Estuaries are biologically productive and important habitats for several fisheries. However, human intervention has separated many estuaries from their needed freshwater source and the commonly used solution is to use diversions to regulate the flow. This episodic increase in nutrients into estuaries has sometimes led to the formation of freshwater cyanobacteria HABs (CyanoHABs). The goal of this dissertation was to look at a field research study of phytoplankton bloom dynamics; management implications for cyanobacteria entering estuaries; and an outreach effort in relation to residents knowledge about cyanobacteria and algae. The first study compared the phytoplankton bloom dynamics, specifically CyanoHABs, in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana (LA) during a diversion opening year and a non-opening year. While variations in freshwater flow were found to be important to determine which phytoplankton group dominates the system, species diversity within a group likely was regulated by the water source. During the large flow year (21.9 km3) in 2011, chlorophytes and diatoms were the dominant groups. In 2012, with a much lower flow of 0.3 km3, again chlorophytes and diatoms were dominant in the spring, but both years cyanobacteria numbers significantly increased in the late summer. The second study was conducted in a different estuary of LA (Breton Sound) to determine the salt tolerance of toxic cyanobacteria; the ability of oysters to feed on toxic cyanobacteria; and their ability to retain those toxins in their viscera. The study found that the cyanotoxin, microcystin (MC) was present, where the native oysters inhabit (<10 g kg-1). When the oysters were exposed to toxic Anabaena sp. cells, they fed on these cells and retained MCs. This led to a concern for the public health. The last study surveyed fishermen about their knowledge of algae and HABs. This baseline data was used to create an educational brochure which was distributed to the marinas around Lake Pontchartrain and Lac Des Allemandes. There was also a follow-up survey to determine the effectiveness of the educational brochure. Many of the people surveyed had a basic understanding of algae, but 60% were not familiar with harmful algal blooms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-03142014-103046 |
| Date | 10 April 2014 |
| Creators | Smith, Emily Anne |
| Contributors | Tubana, Brenda, Portier, Ralph, White, John, Blanchard, Pamela, Bargu, Sibel |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-03142014-103046/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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