HAB_OA_Workshop

Dr. Kris Holderied, NOAA Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, Coastal discusses how marine species, fisheries, subsistence harvests and mariculture operations in Alaska have long been adversely affected by harmful algal blooms (HABs), especially paralytic shellfish poisoning events, with events increasing during recent marine heat waves. Alaska shellfish and fish species, and the marine industries that depend on them, also face potential near-term threats from ocean acidification (OA), due both to the presence of “cold and old” ocean waters with low pH and low aragonite saturation on the shelf, as well as biological and physical processes that change acidification conditions spatially in estuary and coastal waters, as well as on daily to seasonal to interannual time scales. Scientists, resource managers, public health officials, oyster farmers, fishermen, Alaska Native tribes, and other stakeholders have come together in statewide collaborations to address HAB and OA threats in Alaska through improved communication, monitoring, research and event response.

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Melissa McCutcheon of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, discusses the current understanding of the response of several common HAB species to elevated CO ₂ concentrations. While certain environmental conditions—such as nutrient pollution and warming waters—have been closely tied to the proliferation of some HAB species, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the impact of OA on HABs. Several studies have found conflicting evidence about species’ responses to OA, likely due to strain-specific responses and the interaction of OA with a suite of other environmental parameters. This webinar will discuss the current understanding of the response of several common HAB species to elevated CO₂ concentrations. 

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Dr. Reagan Errera, of NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory presents a general overview of the current state of knowledge and provide an update on current acidification research activities at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Currently, little research has been conducted on inorganic carbon availability, acidification, and their role in phytoplankton dynamics within the Great Lakes ecosystemDue to the multi-faceted nature of the carbonate system, impacts or potential shifts to phytoplankton species composition and abundance are unknown, however, individual phytoplankton assemblages will likely have unique responses.  .  
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Dr. Beth Stauffer, University of Lousiana at Lafayette, discusses how ocean acidification (OA) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is driven by different physical and biogeochemical factors across the region, with most data available on the eastern and northern regions and very little information from the western or southern parts of the GOM. OA conditions in the GOM are highly variable on an interannual basis due to physical factors such as wind, temperature, precipitation, and water mass distributions. Across the same scales, the occurrence and impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs) are also highly variable. This talk highlights the state of knowledge on the OA-HAB intersection in the GOM while also challenging our community to consider what such fundamental changes in community structure and HAB success mean for ecosystem function in the region. 
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Drs. Samantha Siedlecki, Clarissa Anderson, Jan Newton and Barb Kirkpatrick discuss  how corrosive, hypoxic, and harmful algal bloom (HAB) events in coastal waters are of increasing concern to local fisheries and managers. Many important species around the country in coastal waters are currently experiencing or are expected to feel effects of ocean acidification and harmful algal blooms, both of which have the potential to affect not only marine species health
but also human health. HAB and ocean acidification (OA) and hypoxia distributions are often patchy in both space and time, such that one area might experience a bloom or low dissolved oxygen while a nearby area does not, and these conditions can change over the course of a day at a single site. Rapid, timely, and spatially extensive detection and monitoring of HABs is vital for public health and safety. Similarly, monitoring and forecasts of corrosive conditions are valuable for advising shellfish growers.
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Hans Paerl of University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill discusses how estuaries receive and process nutrient loads generated in coastal watersheds and often exhibit accelerated rates of primary production (eutrophication), phytoplankton blooms, hypoxia and associated water quality and habitat declines. As such, they are highly dynamic with respect CO2 fixation and mineralization of autochthonous organic matter (OM), which modulate pH. Watershed-derived (allochthonous) OM plays an additional role in mediating carbon fluxes and pH. Increasing anthropogenic activities as well as climatic changes (more extreme episodic rainfall events and increasingly variable wet/dry cycles) impact nutrient and inorganic/organic carbon loading to estuaries.
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Raphe Kudela of University of California Santa Cruz shares how the US west coast is experiencing increasing environmental stress, as are all coastal regions globally. Unlike some other regions, eastern boundary currents naturally experience large swings in pH and decadal oscillations in temperature, making the west coast an ideal location for observing the interactive effects of multiple stressors as a precursor to our future ocean. California has been proactive in establishment of observation networks for both ocean acidification/hypoxia (OAH) and harmful algal blooms, supported by local, state, and federal programs.
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