The Paerl Lab was in the Bay Delta, California last week to kick off Haley Plaas’ PhD thesis research, which focuses on assessing the linkage between nutrient enrichment, phytoplankton community composition, cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom toxin production, and aerosol formation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River/Bay Delta estuarine ecosystem. Research Technician, Leah Nelson, accompanied Haley to California where they met up with Seyong, who is one of the Paerl Lab’s summer interns. The bioassay went off without a hitch! We saw surface scums of cyanos at both of our sample locations, Discovery Bay and Stockton. Upon filtering toward the end of the week it appeared as if the P and N+P treatments responded the most, suggesting P limitation at both sites. Early aerosol findings showed Microcystis and other cyanobacterial cells collected from the air. The data will tell us soon, so stay tuned! We want to thank our collaborators at CA-DWR, USGS, and Restore the Delta (and more)!
