Grantee Research Project Results

ECOHAB - Hydrography and Biology to Provide Information for the Construction of a Model to Predict the Initiation, Maintanence and Dispersal of Red Tide on the West Coast of Florida

EPA Grant Number: R829456
Title: ECOHAB - Hydrography and Biology to Provide Information for the Construction of a Model to Predict the Initiation, Maintanence and Dispersal of Red Tide on the West Coast of Florida
Investigators: Steidinger, Karen A. , Vargo, Gabriel A. , Kirkpatrick, Gary J. , Schofield, Oscar M.E. , Janowitz, Gerald S. , Kamykowski, Daniel , Redalje, Donald , McGuire, Peter , Lohenz, Steven
Current Investigators: Steidinger, Karen A. , Kirkpatrick, Gary J. , Schofield, Oscar M.E. , Kamykowski, Daniel , Redalje, Donald , McGuire, Peter , Lohrenz, Steven
Institution: Florida Marine Research Institute , Mote Marine Laboratory , Rutgers University - New Brunswick , University of South Florida , University of Southern Mississippi , North Carolina State University , Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission , University of Florida
Current Institution: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission , North Carolina State University , Rutgers University - New Brunswick , University of South Florida , University of Southern Mississippi
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: December 15, 2001 through September 30, 2003
Project Amount: $450,000
RFA: Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (2001) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water , Aquatic Ecosystems

Description:

This program is part of a larger program called ECOHAB: Florida that includes this study as well as physical oceanography, circulation patterns, and shelf scale modeling for predicting the occurrence and transport of Karenia brevis (=Gymnodinium breve) red tides. The physical part of the program is funded out of NOAA and EPA and is operated by the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science. The coordinated programs provide data to do large and small scale modeling of blooms to predict development and distribution.

The program's purpose is to characterize and model the development and movement, including physical and biological components, of K. brevis on the shelf. Modeling ranges from descriptive modeling of fate and effects of brevetoxins in the food web, to behavior of cells in the vertical water column, and coupled three dimensional biological-physical models.

Approach:

This one-year grant represents the final biological phase of the entire program. To achieve the above objectives, much of the work will center on three week process cruises in and outside of a documented red tide area, weekly sampling along a transect off Sarasota, Florida, and monthly cruises (>70 stations) in a historical red tide area of known volume. The last-named cruises will represent the fourth year of monthly data for salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll florescence, turbidity, PAR, water clarity, water depth, extracted chlorophyll a, inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus, dissolved silicates, and K. brevis counts. Process cruise data will include more process-oriented studies, e.g., primary productivity, physiological state and acclimation of populations, and phyotosynthetic dynamics. The studies will also provide material for cell cycle and life cycle dynamics. Transect data will represent a continuation of hydrological analysis as well as pigment, productivity, and toxin analysis.

Expected Results:

Data obtained will allow evaluation of environmental variables associated with red tide blooms for correlation and patterns, vertical movement during the diel cycle in relation to cell cycle stage and the quota of cell storage products, photobiology in establishing physiological state and acclimation of the population, primary productivity of K. brevis specifically within the community production, and species-specific measurements that pertain to growth. Documentation will be made of the entire life cycle of K.brevis to determine if there are bottom resting stages and if different geographic isolates represent genetic strains. The cell cycle of K. brevis and how it influences bloom development and demise will be resolved, and molecular probes for identification of species and possibly different strains will be produced. Nitrogen and phosphorus sources for the development and maintenance of blooms will be determined, as well as levels and components that are affected by the transfer of toxins in the environment, air, water, sediments, and animals. The above data results will be used in modeling the dynamics of blooms and even predicting landfall.

Supplemental Keywords:

coastal waters, marine, harmful algal blooms, red tides, ecological effects, population effects, perturbations, brevetoxins, oceanography, Gulf of Mexico, ecological modeling, prediction, EPA region 4., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecology, Health Risk Assessment, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, Oceanography, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Southeast, algal blooms, Ecology and Ecosystems, Gulf of Mexico, ecological effects, ecological exposure, red tides, brevetoxins, harmful algal blooms, ecological modeling, West Coast of Florida, dinoflagellate Gymnodinium breve, Gymnodinium breve toxins, ECOHAB, dinoflagellate, Florida, ecological models

Progress and Final Reports:

2002 Progress Report

Final Report