Click to unmute video.
Looks like the Sargassum season has begun in Florida with biomass strandings occurring throughout the Keys.
"Officials in Florida are preparing for a 5,000-mile floating island of seaweed called the sargassum belt to make its way on shore, where it’s expected to become both a nuisance and a health hazard as it rots." See article in Forbes at the link below.
Dr. Lapointe presented research regarding differences between Lake Okeechobee and the downstream estuaries it is connected to in a presentation entitled, "Nutrient Availability Across the Lake Okeechobee Waterway: Relations to Microcystis Blooms in the St. Lucie & Caloosahatchee Estuaries" at the 2023 meeting of the Southeastern Estuarine Research Society in Charleston, SC. This research is primarily funded by a grant to co-author Dr. Chuanmin Hu of the University of South Florida by the NASA-Water Resources Program.
"A loose raft of brown seaweed spanning about twice the width of the U.S. is inching across the Caribbean. Currently, bucketloads of the buoyant algae are washing up on beaches on the eastern coast of Florida earlier in the year than usual, raising scientists’ concerns for what coming months will bring." See article in Scientific American at the link below.
"The mass, known as the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, is drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say seaweed is likely to come ashore by summer to create a rotting, stinking, scourge." Read the article in the New York Times at the link below.
Big, stinky blob of algae takes aim at Florida beaches. What's causing it? Is it climate change?3/14/2023 "Beachgoers in Florida and the Caribbean could be greeted by heavy blankets of smelly seaweed in the weeks ahead as a 5,000-mile swath of sargassum drifts westward and piles onto white sandy beaches." Read the story in USA Today at the link below.
Dr. Lapointe & R. Brewton Present at the 11th U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae in Albany, NY10/29/2022 Dr. Lapointe and Research Scientist Rachel Brewton both presented at the 11th U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae in Albany, NY. The symposium theme was “Science to Support Solutions from Shore to Shore.“ Both presented in the "HABs Across the Freshwater to Marine Continuum" session with Brewton presenting in the "Watersheds" sub-section and Dr. Lapointe presenting in the "Estuaries" sub-section. Brewton presented about our septic system- groundwater- surface water research in Lee County, while Dr. Lapointe presented data from a cross-Lake Okeechobee Waterway cruise.
Research by Rachel Brewton, Dr. Lapointe, and colleagues was recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The study was designed in collaboration with co-author Lisa Kreiger of Lee County Department of Natural Resources to assess the impacts of septic systems on water quality in North Fort Myers, which is located on the Caloosahatchee River Estuary, just upstream from the Gulf of Mexico. The study found that groundwater and surface waters near septic systems was contaminated with human waste, as evidenced multiple indicators including sucralose an artificial sweetener, pharmaceuticals, high ammonium, and enriched nitrogen isotope values. Links between human waste pollution and harmful algal blooms were also identified. It was concluded that Lee County has a unique opportunity to significantly improve water quality by reducing dependence upon aging septic systems adjacent to surface water. This study was funded by Lee County with the second year supported by an EPA 319 grant awarded to Lisa Kreiger.
Wastewater management is a critical issue globally. In Florida, the importance of this issue is heightened by the proximity to sensitive ecosystems. Dr. Lapointe, Rachel Brewton, and co-author Jeff Littlejohn have published new research on the performance of distributed wastewater treatment units, a new alternative to conventional septic systems or centralized sewer. An OnSyte Performance, LLC. distributed wastewater treatment unit was installed at a residence in central Florida after which the unit's inflow, outflow, and the downgradient groundwater were all monitored to assess the performance. Many effluent parameters significantly decreased compared to influent, including ammonia (NH3; 97%), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN; 95%), total nitrogen (TN; 88%), the TN:TP ratio (84%), fecal coliforms (92%), carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD; 96%), and total suspended solids (TSS; 96%). The team concluded that the unit was effective at improving quality of wastewater effluent. These systems could be especially effective in sensitive areas where advanced wastewater treatment has been mandated or is needed. This study was funded by OnSyte Performance, LLC with oversight from Florida Department of Environmental Quality.
"Humans are increasing nitrogen loading at unprecedented rates that now exceed sustainability of the Earth's vital ecosystems," said Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., senior author and research professor, FAU Harbor Branch. "Our study illustrates that implementing advanced wastewater treatment or distributed wastewater (DWT) technologies in key locations may allow for decreased nutrient loading and improved estuarine water quality and seagrass health in the Indian River Lagoon and elsewhere with similar conditions. Moreover, as sea level rise is expected to further confound these issues in addition to more extreme and frequent tropical storms and hurricanes, a better understanding of these dynamics will be essential for sustainable management of coastal resources."
Read more about our newly published research on the Indian River Lagoon at the link below. New research by Laura Herren, M.S., Dr. Lapointe, and other HBOI colleagues was just published in Marine Pollution Bulletin. The study examined groundwater and surface water interactions in Indian River County, FL, which is located along the Indian River Lagoon. The study found that septic systems increase nutrient concentrations in groundwaters and surface waters by using the artificial sweetener sucralose as a wastewater tracer. Enriched stable N isotope values of groundwater, surface water, and macrophytes also confirmed this contamination. The study concluded that septic systems should be removed from poorly sited, low-lying waterfront areas, particularly near sensitive aquatic habitats.
Dr. Lapointe traveled to the Mexican Consulate in Orlando, FL to present information about Sargassum blooms to the Governor of Quintana Roo , Mexico. The Sargassum influx has had catastrophic impacts tourism in Quinta Roo.
