Red Tide, Human Health, and Genomics
Two words any Floridian or beachgoer dreads: RED TIDE. But what exactly is red tide? Is it a natural phenomenon or are human activities amplifying it? What are red tide’s impacts on marine life or humans? And why exactly is it called “red tide?” Dr. Tracy Fanara, environmental engineer and research scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory, and Dr. Zachary Caple, an environmental anthropologist and Provost’s postdoctoral scholar at the University of South Florida will help answer these questions. Finally, Dr. Xiaoming Liu, Associate Professor at the University of South Florida, who studies human population health using genomics. Join us at London Heights British Pub to hear about their research!
Dr. Tracy Fanara
Florida red tide: Protecting public health through innovation and citizen science
In her talk, Dr. Fanara will discuss neurotoxins from Karenia brevis blooms and how they threaten aquatic and human health. Informing the public of beach conditions is an effective strategy to protect beachgoers by encouraging visits to unaffected beaches. Three citizen science driven technologies were developed to protect public health and tourism during a bloom. We may not be able to stop blooms from occurring, but there are things we can do to help limit any human contribution.
Dr. Zachary Caple
Toxic Algae, Chemical Fertilizers, and the Politics of Growth
Toxic algae blooms have become a vexing problem in Florida's waters. In his talk, Dr. Caple will discuss how chemical fertilizers––and human industrialization of the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles more broadly–– underpin Florida's toxic algae crisis. Fertilizers form the chemical basis of modern food systems and enable the exponential growth of human numbers. When phosphorus and nitrogen wash into local waterways, they fertilizer the growth of toxic algae and create new aquatic and political environments.
Dr. Xiaoming Liu
The genomics behind the Golden State Killer case
Catching the golden state killer is one of the biggest news stories of 2018. In the end, it was genetic genealogy that helped to solve the cold case. I will explain the genomics behind it and what can we learn from biobank-scale human genome data.