Project 1: Harmful algal bloom dynamics: assessing physiological and behavioral plasticity in natural populations

Information

  • Research Project
  • 9968262
  • ApplicationId
    9968262
  • Core Project Number
    P01ES028938
  • Full Project Number
    5P01ES028938-03
  • Serial Number
    028938
  • FOA Number
    RFA-ES-16-009
  • Sub Project Id
    5147
  • Project Start Date
    -
  • Project End Date
    -
  • Program Officer Name
  • Budget Start Date
    7/1/2020 - 3 years ago
  • Budget End Date
    6/30/2021 - 2 years ago
  • Fiscal Year
    2020
  • Support Year
    03
  • Suffix
  • Award Notice Date
    7/24/2020 - 3 years ago

Project 1: Harmful algal bloom dynamics: assessing physiological and behavioral plasticity in natural populations

Alexandrium fundyense and Pseudo-nitzschia spp. present expanding public health threats through their associated poisoning syndromes, paralytic shellfish poisoning and amnesic shellfish poisoning. A major concern is the extent to which these harmful algal blooms (HABs) and their human health impacts will be altered by a changing climate. The Gulf of Maine is an ideal setting to explore this problem due to its long history of A. fundyense investigations examining bloom physiology, toxicity, and bloom dynamics, leading to construction of a robust population dynamics model. Nevertheless realistic forecasts under changing climate conditions remain challenging for both A. fundyense and Pseudo-nitzschia, an emerging and less studied threat. Current models for A. fundyense rely on culture-based characterizations of behavior that are not valid in the natural environment, as demonstrated by novel in situ observations made during our prior WHCOHH program. Life cycle processes, growth, grazing and mortality rates, and swimming patterns have all been found to be significantly different in situ, making culture-based data inadequate for model assessments. A second challenge stems from the adaptive potential of these taxa, whose physiologies vary substantially across their ranges. This project's scientific premise is that our ability to assess and predict short- and long- term responses of these HABs and their human health impacts to climate change requires characterization of critical rates and behavioral patterns in natural populations, generated, whenever possible, through in situ observations. Based on the new finding of a chilling requirement regulating the dormancy period of A. fundyense cysts in the Nauset Marsh estuary, Aim 1 will assess plasticity of this response across multiple habitats and populations and explore whether the temperature conditioning requirements of A. fundyense are adaptive across its range. Aim 2 will use in situ technologies to determine relationships between temperature and A. fundyense division, grazing, accumulation, and toxicity onset across a range of habitats. Previous WHCOHH work discovered unexpectedly high accumulation and division rates for A. fundyense in Nauset Marsh. If growth is similarly elevated across other habitats, incorporation of these rates into growing degree- day and more complex, mechanistic models promise improved predictions of bloom timing and toxicity and climate change assessments. Aim 3 will establish how cell concentration thresholds, parasite infections, and migration shifts contribute to A. fundyense bloom termination. Aim 4 will greatly expand the knowledge base for Pseudo-nitzschia bloom dynamics by combining previous and new in situ and lab-based observations. Pseudo-nitzschia species composition is a first order predictor of toxicity, so knowledge of species diversity and differences between species' physiology and life cycle dynamics is needed for toxicity predictions. In summary, the project will provide the in situ assessments needed to develop and refine the bloom dynamics models that underlie climate projections and estimates of human exposure to HAB toxins (Projects 2 and 3).

IC Name
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES
  • Activity
    P01
  • Administering IC
    ES
  • Application Type
    5
  • Direct Cost Amount
    88498
  • Indirect Cost Amount
    54868
  • Total Cost
  • Sub Project Total Cost
    143366
  • ARRA Funded
    False
  • CFDA Code
  • Ed Inst. Type
  • Funding ICs
    NIEHS:143366\
  • Funding Mechanism
    Non-SBIR/STTR RPGs
  • Study Section
    ZES1
  • Study Section Name
    Special Emphasis Panel
  • Organization Name
    WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
  • Organization Department
  • Organization DUNS
    001766682
  • Organization City
    WOODS HOLE
  • Organization State
    MA
  • Organization Country
    UNITED STATES
  • Organization Zip Code
    02543
  • Organization District
    UNITED STATES