Tides of Trouble

Last spring I had an internship for the NDRC (Natural Resource Defense Council) and helped to produce a fact sheet concerning the rising frequency of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) due to climate change. I've been meaning to post it for a while because it's watershed-related but haven't had the time. To give you a brief synopsis if you aren't interested in reading the entire thing (extra bonus points if you open the end notes and find my name! : )), here's a summary:

• HABs are caused by a proliferation of cyanobacteria and other microorganisms in fresh and salt water that produce toxins that can harm people and animals (causing skin irritations, abdominal pain, other various symptoms, and in some cases even death) if they are consumed by eating contaminated fish or shellfish, inhaled through aerosol, swimming in contaminated waters, or drinking contaminated water. 
• As many as 10% of foodbourne disease outbreaks in the US may result from the consumption of algal toxins (the common ones you hear about are ciguatera and red tides).
• Algal toxins cannot be destroyed by cooking and accumulate toxins up the food chain. (This is why "picua"- barracuda are not allowed to be sold by fishers in the DR).

What I find the the most fascinating about cyanobacteria is that almost all cyanobacteria produce BMAA (B-Methylamino-L-alanine), an algal neurotoxin that has been linked with the development of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. There was an extremely high incidence of these diseases in Guam, which was due to the fact that the Chamorro people would eat the seed from the cycad tree, which accumulated BMAA from the symbiotic cyanobacteria in its roots. A common delicacy was also fruit bats, which ate the cycad fruit, and were so delicious that they became extinct from the island. While I was working at the Center for Freshwater Biology at the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Haney was writing a paper concerning the high number of ALS patients around Mascoma Lake, which has frequent algal blooms.