing through the region. However, apprehending pirates is only effective if they can also be brought to a court capable of adjudicating their guilt. Increasingly, the captured suspects are being disarmed and released, lacking a reliable nearby littoral state to prosecute them. In this region, with few viable states either willing or capable of holding piracy trials, apprehending pirates meets only part of the challenge of abating the practise. What is needed is a court system capable of adjudicating these cases; yet a thicket of both law and custom limits the ability of seagoing states to adequately arrest and hand over to reliable prosecution high seas pirates. This article addresses the problems inherent in abating piracy by these means off the coast of East Africa.

Abstract Seafood farming is heralded for its economic opportunities and its potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production. Yet the persistent lack of awareness among the US public about these potential benefits of seafood farming is often cited as a barrier to social acceptance and industry growth. We employed two exploratory online surveys of residents of western and northeastern US coastal states and a unique message‐testing approach to explore: (1) how existing opinions about seafood farming vary across sociodemographic attributes, geography, and prior familiarity with aquaculture; (2) the malleability of opinions about seafood farming; and (3) what benefits of marine aquaculture broadly and of seaweed farming specifically were viewed as the strongest reasons to support industry expansion, and what messengers are most trusted to share that information. We found that baseline attitudes about seafood farming strongly correlate with prior familiarity and that opinions about both marine aquaculture and seaweed farming were highly malleable, at least in the short term. If confirmed by further studies, our results suggest that messages emphasizing benefits in terms of environmental sustainability, as opposed to economic benefits or social benefits, may be an important tool to better engage residents of western and northeastern US coastal states with seafood farming expansion.

A U.S.-Canada Arctic Policy Forum, funded by the William H. Donner Foundation, Inc., New York, met to consider the need for U.S.-Canadian cooperation in the Arctic and some of the barriers thereto. The U.S. co-chair assessed the causes of conflict between the two countries, the need for cooperation and some of the sources of each side's conduct and indicated how the delegates - speaking in their capacities as private citizens - worked their way through the issues to the forum's conclusion. Sovereignty questions dominated the conflict issues. But each side had four types of similar internal problems in making arctic policy (1) native vs. nonnative interests (2) regional vs. central interests (3) public vs. private interests; and (4) oil development vs. subsistence and commercial fishing and hunting interests. The forum concluded with suggestions that future meetings use the Canadian Federal Assessment Panel's (or Tener) report as a source of examining possible U.S.-Canadian cooperative measures in the Beaufort Sea region and the Canada-Denmark Agreement as a possible "model" for U.S.-Canadian environmental cooperation in the Arctic.Key words: sovereignty, Northwest Passage, indigenous rights, oil and gas, security, Tener Report, arctic industrialization, scientific cooperation, Beaufort Sea, marine resources

Abstract One of the major consequences of the negotiations at the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conferences (UNCLOS III) was a substantial reduction of the international commons in which the freedom to fish existed and the creation of what was supposed to be a sui generis zone, the 200‐mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but within which the coastal state would have a virtual monopoly on the right to allocate resources. How this was done at UNCLOS III is analyzed using a model that shows the progress over time on major issues of the parliamentary‐diplomatic‐style negotiation in which consensus was required for an acceptable outcome. The shifting positions of major states and bargaining groups as they maneuvered toward consensus is examined on the questions of the creation of the 200‐mile EEZ, the rights of foreign fishermen in the EEZ, the fishing rights of geographically disadvantaged states in the EEZ, and the management of highly migratory species. The analysis shows that the new ocean regime, created through complex tradeoffs and strenuous issue‐by‐issue bargaining, was critically influenced by fisheries issues.

Numerous recent papers have studied the tension between thickening and clearing a market in (uncertain, online) long-time horizon Markovian settings. In particular, (Aouad and Saritaç EC’20, Collina et al. WINE’20, Kessel et al. EC’22) studied what the latter referred to as the Stationary Prophet Inequality Problem, due to its similarity to the classic finite-time horizon prophet inequality problem. These works all consider unit-demand buyers. Mirroring the long line of work on the classic prophet inequality problem subject to combinatorial constraints, we initiate the study of the stationary prophet inequality problem subject to combinatorially-constrained buyers.

