Key Highlights :
1. Red tide, caused by Karenia brevis blooms, is a recurring problem in the coastal Gulf of Mexico.
2. The ability to detect red tide blooms at all life stages and cell concentrations is critical to increasing predictive capabilities and developing potential mitigation strategies to protect public health and vital resources.
3. Current methods used to monitor red tide such as microscopic identification and enumeration, standard flow cytometry, as well as others have limitations.
4. Some of these limitations include constraints on size resolution and ranges of concentration, limited capacity for profiling related to space and time, as well as processing small volumes of samples.
5. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute have developed the AUTOHOLO, a novel autonomous, submersible, 3D holographic microscope and imaging system, designed to be used in situ (in place) to study marine particles and plankton in their natural environment.
6. Their study, published in the journal Harmful Algae, is the first to utilize holography to characterize red tide in the field and breaks new ground for monitoring harmful algal blooms (HABs) and tackling limitations associated with current methods used to monitor these blooms.
7. Using the AUTOHOLO, FAU researchers in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, conducted field measurements in the coastal Gulf of Mexico during an active red tide bloom over the 2020-21 winter season. They also collected surface and sub-surface water samples during these field studies.
8. In the lab, researchers analyzed these samples using benchtop holographic imaging and flow cytometry for validation.
9. A training dataset of red tide cells—created using holographic images—was used to train a customized existing convolutional neural network (CNN) for automated classification.
10. Researchers also utilized a custom-built towing system designed to help the AUTOHOLO in recording data over large spatial ranges during a bloom.
11. Across diverse datasets with red tide concentrations at varying levels, researchers showed 90 percent accuracy in their results.
12. They also demonstrated the utility of combining the AUTOHOLO with the towing system to enable characterizing particle abundance over large spatial distances, potentially facilitating rapid characterization of red tide distributions over large areas during bloom events.
Red tides, caused by Karenia brevis blooms, are a recurring problem in the coastal Gulf of Mexico. The organism, Karenia brevis, produces toxins that can cause fish kills, respiratory irritation in humans and cause death in sea turtles, dolphins, manatees and birds.
The Gulf of Mexico is a large and complex body of water, and as such, it is susceptible to a variety of environmental problems. One of these is red tide, a phenomenon that can cause significant environmental damage. Red tide is caused by a bloom of Karenia brevis, an organism that produces toxins that can cause fish kills, respiratory irritation in humans, and death in sea turtles, dolphins, manatees, and birds.
Red tide is a recurring problem in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is important to address it as soon as it arises. The Gulf of Mexico is a vital environmental resource, and it is important that we do everything we can to keep it healthy. Red tide is a problem that we can solve, and we need to do everything we can to address it.
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