Grantee Research Project Results
2018 Progress Report: Exploring the links between harmful algal blooms and human well-being: how and why communities take action
EPA Grant Number: R836939Title: Exploring the links between harmful algal blooms and human well-being: how and why communities take action
Investigators: Gould, Rachelle , Stockwell, Jason
Current Investigators: Gould, Rachelle , Stockwell, Jason , Stommel, Elijah , Fisher, Brendan , Kraft, Jana , Miller, Todd
Institution: University of Vermont
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: August 1, 2017 through July 31, 2019 (Extended to July 31, 2022)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 1, 2017 through July 31,2018
Project Amount: $598,321
RFA: Integrating Human Health and Well-Being with Ecosystem Services (2016) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Human Health
Objective:
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) impede ecosystem services and enhance ecosystem dis-services. This research project will elucidate the links between HABs and human well-being, and investigate how and why a community takes action based on data about those links.
This project has six objectives: (1) determine relationships between HABs and nutritional value of fish species; (2) understand the impact of aerosolized neurotoxins from HABs on human health; (3) explore impacts of nonmaterial connections between HABs and human well-being, specifically by exploring whether the blooms cause stress as measured by salivary cortisol; (4) determine factors that have impeded water quality improvement in St. Albans Bay; (5) evaluate the effectiveness of informational framings to motivate action to reduce HABs; and (6) develop nuanced understanding of how communities accept, process, and understand scientific information related to HABs, and how they feel empowered or disempowered to affect change.
Progress Summary:
Progress Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes)
Summary of progress
The project has made substantial progress during the first year. Most components of the project have started data collection, and the biophysical components have nearly completed data collection. The researchers have developed meaningful relationships with the community partners, and have laid solid groundwork for productive exchange and joint development of the upcoming aspects of the project. This progression matches the proposed sequence of events. The partners seem very committed to and excited about the project, and the researchers look forward to completing analysis of the biophysical samples collected to date and deepening the social science work in the years to come.
Outputs of Year 1
Each component of the study has multiple outputs. A few core outputs from each component are listed below.
Fish nutrition and Aerosol studies (Objectives 1 and 2):
- Collected 84 aerosol samples and 378 water samples from July-October, 2018, to test for cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in the air around and water in St. Albans Bay.
- Collected 78 yellow perch to be analyzed for cyanotoxins and fatty acid composition.
- Employed 2 undergraduate students who have aided with this work.
Salivary cortisol study (Objective 3):
- Background and feasibility study for the salivary cortisol study.
- Meetings to determine study details, including resources available at UVM.
Integrated community-based social science studies (Objectives 4, 5, and 6):
- Organized a Sunday afternoon “Storytelling for the Bay” event, as a sort of “Project Kick-off event” in June 2018. Event was led by UVM Master’s Student and longtime St. Albans resident Denise Smith. At this event, 7 local residents presented formal stories about the Bay to an audience of roughly 50 people from the community. Children and adults also created over 30 works of art about the Bay, and attendees shared words, thoughts, and short poems related to the Bay, its past and current state, and how it affects their lives and well-being.
- Attended five meetings of SAAWA, the grassroots environmental partner.
- Spent multiple days in the offices of the CAP, the low-income services partner.
- Conducted 10 key informant interviews, 5 “mental models” interviews, 4 interviews with mental health professionals, and ~200 short interviews (2-10 minutes) with additional people in St. Albans, asking about their connections to the Bay and knowledge of algal blooms.
- Initiated ethnographic study that will proceed for the next 1.5 years; community meetings were part of this study. This has involved attendance and presentations at roughly 15 community meetings and events.
- Collected 100+ articles on cyanobacteria and blue-green algae from local news sources, and input them into NVivo qualitative data analysis software.
- Employed two undergraduate students who have aided with this work.
Community service and education:
The project team engaged in two events that offered services specifically requested by project partners.
- The two Ph.D. students on the project hosted an activity with the Missisquoi Valley Union High School Field Studies Program, introducing them to the project and aerosol collectors.
- In Summer 2018, we published a short article on the aerosol and fish projects in the SAAWA newsletter, which is distributed to the local community and available on their website.
Outcomes of Year 1
The most important outcome of the first year was meaningful development of relationships with our community partners, with whom the researchers had not worked prior to this project. As detailed in our “Outputs” section, the researchers had many meetings with these partners, attended many of their business meetings and community events, and are working closely with them in all aspects of the project (e.g., the leader of the SAAWA group is invaluable in collecting fish samples in the Bay, aided by a local youth who is also a student at the University of Vermont). This is extremely important to the project, and bodes well for the long-term success of the project.
Future Activities:
Our plans for future activities in the year #2:
- For the fish and aerosol studies, lab work (microscopy and toxin testing of aerosol samples, toxin testing of concurrent water samples, phytoplankton identification and counting, and fatty acid analyses) is now underway and will continue for the coming ~8 months. These analyses include:
o Cyanotoxin analysis in fish and water samples; samples will be sent to Dr. Todd Miller (project team member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).
o Analysis of aerosol and concurrent water samples (will be conducted in the Rubenstein lab).
o Analyze concentrations of fatty acid in fish and phytoplankton samples (will be conducted in the Rubenstein lab).
- For the social science studies, we are ready to finalize many details. In the coming ~7 months, the researchers plan to:
o Finalize plans for the salivary cortisol study (Objective 3), then conduct the study in late summer 2019.
o Complete analysis of past media coverage of cyanobacteria in St. Albans Bay (Objective 4), using the database that we have now developed.
o Design the “framing study” (Objective 5), based on the extensive work with community partners and other community members.
o Continue the ethnographic study to understand how community members understand and process emerging scientific data. One exciting aspect of this component is that the researchers will work with the partners to share the research emerging from Objectives 1-3 with the community, and design research interventions to study how people receive, process, and decide to act (or not act) based on what they learn.
- Dr. Stommel (Additional faculty on the project) was recently awarded a CDC R01 that is directed towards looking at 5-year time epochs of potential toxin exposures (including cyano toxins) over 25 years in relation to ALS cases and their questionnaire data. The grant will also examine GWAS (Genome Wide Association Study) analysis on about 2500 ALS patients from Northern New England and the Piedmont area of Italy looking for gene x environmental interactions using machine learning technology. Results
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 7 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Low income, toxins, ALS, mental modelsRelevant Websites:
SAAWA Annual Meeting 2018 Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.