CCPO and ICAR
Fall 2025 Virtual Seminar Series
MONDAY, 15 September 2025
3:30 p.m.
The CCPO and Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience (ICAR) seminar next week will be given by Dr. , who is a faculty member in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Old Dominion University (flyer attached). Dr. Mulholland’s current research focuses on the biology and ecology of harmful algal blooms. Her seminar will provide results from the ongoing (MERHAB) project that is focused on understanding and forecasting harmful algal blooms in the lower Chesapeake Bay.
Dr. Eileen Hofmann will host Dr. Mulholland’s virtual seminar. There will be an informal discussion with Dr. Mulholland prior to the seminar starting at 3pm.
Please join via the seminar Zoom link above to talk with Dr. Mulholland and attend the seminar.
Title: Enhanced Surveillance to Improve HAB Monitoring and Detection: Toward An Early Warning System For HABS in the Lower Chesapeake Bay
Abstract
Destructive blooms of the ichthyotoxic harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Margalefidinium polykrikoides, have occurred nearly annually in late summer in the lower Chesapeake Bay and mid-Atlantic coastal waters for decades. Since 2007, M. polykrikoides blooms have been succeeded by blooms of Alexandrium monilatum. Blooms have been linked to eutrophication and warming temperatures and contribute to regional hypoxia/ anoxia, and finfish and shellfish mortality. Through previous research, bloom initiation hotspots were identified, transport pathways from initiation sites established, and models for bloom development and transport implemented. Networks for bloom detection and monitoring that include fixed station sampling, underway “DataFlow” sampling from boats, and satellite surveillance are in place, and we are setting up enhanced surveillance systems through deployment of low-cost, high throughput, phytoplankton imaging PlanktoScopes. Results will advise state-of-the-art estuarine forecast models that will be leveraged to build an operational forecast system for M. polykrikoides and A. monilatum blooms in the mid-Atlantic region and that will be accessible to stakeholder groups in near real time through the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Forecasting System (CBEFS) and MARACOOS’ OceansMap portal. This seminar will describe this project, its evolution, and the pathway to building monitoring and observational networks to support the national HAB observing network (NHABON) and describe the challenges and opportunities of using multiple imaging tools and platforms to create a unified platform for all types of images with some minimum metadata.
Biography
Dr. Margie Mulholland earned a B.S. in Geology/Biology from the University of Notre Dame, a M.S. in Biological Oceanography and a M.M. in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on nitrogen and carbon cycling, harmful and other algal blooms, organic matter cycling in marine and estuarine environments, marine nitrogen fixation, and bacterial and algal productivity and interactions.
Previous seminars are available on CCPO/ICAR Seminar