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Overview of U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development’s research on Analysis and monitoring in fresh and coastal/estuarine environments.
Citation:
Mash, H., T. Sanan, T. Jones-Lepp, J. Morgan, C. Rosal, Jim Lazorchak, M. Elovitz, Joel Allen, J. Lu, J. Santodomingo, A. Delacruz, M. Waters, AND M. Steinitz Kannan. Overview of U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development’s research on Analysis and monitoring in fresh and coastal/estuarine environments. 2017 SETAC North America Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, November 12 - 16, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
The presentation will cover the type of research being conducted under SSWR 4.01D and the latest progress concerning various chemical, biological and instrument methods, apps and monitoring approaches related to HABs
Description:
Several factors are contributing to the development of the “perfect” Harmful algal Bloom (HAB) storm. Elevated temperatures and changes in precipitation, changes in population demographics, agricultural land use linked to nitrogen loading increases, and an aging water treatment infrastructure all combine to increase the probability of toxins being present in consumers’ taps. In the past several years there have been several notable HAB events in a number of states. August 2014 a Lake Erie HAB event occurred that impacted the city of Toledo’s drinking water supply with elevated levels of microcystin (≥1 µg/L). In November 2015 California issued a warning along its coastline to consumers of Dungeness and Rock Crabs of contamination of a Cyanobacteria toxin known the domoic acid. In 2015 an algal bloom occurred along the Ohio River spanning over 680 miles. In 2016 Lake Okeechobee experienced an algal bloom that impacted the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie River systems as well. Increases in salinity are also having adverse ecosystem impacts by creating blooms of invasive toxic algae. The most problematic of these is the marine invasive Prymnesium parvum (golden algae) where blooms have been documented in at least 11 states. As a result of the human, ecological, and economic impacts of HABs, U.S. EPA has established a research program to address issues related to the detection, quantification and monitoring of algal blooms in freshwater and marine systems. This research has several objectives: develop new or refine existing chemical, instrument, biological methods and camera apps for the detection of HABs and their toxins; test such methods in field studies in both HAB and non HAB environments; determine the method(s) that can be best used as early warning systems for the detection of HABs and their toxins. We will present the latest research being conducted that include chemical detection of toxins in water and fish tissues, molecular detection methods (eDNA, PCR, qPCR) of HAB species and the genes responsible for toxin production, online toxicity monitors (OTM), in vitro methods for detection of toxicity, flow cytometry, mass spectrometric, and microscopic approaches for phyto/zooplankton identification, Phone apps for HABs early warning and Cyanobacteria and algal identification, and advanced instrumental and hyperspectral image analysis approaches.
