Dynamics of Fecal Coliform Bacteria along Canada's Coast

TL;DR

This study analyzes fecal coliform bacteria levels along Canada's coast using functional principal component analysis, revealing seasonal and spatial variation patterns linked to human activity and environmental factors.

Contribution

It applies advanced statistical methods to characterize bacteria dynamics across Canadian coastal sites, providing insights into contamination sources and seasonal trends.

Findings

Seasonality of bacteria linked to river discharge in BC

Magnitude related to human and animal activity

Limited winter data in Atlantic provinces

Abstract

The vast coastline provides Canada with a flourishing seafood industry including bivalve shellfish production. To sustain a healthy bivalve molluscan shellfish production, the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program was established to monitor the health of shellfish harvesting habitats, and fecal coliform bacteria data have been collected at nearly 15,000 marine sample sites across six coastal provinces in Canada since 1979. We applied Functional Principal Component Analysis and subsequent correlation analyses to find annual variation patterns of bacteria levels at sites in each province. The overall magnitude and the seasonality of fecal contamination were modelled by functional principal component one and two, respectively. The amplitude was related to human and warm-blooded animal activities; the seasonality was strongly correlated with river discharge driven by precipitation and snow melt in British Columbia, but such correlation in provinces along the Atlantic coast could not be properly evaluated due to lack of data during winter.