PURPOSE: Historically, neuroblastoma risk stratification has been performed with clinical stage as the starting point and successively adding other prognostic factors thereafter. This study takes an alternative approach to define risk groups of patients with neuroblastoma by starting with the International Neuroblastoma Pathology Classification (INPC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The cohort of patients with neuroblastoma previously used for developing the Children's Oncology Group-Revised Neuroblastoma Risk Classification (RNRC) system was reanalyzed by survival tree regression analysis, starting with the INPC distinguishing favorable-histology and unfavorable-histology categories. The resultant two branches were further divided first by the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Staging System and successively by other prognostic factors. RESULTS: This new stratification system, the INPC-Risk Grouping (INPC-RG), is simpler than the RNRC system, eliminating unnecessary decision trees, and distinguishes four risk groups (groups I-IV). Using only INPC (unfavorable histology) and International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Staging System (stage M), INPC-RG defines patients with highly aggressive group IV tumors, whose 5-year event-free survival was worse than that of the RNRC high-risk group. Additionally, it identifies group III patients whose 5-year event-free survival spanned 50% to 80%, which was not identified by the RNRC. CONCLUSIONS: The benefits of using this new INPC-RG system are fourfold: (1) it allows for the rapid identification of group IV patients, (2) it lays the foundation for further refinement of group III, (3) it can stratify patients when the amount of tumor tissue is limited, and (4) it allows patients in resource-limited areas to be appropriately stratified, potentially improving the worldwide treatment of patients with neuroblastoma.

Sediment is an essential component of contemporary coastal and marine management in California. For decades, multiple coastal sediment management organizations have facilitated and coordinated regional sediment management (RSM) as an approach, and more recently, are increasingly focused on the state’s sea level rise adaptation efforts. From the perspective of representatives and members of some of these organizations, this paper describes challenges of RSM in the areas of organizational capacity and coordination. It also characterizes ways in which organizations are taking leadership and action in overcoming these constraints to fulfill their commitment to improved coastal sediment management.

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was once considered a miracle pesticide, earning Paul Mller a 1948 Nobel Prize in Medicine for preserving "the life and health of hundreds of thousands" from devastating insect-borne diseases during the Second World War ( 1 ).Mller's discovery of DDT's unique properties as an effective, long-lasting, and affordable contact poison for a broad range of insects filled an urgent and unmet need.At the time of its discovery, DDT was thought to have "little to no detrimental impacts on mammals or plants" ( 1 ).However, through the work of Rachel Carson and others, mounting evidence of the pesticide's environmental and toxicological effects led to its ban by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1972 ( 2 ).Today, DDT is classified as a probable human carcinogen ( 2 ) and recognized for its effects of immunosuppression, carcinogenesis, and reduced reproductive success in a diversity of organisms ( 3 ).Nearly 50 y after its ban in the United States, the impacts of DDT contamination remain a challenge.DDT and its breakdown products, commonly referred to as DDX, are extremely persistent (a property once valued in its use as a pesticide) and accumulate through the food web via

Abstract Bar-built estuaries (BBEs) are dynamic habitats that are subject to a number of natural factors (precipitation, tidal influence, sediment transport, etc.) and anthropogenic factors (run-off, managed breaches, etc.) that influence their environmental state. While informed management requires an understanding of these factors and their seasonal patterns, documenting estuary conditions is challenging due to a limited capacity for in situ monitoring. To better understand seasonal changes in estuaries, this research used satellite remote sensing to examine estuary mouth state and inundation extent. We used Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) and Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR) to develop the California Estuary Assessment (CEA) tool in Google Earth Engine. The Sentinel-1 C-SAR and the Sentinel-2 MSI-derived Normalized Difference Water Index captured the estuary mouth state, in terms of opened or closed, and inundation extent. We then compared the estuary mouth state and inundation extent seasonally. The Navarro River Estuary exhibited much more frequent closed mouth state observations (70% of all observations) compared to the Russian River (26% of all observations). Inundation patterns also varied between the estuaries and between seasons—at Navarro River, the lowest and highest inundation values occurred in summer (71.5% of maximum inundation extent) and spring (75.8%), respectively, while at Russian River, the lowest and highest values occurred in summer (68.3%) and fall (86.2%), respectively. Furthermore, inundation extent varied significantly more in fall at Navarro River, and in spring and summer at the Russian River. Our findings reveal substantial seasonal differences between BBEs that highlight the importance of monitoring individual systems.

