{"id":11803,"date":"2019-10-23T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=11803"},"modified":"2023-12-11T13:12:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T18:12:46","slug":"new-research-focuses-on-algae-toxins-in-chowan-river-and-albemarle-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/new-research-focuses-on-algae-toxins-in-chowan-river-and-albemarle-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"New Research Focuses on Algae Toxins in Chowan River and Albemarle Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nIn the field: Haley Plaas, the recipient of the 2020 joint fellowship from North Carolina Sea Grant and the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership.<\/p>\n
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n Contact: Katie Mosher, 919-515-9069, kmosher@ncsu.edu<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Haley Plaas, a doctoral student in environmental science and engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will conduct important new research on algal blooms as the recipient of the 2020 joint fellowship from North Carolina Sea Grant <\/a>and the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership <\/a>(APNEP).<\/p>\n John Fear, deputy director of North Carolina Sea Grant and the state\u2019s Water Resources Research Institute, says Plaas will explore multiple issues related cyanobacteria toxins in the Chowan River and Albemarle Sound.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very timely project, as the water quality issues in this region are re-emerging after decades of calm,\u201d says Fear. \u201cThis work will help us understand how the algae toxins in the water respond to nutrient inputs and are translated into airborne molecules.\u201d<\/p>\n Wind currents can transport airborne toxins inland from the waterfront, Fear explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThis work also can be rapidly utilized by the state\u2019s working group on nutrient criteria, which is now focusing on the Albemarle Sound area,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Bill Crowell, director of APNEP, says harmful algal blooms are a reemergent water quality and environmental health concern in the Chowan River-Albemarle Sound region. \u201cMs. Plaas\u2019 research will increase our understanding of the threat that cyanotoxins produced by these blooms pose to human communities,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Plaas studies under Hans Paerl, Kenan Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences, who notes that toxic cyanobacterial blooms are affecting water quality and safety in lakes, rivers and estuaries more and more.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing an easily deployed air sampling technique, Haley will address the question of whether these blooms are also affecting air quality around prominent local, national and international water bodies increasingly plagued with these blooms,\u201d explains Paerl.<\/p>\nThe 2020 North Carolina Sea Grant and APNEP joint fellow will study cyanobacterial production.<\/h3>\n