Three wastewater treatment systems (WWTS) situated on Cayes in the Belize Barrier Reef System were assessed in terms of the unique public health and environmental circumstances of being a tourist destination surrounded by fragile coral reef. Laughing Bird Caye, Silk Caye, and Little Water Caye are three small cayes that are the staging points for local diving, fishing, and other recreational tourism. All three systems are based upon pour-flush toilets, semi-anaerobic biodigesters and drainage fields. Limitations in cost, available resources, useable area, high infiltration rates of the sand, and salinity of the water have played a major factor in the construction and performance of the WWTS on the Cayes. This thesis aims to form an understanding of treatment efficiency of the WWTS, investigate the effectiveness of decentralized saltwater-based WWTS in comparison to freshwater-based WWTS, and provide recommendations to improve the performance and resource recovery in a manner appropriate for the context in which the systems are deployed. A mathematical model was developed to predict the performance of the WWTS based on available operational and water-quality input data. The model is based on the mass balances of six species: inert solids, fecal solids, bacterial biomass, soluble substrate (i.e. dissolved organic carbon), ammonium and nitrate. Effects of salinity were estimated for the two saltwater-based WWTS. The model predicted the effluent concentrations of fecal solids, soluble biological oxygen demand (BOD), ammonium, and nitrate. A sensitivity analysis was also performed on the predicted effluent treatment efficiency based upon influent load, oxygen concentration and system salinity. Results from Silk Caye and Laughing Bird Caye indicate that varying the number of visitors from seasonal lows to highs has a moderate impact on the effluent fecal solids and soluble BOD in the effluent. Due to the relatively large volume of the WWTS at Little Water Caye, and thus high HRT, varying the number of visitors did not have a significant effect. The model predicted a reduction of nitrogen from the effluent due to settled solids and the assimilation of the nitrogen into bacteria. However the model consistently projected an effluent nitrate concentration (as mg/L as N) between 60 and 63 across the three WWTS. The oxygen concentration within the WWTS had the greatest effect on effluent BOD of the three parameters tested in the sensitivity analysis. Results from the sensitivity analysis indicate that a minimum concentration of 0.95 mg/L of oxygen is required before the model can accurately predict the effluent BOD concentration. The concentration of effluent fecal solids did not significantly change with changes in oxygen concentration. Salinity had a significant effect on the predicted fecal solids and soluble BOD in the effluent. Predicted fecal solids in the effluent wastewater increased approximately 60 percent from freshwater conditions to 4 percent salinity. Similarly, effluent BOD concentration increased strongly with increasing salinity. The increase in concentration is due to the major reduction of substrate-consuming bacteria by cell-die-off. The model predicts that a significant increase in cell die-off begins to occur at 2.4 percent salinity. The predicted effluent of the freshwater-based WWTS on Little Water Caye was compared to 166 wastewater treatment plants operating in Brazil. Comparison between the WWTS on the Caye and the decentralized WWTS in Brazil indicate that the predicted removal efficiencies of total suspended solids and soluble BOD are higher than the measured efficiencies of the WWTS. However, the total nitrogen removal efficiency for the WWTS on the Caye was the least effective; most-likely because the model does not account for denitrification within the biodigester. The comparison between the WWTS illustrates that the predicted removal efficiency of BOD and TSS solids is most likely less in the actual measurement than predicted value from the model. The WWTS on the Cayes were constructed to mitigate the impacts of the wastewater produced by visitors on the general health of the pubic and the environment. Considering the reports of the eutrophication affecting the coral reefs surrounding the Cayes, the WWTS have largely failed in at least one aspect of their purpose. The effluent water quality predicted by the model also suggests that significant concentrations of nitrogen are entering the surrounding ocean habitat as ammonia and nitrate. Recommendations to improve the effluent wastewater quality were separated into three categories based upon the required level of input to realize the recommendation. The input includes the capital cost and labor of the change, the level of buy-in from the users of the system, and the resulting maintenance requirements. The implementation of a urine separation toilet system was proposed as a method to reduce effluent nitrogen entering the environment and to create a resource recovery system (RR) from the already constructed WWTS.

