How Red Tide Is Measured and Misleadingly Contextualized For the Public

The reality is that authorities who deny the involvement of land-based activities and algae blooms are conveniently ignoring the science, which is peer reviewed and published, that instructs us on what is feeding red tide near shore.

With evidence that blooms of Synechococcus  green slime algae  can be enhanced due to anthropogenic nutrients, the poten­tial importance of this particulate nutrient source for sustaining red tide blooms in situ is large and may help to resolve the current uncertainty as to how K. brevis blooms are maintained.

 Urea nitrogen run off  appears to be the cause of exacerbation of Red Tide near shore by Red Ride feeding  and using the green slime algae as energy and is this upon  which the Red Tide feeds and sustains  itself.

If we reduce urea nitrogen pollution from septic tanks from sewage spills and from inappropriate lawn applications too close to the water- we may be able to reduce the duration of Red Tide blooms near shore

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Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico is a complex matter with multiple contributing factors

During the past 30 years, scientists have observed hypoxic zones in various water bodies around the world.  Excessive nutrient enrichment (eutrophicaton) helps promote overgrowth of opportunistic bacteria, cyanobacteria and algae and surface waters.  After these organisms grow, die and fall to the bottom of a water body, the bacteria decompose, which can lead to depletion of dissolved oxygen in areas of the water body. This oxygen depletion, which is known as hypoxia, occurs when dissolved oxygen concentrations fall below two milligrams per liter in shallow coastal and estuarine systems.

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USEPA Success Story – Impairment improvement of Sarasota Bay

Research published  on urea nitrogen proved that urea nitrogen run off was a contributing factor to algal blooms. The research resulted in Sarasota County fertilizer ordinances limiting summer use of urea nitrogen as well as other implemented means to reduce non point source pollution. Such reduction efforts have significantly improved  water quality in Sarasota bay and other neighboring water bodies.

In 2005 and 2008, Ed Rosenthal founder of APP, received a Gulf Guardian Award from a program administered by the USEPA. Now the scientific evidence that reduction of pollution = reduced run off is the solution. And no Red Tide locally to speak of since the fertilizer ordinance became law in 2008

This well meaning effort  based on education and innovative product development – was and remains simply the right thing to do to improve fertilizer products and uses of products that can reduce impact and run off into the environment

Waterbody Improved- Nutrient loading from both point and nonpoint sources led the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to add Roberts Bay to Florida’s 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters for exceedances of the historical minimum chlorophyll-a value threshold.

Project partners implemented numerous nonpoint source pollution management strategies, including installing nutrient-separating baffle boxes and promoting the “Florida-Friendly Landscaping” (FFL) education program. Chlorophyll-a levels dropped as a result, prompting Florida DEP to remove Roberts Bay from the state’s impaired waters list (for nutrient impairment) in 2010

 

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The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons

This paper was developed under the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) core research project on HABs and Eutrophication and the GEOHAB regional focus on HABs in Asia. GEOHAB is supported by the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), which are, in turn, supported by multiple agencies, including NSF and NOAA of the USA. This paper represents the views of the authors and is not made on behalf of IOC, SCOR or any of the sponsors. This is contribution number xxxx of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

By Glibert, PM, Azanza, R, Burford, M, Furuya, K, Abal, E, Al-Azri, A, Al-Yamani, F, Andersen, P, Anderson, DM, Beardall, J, Berg, GM, Brand, L, Bronk, D, Brookes, J, Burkholder, J-AM, Cembella, A, Cochlan, WP, Collier, JL, Collos, Y, Diaz, D, Doblin, M, Drennen, T, Dyhrman, S, Fukuyo, Y, Furnas, M, Galloway, J, Gran¿�li, E, Ha, DV, Hallegraeff, G, Harrison, J, Harrison, PJ, Heil, CA, Heimann, Kirsten, Howarth, R, Jauzein, C, Kana, AA, Kana, TM, Kim, H, Kudela, R, Legrand, C, Mallin, M, Mulholland, M, Murray, S, ONeil, Judith, Pitcher, G, Qi, Y, Rabalais, N, Raine, R, Seitzinger, S, Salomon, PS, Solomon, C, Stoecker, DK, Usup, G, Wilson, J, Yin, K, Zhou, M, and Zhu, M (2008) Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 56 (6). pp. 1049-1056.

Copyright © 1995 to 2012, James Cook University. All rights reserved. ABN 46253211955 Member of Innovative Research Universities

The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons. Urea is preferentially used as a nitrogen source by some cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, many of which are neutrally or positively buoyant. Biological pumps to the deep sea are classically leaky, and the inefficient burial of new biomass makes the estimation of a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere questionable at best. The potential for growth of toxic dinoflagellates is also high, as many grow well on urea and some even increase their toxicity when grown on urea. Many toxic dinoflagellates form cysts which can settle to the sediment and germinate in subsequent years, forming new blooms even without further fertilization. If large-scale blooms do occur, it is likely that they will contribute to hypoxia in the bottom waters upon decomposition. Lastly, urea production requires fossil fuel usage, further limiting the potential for net carbon sequestration. The environmental and economic impacts are potentially great and need to be rigorously assessed.

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USEPA Gulf Guardian Award for Research into Urea Nitrogen Nutrient Run-off Implication in Red Tide Escalation Near Shore

Ed Rosenthal /Florikan honored with  USEPA Gulf Guardian Award for education and research into nutrient run off and the cause of Red Tide escalation near shore Attached is the USEPA download of the 2008 Gulf Guardian Award video on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QntVl_ASkK0

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Red Tide Blooms Influenced by Urea Nitrogen Run Off into Gulf of Mexico waters

Grazing by Karenia brevis on Synechococcus enhances its growth rate and may help to sustain blooms Patricia M. Glibert^1,*, JoAnn M. Burkholder², ¹University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, PO Box 775, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, USA²Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA

The following research into the sustaining near shore of  Red Tide Blooms provides scientific evidence that the Red Tide algae is capable of  finding  a food source to sustain itself  near shore. This research  explains how a Red Tide is able to sustain itself near shore for long periods of time.The research entitled, “Grazing by Karenia brevis on Synechococcus enhances its growth rate and may help to sustain blooms”, provides evidence that urea nitrogen run off from land based activities results in the blooms of  Synechococcus and as  cyanobacterial blooms increase, so too does the potential for Karenia brevis growth to be enhanced. In other words  Red Tide  blooms are  sus­tained through grazing by Red Tide on the Synechococcus

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