Citation:

Hollister, J., S. Shivers, B. Kreakie, AND S. Fournier. Cyanobacteria across scales: National indicators of microcystin and local dynamics of cyanobacteria blooms. Region 5 HABs Workgroup Call, NA, October 17, 2019.

Impact/Purpose:

The management and research questions surrounding cyanobacteria address issues of both national and local concern. In this talk we address this by reviewing two of our research efforts. First, we use broad scale national data, the 2007 National Lake Assessment, and look for associations between chlorophyll *a*, a widely available measure, and microcystin an important cyanobacteria toxin that is not often measured. This analysis is impactful on the management of water resources by providing easily obtained proxies of microcystin-LR and will allow a greater number of lakes to be assessed for the potential to exceed several published health advisory guidelines. Second, at the local scale, data on lakes and ponds is often collected infrequently and at few locations within a given lake. The second half of our presentations summarizes our study of three ponds in Rhode Island and how our monitoring protocol capture changes in cyanobacteria blooms. The data suggests fine scale changes to the dynamics of blooms. The overall impact of our presentation is to illustrate research on cyanobacteria at multiple scales and introduce our work to new audiences of managers in EPA's Region 5.

Description:

Cyanobacteria research at the Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division (formerly the Atlantic Ecology Division) have traditionally focused on national trends and associations, but recent efforts have expanded this to include local issues as well. In this webinar presentation, we provide details on two projects that touch on our research efforts at these different scales. First, using 2007 National Lakes Assessment data, we used conditional probability analysis to establish the probability of exceeding designated drinking water guidelines for microcystin, given readily available chlorophyll *a* concentrations. These analyses provide a screening tool that may help environmental managers evaluate microcystin risk. Second, better understanding of the ecology and dynamics of cyanobacteria blooms requires different data than what we typically use for national scale work. We address this need in an ongoing research project in three Rhode Island ponds. We present details on our monitoring methodology and show data on the trends in algal and cyanobacteria dynamics. Together these projects begin to provide details on ways to manage and understand cyanobacteria at multiple scales.

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