Josiah Strauss

Current Research

Hypoxia on the Texas Shelf

Hypoxia is a common mid-summer feature of Louisiana shelf waters and has recently been discovered off the Texas Coast in association with Brazos River flooding. Hypoxia, or depletion of dissolved oxygen, stresses benthic communities and can devastate coastal ecosystems and fisheries. Hypoxia occurs when bottom waters are isolated from structuring of the water column and dissolved oxygen is depleted by the decay of organic matter at the seafloor. Influx of fresh river water smothers bottom waters and prevents them from re-oxygenating with surface water. Excess nutrients from man-made fertilizers in the river water contribute to phytoplankton blooms that, upon death, create a flux of organic matter to the seafloor which decays and consumes oxygen.

My research focuses on characterizing the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O, ²H/¹H, and ¹³C/¹²C ratios of Brazos water input into the Gulf of Mexico to establish a baseline for proxy development and to distinguish between Brazos and Mississippi waters on the Texas continental shelf. I am also testing the resolution of ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ¹³C/¹²C ratios in mollusk shells as proxies for freshwater influx and oxygen deprivation in continental shelf waters and examining the historic record of hypoxic events on the Texas shelf.

Publications

Strauss, J., Grossman, E.L., and S.F. DiMarco. Oxygen and carbon isotopes of waters from the Louisiana hypoxic zone: indicators of fresh water sources and benthic respiration, In Prep, Target Journal: Limnology and Oceanography.

DiMarco, S. F., Strauss, J., May, N., Smith, R., Mullins, R.L., Bianchi, T.S., Grossman, E.L., Quigg, A.S., and N. Walker, 2009. Texas coastal hypoxia: linkages to the Brazos River. In Prep, Target Journal: Journal of Marine Systems or Limnology and Oceanography

Strauss, J., Oleinik, A.E., and P. Swart, 2009. Oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of marine gastropod shells: growth     rates, environmental interpretation, and latitudinal effects. Submitted to Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Haresawych, M.G. and J. Strauss, 2006. A new record of introduced Cerion (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Cerionidae) in southeastern Florida. The Nautilus, 120 (3), 94-100.

Conference Abstracts

Strauss, J., Grossman, E.L., and S.F. DiMarco, 2009. Oxygen and carbon isotopes of hypoxic waters from the 2009 Louisiana Hypoxic Zone: indicators of fresh water sources and benthic respiration. Ocean Sciences Meeting, American Geophysical Union, Portland.

Strauss, J., Grossman, E.L., and S.F. DiMarco, 2009. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of hypoxic Waters: Indicators of fresh water sources and benthic respiration on the Texas-Louisiana shelf. Annual National Meeting, American Geophysican Union, San Francisco.

DiMarco, S.F., May, N., Quigg, A.S., Fisher, M., Denton, W., Grossman, E.L., Strauss, J.,  Bianchi, T.S., and R. Mullins, 2009. 24-year climatology of coastal Texas water quality: stratification, nutrients, and hypoxia. Nutrient Criteria Research Framework Workshop, Gulf of Mexico Alliance, New Orleans.

Strauss, J., 2006. Interpretation of δ¹³C profiles in modern and Pleistocene subtropical predactory gastropods, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 378

Strauss, J. and A.E. Oleinik, 2005. Stable isotope growth profiles of Recent and Cenozoic mollusks In: Posters: Pacific Grove, CA: American Malacological Society/Western Society of Malacologists Annual Meeting, 06/28/2005

Oleinik, A.E., and J. Strauss, 2004. Interpretation of seasonality from marine gastropod shells: Latitudinal changes in isotopic signatures. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 36, No. 5, p. 296

Strauss, J., and A.E. Oleinik, 2003. Growth rates and temperatures of Florida Recent and Pleistocene mollusks using δ¹⁸0 profiles. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 35, No. 6, p. 164