In 1988 data on coral reef community composition were collected from two areas, Akumal and Chemuyil, Quintana Roo, Mexico, ranging from 5-35m depth. These areas were revisited in 2005 and data were collected by the same methods and at the same depths as in 1988. Data from 1988 and 2005 were compared to determine if the coral reefs had undergone significant changes, and what specific changes had occurred. Chi-square analysis determined that community composition data collected in 1988 are significantly different from data collected in 2005 at all sites and depths within the categories of corals, gorgonians, sponges, and macroalgae. Mann-Whitney U analyses were performed on abundance data for coral, gorgonians, sponges, macroalgae, crustose coralline algae, erect coralline algae/calcareous algae, filamentous/multi-species turf algae, and non-living substrate. Results from the Mann-Whitney U analysis varied between sites; however significant trends of increasing macroalgae, crustose coralline algae and filamentous/multi-species turf, and declining non-living substrate were observed at almost all sites. H' biodiversity indices J' evenness values and species number (S) were calculated for all sites over the two time periods, with no discernable trends observed. Increases in crustose coralline algae and filamentous/multi-species turf algae suggest that eutrophication and overfishing may be responsible for the trends observed on the reefs at Akumal and Chemuyil. Anecdotal accounts also suggest that eutrophication from septic water flowing through the highly porous karst limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula may be the largest malefactor causing the observed changes. The increase in filamentous/multi-species turf algae exhibited by the data suggests that eutrophication is predominantly responsible for the alternate states of the reefs. Furthermore, evidences indicative of other forms of stress on the reefs, such as bleaching, scraped or broken coral heads, disease, and sedimentation, were rarely observed.

Bahia de la Ascension (BA) is a pristine, shallow, karst bay located in the Mexican Caribbean, a region experiencing rapid population growth stimulated by intense tourism development. The overall objective of this study was to address the natural hydrographic variability of this inherently vulnerable ecosystem and assess its influence on a key habitat, the seagrass. The chapters follow the three-branched nature of the study which tackled the connected ecosystem issues of coastal hydrology, physical dynamics of flow and circulation, and the ecological dynamics of the seagrass species Thalassia testudinum in BA. Freshwater input to BA is primarily by submerged groundwater discharges and surface runoff; both sources are derived from fissures in the aquifer but feature distinct water quality due to the interaction with adjacent wetlands. Hurricanes explain 36 percent of the interannual precipitation variability in the region. The water balance indicates a persistent net outflow from BA to the adjacent shelf, suggesting an intense exchange across inlets. Both diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies are attenuated in the inner bay, where a meteorologically-induced subtidal water level increase may occur during four-day southeasterly winds. A clear SW-NE salinity gradient was established during dry and rainy seasons, with a strong tidally-driven marine influence throughout the central basin, and a perennial mesohaline ambient in the southwestern-most bay, where hydrodynamics are primarily controlled by wind stress. Thalassia testudinum is the dominant seagrass species in BA, occupying ~90 percent of the substrate, including the freshwater-influenced inner bay. High nutrient inputs, including phosphorus which might have limiting effects in karst environments, along with the wind-driven circulation controlling water residence times are associated with the successful development of T. testudinum (up to 1,461.23 g DW m-2) within the SW bay. Farthest into the central basin, Thalassia consistently exhibited an inverse correlation between abundance and density of shoots. This pattern was enhanced under exceptional precipitation and inputs of denuded organic matter resulting from hurricanes making landfall on this region. The relationship between nutrient distribution and the above/belowground ratio suggested that Thalassia growing in BA favors the development of the aerial component as nutrients availability increases. This study provides a basic understanding of the most important processes molding the patterns of variability exhibited by T. testudinum in Bahia de la Ascension. The salinity gradient and external nutrient supply, along with the hydrodynamic component, define the spatial scale at which the connectivity between the adjacent wetland, the bay, and the shelf may occur.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'omnifarious' as 'comprising or relating to all sorts or varieties', which quite accurately captures the very nature of octocorals and this thesis. The research reported here, aims to describe undocumented communities of coral reef organisms - the octocorals - which are an emergent dominant component within their threatened ecosystem of the Caribbean. Within the last four decades, coral reefs worldwide have experienced a precipitous plunge in many ecosystem services they provide, and most notably in the Caribbean. The foundation to reef resilience is structured on the ecosystem's ability to repair and restructure itself in the face of environmental shifts. These intricately complex strategies of resilience depend on repair mechanisms provided by a source of biodiversity, much of which remains poorly understood. This work explores many facets of the functioning within this potential future coral reef ecosystem. These reports are one of the most significant contributions to documenting and describing octocoral biodiversity (e.g. species, genetic, and community diversity) of the wider ecoregion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System within the last three decades.