On February 26, Faculty emeritus Dr. Bob Pohlad and Ferrum College junior and Environmental Science major Riley Hines traveled to the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences to participate in the 2024 Annual Virginia HABs (Harmful Algal Bloom) task force meeting.
Hines gave an eight-minute presentation titled “The Preliminary Report on Correlations of Select Cyanobacteria (Blue-green Algae) and Abiotic Variables in Smith Mountain Lake, VA in 2022 and 2023”. “My presentation consisted of an explanation of the comparison of the algae count data and other water parameters between 2022 and 2023 to identify possible factors that may have led to the increase in HABs this past summer,” said Hines.
“I was working with Dr. Dana Ghioca-Robrecht, and we were looking to see if there is an association between blue-green algae and the abiotic factors (temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus, and Secchi depth) that the Smith Mountain Lake Water Quality Project already collects samples and data on,” Hines continued.
After they concluded the task force meeting, Dr. Pohlad and Hines attended a Planktoscope workshop where they observed how the Planktoscope works and took new ideas to report back to the water quality team at Ferrum College.
“Riley did a great job. We had the opportunity to hear of many new procedures being used by other projects around Virginia from State and University groups besides our work at Smith Mountain Lake. We also attended a workshop on a potential new piece of equipment that might be useful for our work. It was a great opportunity for Riley to network with graduate students and faculty doing similar work,” Dr. Pohlad said.
