[All-postdocs] Bioseminar - Evie Fachon

[Ana Velez]

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Biology Department Seminar

Thursday, January 9, 2025 - 12:00 Noon

Evie Fachon
MIT-WHOI Joint Program Student

>From Toxic Algae to Bivalve Larvae: Exploring Episodic Planktonic Events in the Warming Pacific Arctic With In-Situ Imagery
In a time of rapid environmental change and borealization of polar waters, shipboard imagery datasets provide a window into Pacific Arctic planktonic community dynamics. This region is characterized by high seasonal productivity and tight benthic-pelagic coupling, supporting a rich food web that in turn sustains a strong practice of coastal subsistence harvest. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella are an emerging threat to the health of this system. In summer 2022, a massive bloom of A. catenella was detected by a shipboard Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) and tracked over the course of six weeks as it advected from the northern Bering Sea onto the Chukchi shelf. This bloom was exceptional in both density and spatial scale, representing an unprecedented public health risk. The real-time detection and communication of this event allowed for rapid community mobilization and has motivated sustained shipboard observing within the region in subsequent years. An additional outcome of these efforts was the detection of a dense multi-species bivalve larvae aggregation in the southern Chukchi Sea in July 2023; this opportunistic detection demonstrates the utility of in situ imagery datasets not only for HABs, but for broader investigations of the polar plankton community. By pairing imagery with synchronous data streams (temperature, salinity, currents, etc.), we can investigate the hydrographic drivers surrounding episodic planktonic events and place these observations into context with regional climate shifts.

HYBRID! In Person: Redfield Auditorium Zoom: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/97000865816 Meeting ID: 970 0086 5816 By phone: Find your local number: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/u/adIvMow3LQ

For questions, contact:

Ana María Vélez
Administrative Associate
Ph: (+1)(508)289-2334
[signature_1005462319]

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