Overview
Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, and these events quickly alter lakes’ chemical (increase nutrients) and physical (temperature, light penetration) characteristics, which can promote cyanobacterial bloom development. Collectively, we term these extreme weather events and their effects “episodic events.” Project 1 seeks to determine how a changing climate–including intensifying episodic events–influences the proliferation and toxin production of cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom (cHAB) taxa. Project 1 will use a multipronged field-lab experimental approach to test the hypothesis that climate driven episodic events (e.g., storms) affect several classes of cyanotoxins (microcystins, anatoxins, saxitoxins, and anabaenopeptins), taste and odor compounds, and phycosphere interactions. While they will continue to study planktonic cHABs, Project 1 also will address benthic cyanobacteria, which have received far less attention.
Research Team
Goals
- Resolve how climate change-intensified episodic events affect bloom growth/maintenance, production of cyanotoxins and taste and odor compounds, and phycosphere processes
- Include both planktonic and benthic blooms, as it is recognized that benthic cyanobacterial blooms pose human health and welfare concerns due to cyanotoxin production and their high biomasses.
- Investigate how production of several classes of cyanotoxins (microcystins, anatoxins, saxitoxins, and anabaenopeptins) is altered by episodic events
- Analyze taste and odor compounds since these compounds, while not toxic, negatively affect the perception of drinking water.
- Address the questions of what relationships exist between cyanobacteria and associated pathogens (Klebsiella and Aeromonas), whether blooms serve as reservoirs for pathogens, and if episodic events favor them
