Red Tide: A Brief Summary

Florida’s environment is a sub-tropical atmosphere, with hundreds of species of animals. Along the coast is were Florida’s natural wildlife and vegetation thrive; however, Florida has a serious issue that impacts its coastal environment. Each year global warming contributes to rising sea levels across the globe. Although Florida’s Coastal environment has survived for thousands of years, the increasing sea level along the gulf coast over recent years, has caused severe damage. Additional research is needed to understand the impact of rising waters on Florida’s Coastal eco-system.

There are many destructive ways that the Florida red tide harms the living things along the Gulf Coast. Documented evidence in the past decade indicates that Karenia brevis red tide blooms exposures of brevetoxins were responsible for massive deaths among sea mammals, fishes, birds and sea turtles. These poisonous chemicals transferred through the food chain and all

In this research paper I will talk about how a large decrease in the algae population in the Chesapeake Bay will cause problems for not just fish and other species but the people who fish and make a living off of it. A large decrease in algae population will have a domino effect on the food chain. Having a major decrease in algae will hurt how others species live and protect themselves.

When there are excessive loads of Nitrogen and Phosphorous in the water, Alage can “bloom” to harmful levels, changing water color, and eventually stripping dissolved oxygen from the water when they die, fall to the bottom, and decay. This dissolved oxygen is critical to the health of the Chesapeake Bay’s critters and

Algae blooms have been an issue in the Chesapeake Bay, especially in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Algae is a natural and critical part of the ecosystem, however in large doses it is harmful to the plants and organisms within the ecosystem. Algae blooms can block out sunlight and kill other plants in the water. Algae depends on various factors such as water, nutrients and carbon dioxide to grow. Eutrophication of the Inner Harbor has lead to algae blooms that have caused large fish kills in the past. When there is an over abundance of certain chemical nutrients eutrophication can occur. Runoff from land and farms is the main cause of excess nutrients into the water. The most common nutrients that are related to algae outbreaks are nitrate nitrogen and phosphate. In addition, a lack of dissolved oxygen can also be an indicator for the process of eutrophication and risk of an algae outbreak. A particular type of algae commonly found in Maryland is known as Prorocentrum minimum. Prorocentrum tends to cause “mahogany tides” causing water to be brown and have an odor. There has been a campaign launched by the Healthy Harbor

Red tide is the common name for a large concentration of certain species of dinoflagellates. This event accumulates harmful algal blooms quickly, resulting in discoloration near the surface water. Dense enough algal blooms cause harmful toxins strong enough to affect people and the oceans ecosystem as a whole. Karenia brevis is the most troublesome species of dinoflagellate in the Gulf of Mexico. This species reproduces by asexual cell division, therefore, given the right conditions, the population can rapidly increase in size. K. brevis needs large amounts of the correct nutrients to reproduce at toxic speed. The nutrients responsible for supporting Florida's red tide are nitrogen and phosphorus.

The size of this algae ranges from microscopic, to macroalage, which is large, visible pieces of algae that form on the bottom of sediments.Certain types of algae can produce dangerous chemicals which are harmful to humans, wildlife, and aquatic creatures. Although these different algae are harmful, there aren’t enough of them to make a dent in the amount of life there is in the Chesapeake Bay. With such little amounts of toxic algae, much of it becomes a vital food source, which could cause an issue if the amount of it were to drop. Without this algae, many of the animals would begin to die off because there would not be be enough food for all of them. If this does happen, there would be many dead animals floating and decomposing in the water. The main animals that feed off the algae are smaller fish. Which, with these smaller fish dying, the larger fish and other animals would also begin dying off since the smaller fish are their food source.

Red tide is a very serious issue that severely affects the West Coast of Florida. Red tide is defined as a toxic bloom in red dinoflagellates. It has major impacts on its surroundings. Algal species that have harmful effects are commonly referred to as Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). Toxic red tide is threatening tourism in West Florida as well as wildlife, specifically the endangered manatees as it extends down the Florida coast. When conditions are right, dinoflagellates will bloom in very large numbers. Red tides name comes from the color that the blooms give the water when there are high concentrations of algae. Don Anderson, a senior scientist at the Woods

The causes that the ocean near Florida has turned into a guacamole, gunky sea is because of the algae and chemicals. The thick algae from Lake Okeechobee is making the manatees in the Atlantic Ocean struggling to breathe. The manatees are Native there and they are being affected from this man made disaster. There was a recent study, where scientists collected samples and tested it. The result was that twelve toxins that are health risking, according to Laura Parker from National Georgraphic.

Within each zone, alterations in physical features of the landscape can blur zonation patterns (Graham & Wilcox, 2000; Stephenson & Stephenson, 1949; 1937; Lipkin, 1971; McQuaid & Branch, 1984). Additionally, between each zone there is a “fringe” zone where species from each zone can persist in small numbers before reaching their range limit (the “supralittoral fringe” and the “infralittoral fringe”) (Stephenson & Stephenson, 1949). Boulders, crevices, and tide pools all create microhabitats within the zones (Graham & Wilcox, 2000; Stephenson & Stephenson, 1949; Lartigue, 2003; Bolton & Anderson, 1990; Underwood, 2000). The presence of these features can alter the effects of abiotic factors such as light availability, salinity, and wave

In addition, the nutrients from these sources cause harm to the Gulf of Mexico because they cause an increase of algae growth in the area usually known as red tide. The algae releases toxins in the water, killing many of the marine mammal life

This red tide outbreak affects anyone and everyone who enjoys a day at the beach as well as Florida's marine life. If severe enough, it may negatively impact tourism in the area, thus denting Florida's tourist-dependent economy. In addition to targeting the local tourism industry, the seafood industry may suffer as well, as fish caught during red tide are typically inedible. If eaten, the infected organisms can pass along illnesses to those who consume them. As far as sewage exasperating the problem, it is important for the companies responsible to recognize and solve the issue, finding alternate ways to dispose of wastes.

Although many Karenia species have been described as of yet, K. brevis blooms move based on winds and tides; pinpointing a red tide at specific moment is difficult. Algal blooms can occur at any time of year, but usually increase between September and February. K. brevis is the main producer of brevetoxin, which is a powerful toxin. It has killed millions of marine organisms, and mostly occurred in gulfs and coast. It happened in the Gulf of Mexico primarily, especially on the Western Gulf coastal area of Florida. Although uncommon, it occurred in other parts of the Gulf as well, such as the Texas coast and Indian River Lagoon on the Atlantic coast of Florida.

You all have probably know about the popular trend bottle flipping. A ton of people despise bottle flipping. I want people to keep bottle flipping it helps with a ton of things. I think it is a good idea to keep bottle flipping. I’m here to tell you why to keep water bottle flipping.

I was recently tasked with examining the relationship between the Earth’s moon and the Earth’s tides. I took that to mean literally: how are the tide levels of Earth’s bodies of water affected by the Moon? When approaching this question I want to do so with the scientific method in mind. The scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge (Goldhaber & Nieto, 2010). The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. It is also a good tool when we are searching for cause and effect relationships in