Susana Deus Alvarez
Universidad de la República (UDELAR), Montevideo, Uruguay
Title: HABs Identification system based on mobile Networked technologies Morphologic, genetic and optic caracterization of toxic and non toxic Microcystis Aeruginosa HABs
Biography
Biography: Susana Deus Alvarez
Abstract
Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are globally distributed and represent a serious threat for human health and aquatic ecosystems due mainly to the production of neuro and hepatotoxins and deterioration of water quality and biodiversity. The frequency of Microcystis blooms usually increases during summer, when aquatic ecosystems are highly used and visited. Some studies have found differences in toxin production related to the size of Microcystis colonies, suggesting that colony-size could be used as a characteristic toxicity marker. In addition, optical properties of water can be related to the shape and size of the colonies present, therefore, we hypothesize that optical properties of water could be used to characterize Microcystis communities dominated by different colony-sizes. Smartphones and other compact electronic devices are now ubiquitous and have numerous picture-capturing, sensing and processing capabilities, that have useful applications in geosciences; such as calculation of water turbidity or concentration of suspended particulate matter based on color pictures. The objective of this project is to develop a smartphone-based model to detect harmful algal blooms (HABs) dominated by Microcystis spp. in aquatic systems, combined to toxicity data. We will show results concerning the relation between size and toxicity of Microcystis spp. colonies and how these characteristics relate to their optical properties measured through a Smartphone application. The final intention of this project is to foster citizen science by promoting environmental monitoring and science education.