Past Webinar Recordings 2024: Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia, and Nutrients Research Webinar Series
Past Webinar Recordings
Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia, and Nutrients Research Webinar Series
March 27, 2024: Genetic Science Applications in Predicting Cyanobacterial Blooms
Presentations
1. Cyanotoxin-Encoding Genes as Markers to Predict Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms and Cyanotoxin Production
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) produce excessive amounts of cyanotoxins, significantly threatening aquatic ecosystems and public health. Accurately predicting CyanoHABs is essential to the development of effective prevention strategies, but current CyanoHAB prediction approaches are limited, complicated, and difficult to use. This presentation will discuss the study of cyanotoxin-encoding genes as targets for an early warning system that can predict cyanotoxin production in various lakes in the United States. This approach can be a useful tool to inform CyanoHAB prevention and mitigation practices in inland and coastal freshwater lakes.
Presenter: Jingrang Lu, Ph.D. (EPA Office of Research and Development)
Jingrang is a Research Biologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ORD in Cincinnati, Ohio. His main interests are to apply molecular approaches to applied environmental microbiology and public health research. His research focuses on molecular method development, detection and microbial exposure assessment. His research in CyanoHABs includes molecular approaches for early detection of cyanotoxins and cyanotoxin assessment through aerosols during HAB events. Jingrang holds a Ph.D. in microbial ecology and an M.S. in zoology.
2. Using Genome Sequences of HABs Cyanobacteria to Understand and Predict CyanoHAB Events
This presentation will provide an overview of the genome sequences of cyanobacterial strains from recent CyanoHAB events in the Pacific Northwest and will discuss the resultant taxonomic interpretations pertaining to the “ADA Clade” taxonomic group. The knowledge of genomic sequences has practical outcomes, which will be covered in this presentation, along with a project pipeline for the early detection of emerging blooms and the development of models for bloom prediction.
Presenter: Theo Dreher, Ph.D. (Oregon State University)
Theo is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at Oregon State University. For the last 15-20 years, he has conducted research on the genetics of CyanoHABS in the Pacific Northwest. Most recently, his group has determined the complete or near-complete genome sequences of the dominant cyanobacteria present in several recent CyanoHAB events, improving the understanding of CyanoHAB assemblages and providing tools for strain-specific monitoring and research. Through his role in academia and as President of the Oregon Lakes Association, Dr. Dreher has helped to raise awareness of CyanoHABs among Oregon legislators. He has hosted an annual Oregon CyanoHABs Stakeholder Meeting for the last decade.
January 31, 2024: Development and Application of HABs Forecasting Science
Presentations
1. Forecasting Freshwater Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms for Sentinel-3 Satellite Resolved U.S. Lakes and Reservoirs
Because cyanoHABs are a concern for health throughout the United States, there is a need for a large-scale prediction model. To address this need, we used a Bayesian model to estimate the probability of a cyanobacterial bloom occurring in a given week. Specifically, we used an Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) model because it provided a complex and computationally efficient forecasting model that can work with missing data and irregular lake sampling. The INLA model used cyanobacteria presence data derived from Sentinel-3 Ocean Land Color Instrument along with environmental predictor variables from 2016 to 2022 in satellite resolvable lakes across CONUS. This model was applied to forecast World Health Organization recreation Alert Level 1 exceedance >12 μg L−1 chlorophyll-a with cyanobacteria dominance for 2192 satellite resolved lakes in the United States. The prediction results were compared to independent previous cyanobacteria presence satellite imagery to provide performance statistics.
Presenter: Blake Schaeffer, Ph.D., EPA Office of Research and Development. Blake earned his Ph.D. in marine, earth and atmospheric science from North Carolina State University studying harmful algal bloom ecology. Blake is currently with the Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling in Durham, North Carolina. His research focus is on the applied use of satellite remote sensing technology to monitor water quality in coasts, estuaries, lakes, and reservoirs. His research niche is the development of applications for water quality monitoring and assessment.
2. OW's Vision for Operationalizing Nationwide HABs Forecast
The CyAN near-real-time cyanobacterial biomass tool is a foundation of the EPA National HAB Program and is used by state, tribal, and other partners across the U.S. as a key part of their HAB monitoring programs. The expansion of this tool to provide forecasting information could be transformative for many of these partners as it may enable their monitoring teams to better anticipate blooms to provide more accurate advice to the public. This talk will discuss our plans on how the forecasting information will be operationalized and served through existing HAB data platforms.
Presenter: Michael Paul, Ph.D., (EPA Office of Water). Mike is an aquatic ecologist in EPA’s Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Health and Ecological Criteria Division. He has more than 30 years experience in the research and management of aquatic ecosystems. His work has focused on the ecology of freshwater ecosystems, including 20 years’ experience in water quality criteria development across the nation. He has provided technical support in assessment and criteria development for more than 40 states, tribes, and federal government agencies and has led instructional workshops on assessment, analysis, and criteria development across the nation, supported development of targets for and predictive models of harmful algal blooms and cyanotoxins, and coauthored EPA guidance on analytical methods for bioassessment and nutrient criteria development. Mike has authored more than 40 peer reviewed scientific papers, including several recent reviews of climate and wildfire impacts on aquatic ecosystems. He now leads the USEPA National HAB Program and works on nutrient criteria and biocriteria. He received his B.A. in biology from Colgate University, and M.Sc. in zoology and Ph.D. in ecology both from the University of Georgia.