The Lake Erie HABs Grab: A binational collaboration to characterize the western basin cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms at an unprecedented high-resolution spatial scale.

ABSTRACT: Monitoring of cyanobacterial bloom biomass in large lakes at high resolution is made possible by remote sensing. However, monitoring cyanobacterial toxins is only feasible with grab samples, which, with only sporadic sampling, results in uncertainties in the spatial distribution of toxins. To address this issue, we conducted two intensive "HABs Grabs" of microcystin (MC)-producing Microcystis blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie. These were one-day sampling events during August of 2018 and 2019 in which 100 and 172 grab samples were collected, respectively, within a six-hour window covering up to 2,270 km² and analyzed using consistent methods to estimate the total mass of MC. The samples were analyzed for 57 parameters, including toxins, nutrients, chlorophyll, and genomics

SUBMITTER: Chaffin JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8682807 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature