Large amounts of nitrogen loads in Long Island Sound and other water bodies can stimulate an excessive growth of plant plankton and macroalgae, leading to eutrophication. Credit: Ryan Strother/NYSG.

Published for Stony Brook University's E-news Site, Happenings

Stony Brook, NY, February 11, 2019 - More than $1.5 million in funding has been awarded for four research projects looking into ecological issues in the Long Island Sound (LIS) and its watershed. The funding will be administered by New York Sea Grant (NYSG) at Stony Brook University.

The projects – supported via a partnership between NYSG and Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) – address topics affecting the ecological health of the Sound, like hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the water column), biological parameters for water quality management, and the scope and impact of landscaping practices. This funding represents a historic investment in LIS ecological research, as it is the largest amount of funding provided for research projects through this partnership.

Read more about the funded projects.

LI Sound Research Conference

Since 2008, the Long Island Sound Research Program conducted by CTSG and NYSG for the LISS has provided more than $5.6 million in funding for 23 research projects. The results of research studies focusing on the Sound and its watershed will be the focus of the Long Island Sound Research Conference – a NYSG, CTSG and LISS co-sponsored event to be held at Danford’s in Port Jefferson, NY on Friday, March 15 – that will include several researchers from Stony Brook.

Register here.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.