Los Angeles County is known for its wide sandy beaches, coastal boardwalks, and beach commerce and tourism. Planning for sea level rise and associated coastal hazards poses unique challenges in highly populated urban communities; in particular, sandy beaches play an important role in buffering the land from sea level rise, coastal storms, and associated flooding. With increasing pressure to prepare for and adapt to sea level rise, boundary organizations such as USC Sea Grant and The Bay Foundation are helping coastal communities build their capacity to respond to changing shorelines by providing and translating best available science, providing planning and technical support, building partnerships, and implementing adaptation strategies. This paper evaluates the process and provides recommendations for translating science to on-the-ground planning and adaptation efforts in coastal communities. Regionally, USC Sea Grant’s AdaptLA initiative works with coastal communities to communicate sea level rise science and provide managers with information and tools to assess vulnerabilities and begin to plan for adaptation. Informed by detailed, scaled-down climate change models and science-based demonstration projects, some AdaptLA participants initiated demonstration adaptation projects such as the Santa Monica Beach Restoration Pilot Project discussed in this paper. The Santa Monica Bay case study highlights a sea level rise adaptation process, from community capacity building to planning nature-based adaptation, using beach restoration. Lessons learned from demonstration projects in the region can inform similar projects and potential scaling up of nature-based adaptation on sandy beaches. Through the collective effort of boundary organizations, coordination with multiple jurisdictions and agencies, and community support, this case study demonstrates a model for implementing naturebased adaptation in urban coastal communities.

Introduction: Diverticular (TIC) hemorrhage (TICH) is the leading cause of severe acute lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage (LGIH) in adults. Endoscopic treatment is recommended for TIC major stigmata of recent hemorrhage (SRH), but visualization in the TIC base and larger artery size make endoscopic treatment more difficult than at the neck. Aims: To compare early & late rebleeding rates of TIC SRH at base vs. neck after colonoscopic hemostasis or medical treatment alone. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed prospectively collected data of patients with definitive TICH at VA & UCLA Medical Centers from 1992 to 2024. Definitive TICH was defined as a severe LGIH with hospitalization & finding a major SRH (active bleeding, non-bleeding adherent clot, visible vessel, or flat spot) in a single TIC on urgent colonoscopy. Demographics, early (within 30 days) & late rebleeding rates, and other outcomes were collected, stratified as either medical treatment alone or endoscopic hemostasis (Hemoclips, multipolar electrocoagulation, or heater probe). Descriptive & comparative analyses were used. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: For 138 patients with definitive TICH, TIC SRH location was 78 at the base and 60 at the neck. 71.9% were male with a median age of 73 years. The median follow-up was 60 months. Endoscopic hemostasis was performed more often in the neck (93.3% vs. 73.1%, P =0.002), while medical treatment was more common in the base (26.9% vs. 6.7%, P=0.002). Early rebleeding rates from the Same TIC were significant higher for medical treatment regardless of SRH location (40% vs. 10.6%, P< 0.001). No significant differences in demographics & endoscopic findings between the base vs. neck groups were observed. For endoscopic hemostasis (excluding injection alone), there were significantly higher rates of late Same TIC rebleeding and surgery in the base. For medical treatment alone, there were no significant differences in either early or late Same TIC rebleeding rates for the two SRH locations. See Table 1. Mortality rate was 59% but only one patient died from TICH. Conclusion: 1) For definitive TICH, 56.5% had SRH at the base & 43.5% at the neck. 2) Endoscopic hemostasis reduced early Same TIC rebleeding rates regardless of SRH location. 3) After endoscopic hemostasis, TIC base had a higher late Same TIC rebleeding rate than TIC neck. 4) Better techniques for visualizing & treating SRH in the TIC base are needed. Table 1. - Comparisons of early and late rebleeding rates of diverticular (TIC)’s stigmata of recent hemorrhage (SRH) at base versus neck after endoscopic hemostasis (Hemoclips, multipolar electrocoagulation - MPEC, or heater probe) or medical treatment alone Endoscopic hemostasis (Hemoclips, MPEC, or heater probe) SRH at base (n=54) SRH at neck (n=55) P-value Both early and/or late Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 17 (31.5) 9 (16.4) 0.064 Early (within 30 days) Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 6 (11.1) 5 (9.1) 0.726 Late Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 11 (20.4) 4 (7.3) 0.047 Different TIC rebleeding, n (%) 6 (11) 11 (20) 0.201 Reintervention, n (%) 18 (33.3) 17 (30.9) 0.786 Readmission, n (%) 15 (27.8) 18 (32.7) 0.574 Diverticulitis, n (%) 5 (9.3) 1 (1.8) 0.089 Surgery, n (%) 4 (7.4) 0 0.040 Death, n (%) 20 (37) 24 (43.6) 0.483 Follow up, months, median (IQR) 55 (74) 80 (90) 0.006 Medical treatment alone SRH at base (n=21) SRH at neck (n=4) P-value Both early and/or late Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 8 (38.1) 3 (75) 0.173 Early (within 30 days) Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 7 (33.3) 3 (75) 0.119 Late Same TIC rebleeding, n (%) 2 (9.5) 1 (25) 0.383 Different TIC rebleeding, n (%) 5 (23.8) 2 (50) 0.285 Reintervention, n (%) 8 (38.1) 3 (75) 0.173 Readmission, n (%) 6 (28.6) 2 (50) 0.400 Diverticulitis, n (%) 0 0 N/A Surgery, n (%) 6 (28.6) 0 0.220 Death, n (%) 11 (52.4) 1 (25) 0.315 Follow up, months, median (IQR) 49 (136) 24 (77) 0.452 n: number of patients; IQR: interquartile range; TIC: Diverticular; MPEC: multipolar electrocoagulation; SRH: stigmata of recent hemorrhage.

