scholarly journals Optimizing the Harmful Algal Bloom Interception, Treatment, and Transformation System (HABITATS)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Page ◽  
Bruce MacAllister ◽  
Marissa Campobasso ◽  
Angela Urban ◽  
Catherine Thomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Bloom ◽  
Flow Reactor ◽  
Harmful Algal Bloom ◽  
New York State ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
York State Department ◽  
Transformation System ◽  
Pilot Studies

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) continue to affect lakes and waterways across the nation, often resulting in environmental and economic damage at regional scales. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and collaborators have continued research on the Harmful Algal Bloom Interception, Treatment, and Transformation System (HABITATS) project to develop a rapidly deployable and scalable system for mitigating large HABs. The second year of the project focused on optimization research, including (1) development of a new organic flocculant formulation for neutralization and flotation of algal cells; (2) testing and initial optimization of a new, high-throughput biomass dewatering system with low power requirements; (3) development, design, assembly, and initial testing of the first shipboard HABITATS prototype; (4) execution of two field pilot studies of interception and treatment systems in coordination with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; (5) conversion of algal biomass into biocrude fuel at pilot scale with a 33% increase in yield compared to the previous bench scale continuous-flow reactor studies; and (6) refinement of a scalability analysis and optimization model to guide the future development of full-scale prototypes.

scholarly journals New York City’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program: Economic Catalyst or Taxpayer Giveaway?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Tatyiana Gordon
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
New York State ◽  
Property Values ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Hazardous Substances ◽  
York State Department ◽  
York State

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York City Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) manage and coordinate brownfield cleanup programs. These are intended to promote environmental restoration and redevelopment of underutilized or abandoned properties that have been affected by the presence or discharges of oil or hazardous substances. This paper seeks to determine whether these programs have achieved the goals and objectives sought by decision makers and if the cost of those achievements in terms of public money subsidies and forgone tax revenue have been commensurate with the realized benefits.The DEC brownfield program offers financial incentives, such as tax credits, as well as regulatory benefits (limited liability protections) to promote alternatives to greenfield development. OER efforts are New York City centric with incentives divided into three sectors: procedural, legal, and financial with a major goal of reducing remedial (cleanup) timeframes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the New York City Brownfield program changes in property values over time were evaluated. The five New York City counties experiencing the two highest percent increases in property values also claimed the highest brownfield credits. Queens and Brooklyn received most brownfield credits during this period but also experienced the most redevelopment. These and other data illustrate a return on the brownfield investment (ROBI) credit of about one to six; or one dollar in brownfield credit stimulating six dollars in project spending. New York City counties’ ROBI is consistent with all other New York State County ROBI’s: roughly six dollars in redevelopment activity being stimulated by one dollar in brownfield credit. The roughly $6 ROBI presented here is similar to ROI’s for other public services such as disease prevention and incarceration intervention.

scholarly journals Cyanopeptides Restriction and Degradation Co-mediate Microbiota Assembly During a Freshwater Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Bloom (CyanoHAB)

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Gao ◽  
Ze Zhao ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Feng Ju
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Bloom ◽  
Lake Taihu ◽  
Harmful Algal Bloom ◽  
Size Fraction ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Microbiota Diversity

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are globally intensifying and exacerbated by climate change and eutrophication. However, microbiota assembly mechanisms underlying CyanoHABs remain scenario specific and elusive. Especially, cyanopeptides, as a group of bioactive secondary metabolites of cyanobacteria, could affect microbiota assembly and ecosystem function. Here, the trajectory of cyanopeptides were followed and linked to microbiota during Microcystis-dominated CyanoHABs in lake Taihu, China. The most abundant cyanopeptide classes detected included microginin, spumigin, microcystin, nodularin and cyanopeptolin with total MC-LR-equivalent concentrations between 0.23 and 2051.54 ppb, of which cyanotoxins beyond microcystins (e.g., cyanostatin B and nodularin_R etc.) far exceeded reported organismal IC50 and negatively correlated with microbiota diversity, exerting potential collective eco-toxicities stronger than microcystins alone. The microbial communities were differentiated by size fraction and sampling date throughout CyanoHABs, and surprisingly, their variances were better explained by cyanopeptides (19-38%) than nutrients (0-16%). Cyanopeptides restriction (e.g., inhibition) and degradation are first quantitatively verified as the deterministic drivers governing community assembly, with stochastic processes being mediated by interplay between cyanopeptide dynamics and lake microbiota. This study presents an emerging paradigm in which cyanopeptides restriction and degradation co-mediate lake water microbiota assembly, unveiling new insights about the ecotoxicological significance of CyanoHABs to freshwater ecosystems.

