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Empowering Citizens to Monitor and Assess Risks of Harmful Cyanobacteria
June 2, 2021 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm CDT
Free
The conspicuous prevalence of harmful cyanobacteria blooms or HCBs (formerly referred to as HABs) has raised public awareness and concern over possible health risks to humans and wildlife. This presentation will examine the potential health risks associated with toxic cyanobacteria and describe new information on the pathways of exposure, including air and water. The talk will also present recent advances in the development of tools and approaches to Citizen Science tracking of cyanobacteria, estimating levels of cyanobacteria toxins and predicting the timing of cyanobacteria blooms.
Speaker
James Haney
Professor, Center for Freshwater Biology & Exotoxicology @University of New Hampshire
Jim Haney is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the UNH. He is Director of the UNH Center for Freshwater Biology and co-founder of the New Hampshire Lakes Lay Monitoring Program. Dr. Haney teaches General Ecology, Lake Ecology, Stream Ecology and Ecotoxicology. His current research focus is on the transfer of cyanobacteria toxins within the lake food webs and their impact on wildlife such as fish and the Common Loon. Other research projects include 1) toxic aerosols as risk factors from lakes with toxigenic cyanobacteria 2) use of cyanobacteria pigments to predict cyanobacteria blooms and lake toxicity. He and his students are also conducting collaborative research with Dartmouth-Hitchcock ALS Clinic to examine toxic aerosols as possible links between cyanotoxins and neurological disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease. He is also a member of the USP EPA Region 1 Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (cyanos.org).