Publications by authors named "Cynthia Heil"

During 2020-2021, an unusually prolonged bloom of the toxigenic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis persisted for more than 12 months along the Gulf coast of Florida, resulting in severe environmental effects. Motivated by the possibility that unusual nutrient conditions existed during summer 2021, the short-term interactions of temperature, nitrogen (N) forms (ammonium (NH), nitrate (NO), and urea) and availability on photosynthesis-irradiance responses and N uptake rates were examined in summer 2021 and compared to such responses from the earlier winter. Winter samples were exposed to temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30 °C while summer samples were incubated at 15, 25, 30, 33 °C, representing the maximum range the cells might experience throughout the water column due to daytime surface heating or extreme weather events.

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Karenia brevis blooms occur almost annually in southwest Florida, imposing significant ecological and human health impacts. Currently, 13 nutrient sources have been identified supporting blooms, including nearshore anthropogenic inputs such as stormwater and wastewater outflows. A 21-day bioassay was performed, where K.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Bivalves, like oysters and clams, are now widely available due to advancements in aquaculture and seafood transport, shifting from exclusive coastal delicacies to global options.
  • - Recent high-throughput research on Mollusca has provided valuable data that could enhance bivalve production and management, while also paving the way for insights into human health.
  • - Bivalves exhibit unique biological features, such as shell formation and immune responses, which are being explored for their potential applications in drug development, toxicology, and cancer research.
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Over the years, numerous outreach strategies by the science community, such as FAQ cards and website information, have been used to explain blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis that occur annually off the west coast of Florida to the impacted communities. Many state and federal agencies have turned to funded research groups for assistance in the development and testing of environmental outreach products. In the case of Florida red tide, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute/Mote Marine Laboratory (MML) Cooperative Red Tide Agreement allowed MML to initiate a project aimed at developing innovative outreach products about Florida red tide.

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A bloom of Davis developed in September 2007 near Jacksonville, Florida and subsequently progressed south through east Florida coastal waters and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Maximum cell abundances exceeded 10 cells L through October in the northern ICW between Jacksonville and the Indian River Lagoon. The bloom progressed further south during November, and terminated in December 2007 at densities of 10 cells L in the ICW south of Jupiter Inlet, Florida.

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We present a simple algorithm to identify Karenia brevis blooms in the Gulf of Mexico along the west coast of Florida in satellite imagery. It is based on an empirical analysis of collocated matchups of satellite and in situ measurements. The results of this Empirical Approach is compared to those of a Bio-optical Technique - taken from the published literature - and the Operational Method currently implemented by the NOAA Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting System for K.

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In 2002, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection began discharging phosphate-processing effluent into Bishop Harbor, an estuary within Tampa Bay. Because of concerns that the effluent would serve as a nutrient source for blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, a field monitoring program was established and laboratory bioassays were conducted. Several harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, including Prorocentrum minimum and Heterosigma akashiwo, were observed in bloom concentrations adjacent to the effluent discharge site.

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A coastal risk assessment system simulates the basic physical mechanisms underlying contaminant transport in Tampa Bay. This risk assessment system, comprised of a three-dimensional numerical circulation model coupled to a Lagrangian particle tracking model, simulates the transport and dispersion of a toxic dinoflagellate bloom. Instantaneous velocity output from the circulation model drives the movement of particles, each representing a fraction of a K.

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Coastal waters of the United States (U.S.) are subject to many of the major harmful algal bloom (HAB) poisoning syndromes and impacts.

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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. 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.

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Potent marine neurotoxins known as brevetoxins are produced by the 'red tide' dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. They kill large numbers of fish and cause illness in humans who ingest toxic filter-feeding shellfish or inhale toxic aerosols. The toxins are also suspected of having been involved in events in which many manatees and dolphins died, but this has usually not been verified owing to limited confirmation of toxin exposure, unexplained intoxication mechanisms and complicating pathologies.

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