Resource fluctuation patterns influence emergent properties of phytoplankton assemblages and their resistance to harmful algal blooms

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Roelke ◽  
Sierra E. Cagle ◽  
Rika M.W. Muhl ◽  
Athanasia Sakavara ◽  
George Tsirtsis
Keyword(s):  
Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Algal Bloom ◽  
Harmful Algal Bloom ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Phytoplankton Assemblages ◽  
High Degree

Recent advances in phytoplankton modelling have used species-rich, self-organising assemblages. These models have shown that phytoplankton with complementary life-history traits related to resource exploitation assemble into stable states of lumpy coexistence when resources fluctuate where species’ niches occur in clusters along resource gradients. They have also shown that a high degree of competitive dissimilarity between clusters arises, and that this relates to the incidence of monospecific blooms of allelochemical-producing taxa, i.e. some harmful algal bloom (HAB) species. These findings further suggest that the mode (sudden v. gradual changes) under which limiting resources fluctuate plays an important role in determining the emergent properties of the assemblage. For example, productivity, biodiversity and the number of species clusters (and, therefore, resistance to HABs) are all enhanced when switches in resource supplies are gradual, compared with when they are sudden. These theoretical findings, as well as others discussed herein, are of particular interest in watersheds where human activities, such as dam construction, have the capacity to dramatically alter natural-resource fluctuation patterns.

scholarly journals A Forecasting Method for Harmful Algal Bloom(HAB)-Prone Regions Allowing Preemptive Countermeasures Based only on Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Measurements in a Large River

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3488
Author(s):  
Geunsoo Son ◽  
Dongsu Kim ◽  
Young Do Kim ◽  
Siwan Lyu ◽  
Soojeong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Bloom ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Harmful Algal Bloom ◽  
Spatial Association ◽  
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler ◽  
Large River ◽  
Concentration Data ◽  
Local Index

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been recognized as a serious problem for aquatic ecosystems and a threat to drinking water systems. The proposed method aimed to develop a practical and rapid countermeasure, enabling preemptive responses to massive algal blooms, through which prior to the algal bloom season we can identify HAB-prone regions based on estimations of where harmful algae initiates and develops significantly. The HAB-prone regions were derived from temperature, depth, flow velocity, and sediment concentration data based only on acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) without relying further on supplementary data collection, such as the water quality. For HAB-prone regions, we employed hot-spot analysis using K-means clustering and the Getis-Ord G*, in conjunction with the spatial autocorrelation of Moran’s I and the local index of spatial association (LISA). The validation of the derived HAB-prone regions was conducted for ADCP measurements located at the downstream of Nam and Nakdong River confluence, South Korea, which preceded three months of algal bloom season monitored by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The visual inspection demonstrated that the comparison resulted in an acceptable range of agreement and consistency between the predicted HAB-prone regions and actual UAV-based observations of actual algal blooms.

Urban and Community Fisheries Programs: Development, Management, and Evaluation

2008 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
New York State ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
York State Department ◽  
Full Time ◽  
York State ◽  
Community Fisheries ◽  
Department Of Environmental Conservation ◽  
Sport Fish

<em>Abstract.-</em>In 2002, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) implemented the I FISH NY program in Long Island and New York City using funds from the Sport Fish Restoration Program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program was created to ensure that anyone who has a desire to fish would have the resources and knowledge necessary to do so, and to increase stewardship by building public awareness and understanding of aquatic resources in metropolitan areas of New York State. DEC subsequently partnered with New York Sea Grant to perform activities including community fishing clinics, school programs, and day-camp programs. Numbers of people reached and quality of programming have increased since program inception, and this is attributed to creation of full-time, long-term staff positions.

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