Core--Field Logistics and Development

University Of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington NC

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Florida Red Tide, caused by the harmful alga, Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve) occurs[unreadable] annually along the Florida Gulf coast, and periodically throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico and along the[unreadable] US Atlantic coast, resulting in adverse economic and health effects. The alga is harmful because it produces a[unreadable] suite of neurotoxins (brevetoxins) that cause massive fish kills, contamination of shellfish (Neurotoxic Shellfish[unreadable] Poisoning) and results in respiratory problems and possibly additional health effects when people are exposed[unreadable] to the toxins in marine aerosol. The purpose of this Environmental Field Core (FC2) is to coordinate and[unreadable] implement collection and analysis of environmental data essential to implementation and interpretation of the[unreadable] field-oriented Research Projects. These include FC1, toxin probes and assays, RP1, Characterization of[unreadable] Brevetoxin Aerosols (Cheng) , and RP4, Epidemiology of red Tide Exposure (Fleming). Support will be in the form of: 1)[unreadable] monitoring the Florida Gulf coast, in the Sarasota region, for red tide blooms to alert project participants to[unreadable] possible field study opportunities, 2) maintenance of field collecting equipment and supplies, coordination of[unreadable] deployment and calibration of sampling equipment for field studies, 3) coordination and implementation of[unreadable] sampling protocol, including sample chain of custody, sample transport and processing, and interlaboratory[unreadable] calibration of analytical instrumentation, 4) Sample collection and analysis of brevetoxins in air and water by[unreadable] LC-MS, and Karenia brevis cell counts, 5) Sample collection and transport to UNCW (FC1) for total brevetoxin[unreadable] analysis by ELISA, and for culture and identification of new Karenia species. 6) Collaboration with Project[unreadable] Managers for data interpretation and dissemination of results, including report and manuscript preparation.[unreadable] Environmental sample collection will follow the protocol of Pierce et al. (2005). Seawater samples will be[unreadable] collected in 1-L bottles for cell counts and brevetoxin analyses 3 times daily. Marine aerosol will be collected[unreadable] with 8 high-volume samplers, placed in a grid of 200m x 50m, AM and PM, to assess aerosolized toxin[unreadable] concentrations over time and space. FC2 will coordinate with RP1 and RP4 for deployment of particle-size[unreadable] impactors, to assess the particle size of toxin-containing aerosol to which subjects are exposed. FC2 also will[unreadable] assist RP1 and RP4 in deploying a portable weather station to monitor meteorological conditions. Brevetoxin[unreadable] content will be determined by high performance liquid chromatography interfaced with mass spectrometry (LCMS)[unreadable] analyses.[unreadable] In addition, water samples will be collected during red tide blooms along the southwest Florida coast for[unreadable] exposure to asthmatic sheep by RP3 (Project by Abraham), and for identification and isolation of different species of Karenia by FC1,[unreadable] to determine the incident of different Karenia species and to identify the toxins produced by the different[unreadable] species. FC2 will coordinate field deployment and air and water sample collection and analyses for the beach[unreadable] studies and the subsequent 5-day, follow-up exposure studies, in cooperation with FC1, RP1 and RP4.[unreadable] Results from FC1 LC-MS analyses of brevetoxins in marine aerosol during beach and sub-acute residential[unreadable] exposure studies will be used to provide realistic exposure concentrations and duration for collaborative[unreadable] laboratory studies undertaken by RP2 and RP3.