Mote scientist Toyoda tells of progress in understanding red tide
The Boca Grande Community Center auditorium was packed Wednesday as Dr. Jennifer Toyoda, researcher with the Mote Marine Laboratory, shared the latest information on the monitoring, measuring and mitigating of red tide.
Progress is being made, but research is generating as many questions as answers, Toyoda reported. This is leading to discoveries of techniques and products that not only will help Florida deal more effectively with red tide, but may also be useful for monitoring and mitigating harmful algae blooms elsewhere.
Toyoda is a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in molecular research.
“By being aware of how things impact our molecular systems, we can discover pathways to intervene in the harm,” Toyoda said. “We can identify treatments that are going to prevent the toxins from developing, do risk assessments – which toxins are most potent and dangerous, so we can focus our efforts on the most important ones.”
Molecular systems are not the only ones that need to be examined. For instance, people, manatees and sea turtles all breathe the same air. If red tide is causing coughing and other respiratory concerns for one, solutions should be considered for all those who share this problem — human or otherwise. Such an approach brings insights that might be missed if each species’ problems were looked at independently.
Along those same lines, Mote has brought at least 10 to 12 of its research programs to bear on the issues associated with red tide, Toyoda said. She is a fellow in the ecotoxicology program. Her work has to do specifically with such things as DNA and cell studies, but she said her research is part of a collaboration with other Mote programs focusing on the complex issues associated with red tide. Together, they are learning a great deal about how the karenia brevis toxin, which causes red tide, works, as well as how to measure it at varying depths, how it affects other living things and more.
This collaborative mindset is also evident in Mote’s interactions with agencies such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service. There is also a rather new Harmful Algal Bloom Control Technology Incubator as part of Mote’s research family.
This is a joint effort by Mote, the University of Maryland’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The objective of the incubator is to streamline innovative projects from throughout the scientific community that can move the laboratory science findings into a “proof of concept,” for tools and technology that can lead directly to real-world implementation of harmful algal bloom control solutions. This partnership will offer annual competitive calls for proposals for projects not to exceed 12 months and generally expected to be less than $200,000.
These will include not only Florida red tide issues, but harmful algal blooms around the country. There are currently six projects funded.
Through the incubator program Mote will be able to leverage the work it has been doing regarding Florida red tide into programs that will help areas throughout the country with their own harmful algal bloom issues. Toyoda reminded her Boca Grande audience that such harmful blooms occur throughout the country, and the world. They happen in fresh water, sea water and estuaries.
She made the point that there is diversity within these blooms, but there are similarities, as well. Much of the work they are doing involves ways the blooms can be monitored.
All this is going on with the directive to “do no harm,” Toyoda noted. Algae are naturally occurring organisms and have a role to play. When factors are right (or wrong) they can get out of control and cause problems, she said.
She showed photos of some of the processes and equipment currently being tested, such as injecting tiny bubbles into the water column to disrupt the karenia brevis, or using natural chemicals from plants as algaecides.
Another process that appears viable for controlling red tide is spraying clay particles into the bloom, making the red tide organisms heavy which then causes them to fall to the sea floor and die.
There are still many areas to research. One of these is predicting when the next big bloom will take place. She said so many natural factors – including subsaharan dust – can affect the rise of the karenia brevis, that accurate long-term predictions are not yet possible.
Once a bloom has started to develop, predicting where it will move and how it will grow are more likely to be possible, but even that is questionable. Monitoring and mitigating are the areas where the research can be most helpful, she said.
