National Centers for Coastal Ocean Services. (2022, March 15). Economic Impacts of 2018 Florida Red Tide: Airbnb Losses and Beyond. nccos. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/economic-impacts-of-2018-florida-red-tide-airbnb-losses-and-beyond/

This article discusses the economic impacts of red tide on Airbnb in Florida. According to this article, for every sample of water that had red tide in it, the daily rate for Airbnb reduced by $0.45 and reservation days declined by 345. This resulted in a loss of $70 million for Airbnb and that led to a decline of $184 million in tourism expenditures from outside of the state. This article states that over 2,800 jobs were lost and 50% of the total economic losses for the affected areas came from industries that are not directly associated with tourists, these include health services and real estate.

This article shocked me quite a bit. I realize that there were economic effects on Florida, but I never understood how much the red tide affected the state. The article says that 85% of the state’s losses came from the Southwestern Gulf region alone, and 15% of those losses were from spillover effects that happened throughout the whole state.

Selzer, M. (2022, July 6). The state of knowledge on harmful algal blooms of cyanobacteria in the Great Lakes. State of Michigan. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.michigan.gov/egle/newsroom/mi-environment/2022/07/06/the-state-of-knowledge-on-harmful-algal-blooms-of-cyanobacteria-in-the-great-lakes

This article writes about the effects of cyanobacteria blooms in a freshwater environment, the Great Lakes. The great lakes are located up north and are very cold and nutrient poor. Some of the factors for increased blooms have been attributed to changes in agricultural practices, extreme weather events, and increased air temperatures that occur near the shore. Some species of invasive muscles have caused more nutrients to be concentrated near the shore, resulting in a more susceptible area that can be affected by eutrophication. Even though there has been more algae activity in recent years, there needs to be more scientific research done about how climate change affects the algae blooms in the great lakes.

This article was very informational because I did not realize that cyanobacteria could bloom in freshwater. The article also brought up how muscles concentrate the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus into an area that can be easily influenced by eutrophication.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2022, March 18). Florida: Harmful Algal Blooms. National Ocean Service. Retrieved August 12, 2022, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/hab/florida-2018.html

In Florida, there is a persistent algae bloom known as “Red tide”. This algae bloom is especially harmful to humans and it produces neurotoxins called “brevetoxins”. This leads to a pile up of dead fish along the shore and in some cases there have been stranded mammals found. Because of Florida’s tropical weather, the affected area of the tide is unclear and depends on weather that influences the tides, such as a hurricane. The duration of the bloom is also uncertain each occurrence and can last for a few weeks or for about a year.
I was in Florida back in 2018 when this bloom occurred and it sparked my interest in the subject. When I visited the beach it was littered with dead pufferfish and I think some lionfish. I also remember coughing a lot at the beach because of the toxic effects of the algae. I also have an idea of what these blooms can do to oceanside communities because I was there near the ocean for about a week and remembered how often I was coughing.

Evers, J. (2022, May 19). Dead zone. National Geographic Society. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/dead-zone

Dead zones are often due to a process known as eutrophication. This process happens when cyanobacteria get too many nutrients and proceed to grow extremely fast. This growth is attributed to there being too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the area that these bacteria grow. Eutrophication is more common than ever because of our ever developing agricultural and industrial practices. This article says that we emit 2 times more nitrogen and 3 times more phosphorus than natural cycles. One of the first identified dead zones was observed in Chesapeake bay in 1970 because the western side of the city was used for poultry farming.

In developing countries many dead zones are caused by poorly treated wastewater management. Some sources of fossil fuels cause atmospheric nitrogen levels to rise. The atmospheric nitrogen follows a similar path as the carbon cycle, and gets absorbed into the ocean creating an unbalance in nitrogen level causing the oceans to be more prone to algae blooms and dead zones.

Environmental Protection Agency. (2022, January 31). The Effects: Dead Zones and Harmful Algal Blooms | US EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved August 14, 2022, from https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/effects-dead-zones-and-harmful-algal-blooms

Dead zones happen when a burst of algae bloom and consume all of the oxygen in a certain area. These dead zones kill all life in the affected area except the algae that blooms. These blooms happen when an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus cause the rapid growth of algae. The algae also blocks out the sun and harms aquatic plants and when the algae dies it takes all the oxygen with it and creates an oxygen-less void. The main problem that leads to an algae bloom is nutrient pollution. Nutrient pollution is caused solely by human impact.

It seems that the main cause of nutrient pollution algae blooms is agricultural activities. Many fertilizers have nitrogen and phosphorus to help plants grow. Because our agriculture industry is so widespread across the U.S. it makes many of our bodies off water prone to algae blooms. Some of these blooms are harmful to not just aquatic life, but also towards humans. Some things that we can do in our homes is to reduce fertilizer use, plant native plants, and to not overwater gardens.