Session Lead: R. Christian Jones (George Mason University, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center)

Co-Lead(s): Margaret Mulholland (ODU), Rosalina Christova (GMU), Judy O’Neil (UMCES)

Session Format: Oral Presentations

Session Description: 

This session invites presentations focusing on the increasing incidence of Harmful Algal Blooms in all types of aquatic environments in the Bay watershed. Individual presentations may be focused on one type of HAB outbreak in one type of aquatic ecosystem or may seek to synthesize studies from multiple areas. HAB organisms are expected to range from benthic cyanobacteria to planktonic dinoflagellates. Studies which provide new insight into the range of HAB taxa in the bay watershed, their basic growth dynamics, and factors influencing their outbreak, persistence, and toxicity are especially welcome. This session is intended to provide a forum for comparing key characteristics of blooms in different environments, assessing the relative importance of these outbreaks to Bay watershed ecosystems, and exploring implications for resource management and beneficial uses of Bay environments.

Presentations (abstracts):

  1. Sydney M. Brown, Jacob Mormando, Hannah Toney, G. Mike Selckmann, R. Christian Jones, and Rosalina Christova  Charles O’Brien, Charles: Photosynthetic pigment concentrations and taxonomic composition of benthic algal mats from Shenandoah River, Virginia
  2. Rosalina Stancheva Christova, S. Brown, A. Sohrab, J. Blaszczak, R.C. Jones, E. Boyden, G. Boyer, B. Wei, R. Shriver, L., B. Read, R. Goel: Effect of different batch culture conditions on toxin production and growth of the riverine cyanobacterium Microcoleus anatoxicus
  3. K.G. Sellner, D. Ferrier, K. Cappiella, J. Fox, and C. Gaudlip: Internal nutrient loading, the new climate, and cyanobacteria in four Linganore lakes, western Maryland
  4. Judith M. O’Neil, S. Keller, C. Gurbisz, B. Landry, A. Hamilton, C. Wazniak, M. Owens, and J. Cornwell: Growth of the cyanobacterium Microseira (Lyngbya) wollei in Submerged Aquatic Vegetation beds on Susquehanna Flats
  5. R. Christian Jones, Hannah Toney: Microseira wollei Studies in the Tidal Occoquan River in 2023: Growth, Toxin Production, and Epiphytes
  6. Mary LePere, Dr. Victoria Hill: Using Planet Satellite Imagery to Map and Quantify Harmful Algal Blooms in Chesapeake Bay Tributaries
  7. Richard Hale, Adriana Amrhein, Amber Tymul, Margie Mulholland: Linking sediment resuspension to harmful algal blooms in the lower Chesapeake Bay
  8. Adriana Amrhein, Rip Hale, Margaret Mulholland, Joseph Tamborski: How wind-induced sediment resuspension influences harmful algal blooms within a shallow tidal tributary of the Chesapeake Bay
  9. Dante M. L. Horemans, Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs, Pierre St-Laurent, Raleigh R. Hood, Christopher W. Brown: Unraveling environmental factors controlling harmful algal blooms in the Chesapeake Bay using generalized linear models
  10. Margie Mulholland, Eileen Hofmann, Peter Bernhardt, Leah Gibala-Smith, Marjy Friederichs, Pierre St-Laurent, Kim Reece, Willy Reay, Suanna Musick, Mary Ford, and Shelly Tomlinson: Enhanced surveillance to improve HAB monitoring and detection: Toward an early warning system for HABs in the lower Chesapeake Bay