"Only 17 percent of live coral cover remains on fore-reefs in Belize. A study finds new evidence that nitrogen enrichment from land-based sources like agriculture run-off and sewage, are significantly driving macroalgal blooms to increase on the Belize Barrier Reef and causing massive decline in hard coral cover. With only 2 percent of hard coral cover remaining in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, it's too late to save that reef, but there's still hope for the Belize Barrier Reef." -Science Daily News
Read the entire article about Dr. Lapointe's new study at the link below. A new study by Dr. Lapointe on the Belize Barrier Reef published in Marine Pollution Bulletin is now available online. In this study, conducted with HAB Lab collaborators Alex Tewfik and Myles Phillips of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Belize Program, examined the effects of land-based nutrient pollution on the Belize Barrier Reef through the analysis of water and macroalgal samples. In this study, recent data was compared to baseline data from the 1980s, which allowed the authors to observe changes that occurred over this time frame. Lapointe et al. concluded that increasing land-based nutrient pollution has driven macroalgal blooms and coral stress. You can access the article at the link below.
"The findings of the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded research, published in Nature Communications, suggest that increased nitrogen availability from natural and human sources, such as sewage, is supporting blooms of Sargassum and turning a critical nursery habitat into harmful algal blooms with catastrophic impacts on coastal ecosystems, economies and human health. Globally, harmful algal blooms are related to increased nutrient pollution."
See link below for entire NSF news story on our new publication in Nature Communications! HAB Lab Research Coordinator and part-time Geoscience Ph.D. student, Rachel Brewton, publicly proposed her dissertation research entitled, "Nitrogen Enrichment, Eutrophication, & Bottom-Up Trophic Shifts in Ecosystems of the Indian River Lagoon" via Zoom. Her research will help to better understand shifts in primary producers in the Indian River Lagoon as they relate to eutrophication, marine ecology, and food webs. The next steps for Rachel are to pass the comprehensive exams created by Dr. Lapointe and her Ph.D. committee and to continue working on her research.
We're excited to welcome our new Research Coordinator, Kevin Tyre to the HAB Lab team! Kevin comes to us from Kennedy Space Center where he worked as a Payload Integration Scientist. At HBOI, Kevin will be the team lead for our Lee County Microbial Source Tracking Study. Kevin is interested in water quality and phytoplankton biology. Welcome aboard Kevin!
We're excited to welcome our new Research Assistant Diana Baladi to the HBOI HAB Lab team! Diana completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Montclair State University, NJ and previously volunteered as an aquarium diver at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. Diana will be assisting on our Lee County North Fort Myers project. We're excited to have her on-board! Welcome Diana!
From the FAU Newsdesk: "A study published in the international journal Marine Biology , reveals what’s really killing coral reefs. With 30 years of unique data from Looe Key Reef in the lower Florida Keys, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and collaborators have discovered that the problem of coral bleaching is not just due to a warming planet, but also a planet that is simultaneously being enriched with reactive nitrogen from multiple sources."
Read more at the links below: "Researchers in Florida have identified the world's largest seaweed bloom, a massive expanse of Sargassum visible from space..."
Read more about Dr. Lapointe's new research paper about Sargassum blooms, published today in Science! "This summer may shape up to be the worst inundation of sargassum in recent time for Florida, writes columnist Frank Cerabino. Brian LaPointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, likes to talk in terms of the movie Jaws. “We’re going to need a bigger boat,” LaPointe told me Tuesday.
We were not talking about sharks. We were talking about seaweed. ..." Read more from the Palm Beach Post at the link below. Caloosahatchee River - North Fort Myers Report presented to Lee County Board of County Commissioners4/30/2019 Dr. Lapointe & Rachel Brewton presented the findings of their 2017-2018 study on factors affecting water quality in the North Fort Myers area in a workshop to the Lee County Board of County Commissioners. Other co-authors on the study included Lynn Wilking & Laura Herren. The study will continue for a second year beginning in August 2019. The year 1 report and a video of the proceedings can be found below.
A new study on the floating, pelagic brown seaweed, Sargassum, was published in Geophysical Research Letters by our University of South Florida (USF) collaborators with HAB Lab members, Brian Lapointe and Rachel Brewton as co-authors. Information regarding what drives the productivity and distribution of Sargassum is becoming more important every year, as blooms continue to worsen globally. The HBOI HAB Lab is continuing to pursue these important questions with our USF and other collaborators.
Abstract: Field and laboratory experiments are designed to measure Sargassum biomass per area (density), surface reflectance, nutrient contents, and pigment concentrations. An alternative floating algae index-biomass density model is established to link the spectral reflectance to Sargassum biomass density, with a relative uncertainty of ~12%. Monthly mean integrated Sargassum biomass in the Caribbean Sea and central West Atlantic reached at least 4.4 million tons in July 2015. The average %C, %N, and %P per dry weight are 27.16, 1.06, and 0.10, respectively. The mean chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration is ~0.05% of the dry weight. With these parameters, the amounts of nutrients and pigments can be estimated directly from remotely sensed Sargassum biomass. During bloom seasons, Sargassum carbon can account for ~18% of the total particulate organic carbon in the upper water column. This study provides the first quantitative assessment of the overall Sargassum biomass, nutrients, and pigment abundance from remote sensing observations, thus helping to quantify their ecological roles and facilitate management decisions. |
HAB LabStudying water quality and harmful algal blooms throughout Florida and the Caribbean. |