ASLO provides numerous workshops and networking opportunities for early career and student members at its meetings. With strong support from the ASLO Board, the Early Career Committee helps promote the professional development of early career members (i.e., members within 10 yr of Ph.D. completion) by developing and hosting developmental opportunities tailored to the professional aspirations of early career members (Menden-Deuer et al. 2015). Early Career Workshop convened during the 2016 ASLO Summer Meeting on 6 June 2016 in Santa Fe, NM, USA. Panelists included (seated from left to right) Linda Duguay (University of Southern California Sea Grant Program), Maria González (NSF Population and Community Ecology Cluster), Mike Vanni (NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure), Alan Tessier (NSF Division of Environmental Biology), and Tim Kratz (NSF Macrosystems Biology and Early NEON Science Program). Photo credit: Xi Xiao. Still not sure that your proposal fits within the scope of the program? Don't be afraid to reach out to program officers. To help ensure a productive conversation, it is strongly recommended that you email the cognizant program officer listed in the program solicitation to schedule a time to talk that is convenient for both of you. In the email, you can briefly summarize your proposed research to help provide the program officer with necessary background information prior to the meeting. The program officer can provide feedback on whether or not the proposed research fits within the scope of the program, but cannot evaluate the merits of the proposal or provide suggestions on proposal content, which are the roles of ad hoc reviewers and the review panel. Christopher T. Filstrup, Large Lakes Observatory & Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota; filstrup@aslo.org Kevin C. Rose, Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York¡ Xi Xiao, Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China Hideyuki Doi, Graduate School of Simulation Studies, University of Hyogo, Kobe, Japan Andrea K. Johnson, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia Susanne Menden-Deuer, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, Rhode Island

Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children&rsquo;s Defense Fund is credited for saying &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t be what you can&rsquo;t see.&rdquo; Unfortunately, in both the field of marine biology and in children&rsquo;s literature, scientists and main characters tend to be predominantly White. In an effort to increase representation and break stereotypes when it comes to people of color, the University of Southern California&rsquo;s Joint Educational Project (JEP) partnered with a non-profit publisher called Room to Read to create a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Powered Career series. This children&rsquo;s book series is targeted for ages 6&ndash;8 and features three animated characters of color and profiles a gamut of diverse scientists and experts in their fields. Furthermore, to meet the needs of Los Angeles&rsquo; large Hispanic communities, the books were translated into Spanish. One of the ten STEAM fields included in the series is Marine Biology which is written by Maria Madrigal and features Dr. Charnelle Wickliff, who are both underrepresented minorities. The book covers marine topics relevant to the local California region such as, kelp forests, tidepools, and even grunion! Room to Read printed over 90,000 free copies that were distributed to low-income families in Los Angeles to address book desert issues.

How does an organization build a model for developing a multi-faceted marine science program for the K-12 environment that also responds to community and social needs? That has been a driving question behind curriculum and program development at the Sea Grant Program at the University of Southern California (USC), and a question that faces any program in urban ocean settings.