Collaborative Research: ECOHAB: Gulf of Maine-The Ecology and Oceanography of the Toxic Alexandrium Blooms in the Gulf of Maine

有害藻华，通常称为“赤潮”或有害藻华，是全世界严重的经济和公共卫生问题。在美国，最严重的HAB问题是麻痹性贝类中毒（PSP），这是一种潜在致命的神经系统疾病，由人类摄入贝类引起，当它们以亚历山大藻属的甲藻为食时，贝类积累毒素。由于PSP，这些生物体导致人类疾病和死亡，重复贝类捕捞，以及鱼类和海洋哺乳动物的死亡。 这一现象影响了美国数千英里的海岸线和众多的渔业资源，在过去二十年中急剧扩大，特别是在缅因州湾。ECOHAB-GOM解决了关于缅因州湾亚历山大藻水华的几个基本问题：1）出现在缅因州西部沿岸流（WMCC）淡水羽流中的亚历山大藻细胞的来源; 2）缅因州东部沿岸流（EMCC）中亚历山大藻细胞的分布和动态; 3）WMCC、EMCC和乔治河岸水华之间的联系。利用数值模拟，水文，化学和生物测量，系泊和漂流电流测量和卫星图像的组合，我们将表征的结构，变异性和autecology的主要Alexandrum栖息地在缅因州的海湾。

Harmful algal blooms, commonly called `red tides` or HABs, are a serious economic and public health problem throughout the world. In the U.S., the most serious HAB problem is paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), a potentially fatal neurological disorder caused by human ingestion of shellfish that accumulate toxins as they feed on dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium. These organisms cause human illness and death due to PSP, repeated shellfish harvest quarantines, and the mortality of fish and marine mammals. This phenomenon, which affects thousands of miles of U.S. coastline and numerous fisheries resources, has expanded dramatically in the last two decades, especially in the Gulf of Maine. The ECOHAB-GOM addresses several fundamental issues regarding Alexandrium blooms in the Gulf of Maine: 1) the source of the Alexandrium cells that appear in the fresh water plumes in the western Maine coastal current (WMCC); 2) Alexandrium cell distribution and dynamics in the eastern Maine coastal current (EMCC); and 3) linkages among blooms in the WMCC, the EMCC and on Georges Bank. Utilizing a combination of numerical modeling, hydrographic, chemical, and biological measurements, moored and drifting current measurements, and satellite imagery, we will characterize the structure, variability and autecology of the major Alexandrium habitats in the Gulf of Maine.