1. This Week
Day 1- Engage Introduction to a local Harmful Algal Bloom. What do we know? What don’t we know? Begin algal bloom experiment.
Day 2- Explore and Explain Construct marine food webs and trophic pyramids. Play “Trace the Toxin” game.
Day 3- Explore, Explain, and Extend Jigsaw activity exploring HAB socio-ecological systems and predicting their future in a warming climate.
Day 4- Explain, Extend, and Evaluate Look at our bloom with microscopes. Revisit our conceptual diagrams and evaluate conclusions.

2. THE BLOB
Our phenomenon this weeks begins with The Blob.

3. Sea Surface Temperature (Celcius)
The Blob occurred off the US west coast in It was a huge patch of water that was anomalously warm, meaning that it was warm compared to the average water temperature in previous years.

4. ALGAL BLOOM
Right after The Blob, there was a huge bloom of algae.

5. Since algae are plants, they produce chlorophyll
Since algae are plants, they produce chlorophyll. Satellites in space can measure the amount of chlorophyll in the water. Where there is a lot of chlorophyll in the ocean, there is an algae bloom.
NASA
NOAA

6. Let’s zoom in to the coast of Washington State.
NASA
NOAA

7. This is a real satellite image
This is a real satellite image. You can actually see the algae bloom just with your eyes.
NASA
NOAA

8. NOAA (Vera Trainer)
If you zoom way in to the algae bloom to look at individual algae, you can see cells of Pseudo-nitzschia, a genus of microalgae that includes several species that make the neurotoxin domoic acid.
NOAA

9. TOXIC CLAMS
After the algae bloom, scientists found that razor clams on the beach were too toxic to eat.

10. Extremely high levels of an algal toxin called domoic acid, which is produced by a group of phytoplankton called Pseudo-nitzschia, led to closures of recreational razor clam harvests in Oregon and Washington in 2015.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

11. Shiro’s Sushi
NOAA (Vera Trainer)

12. Shiro’s Sushi
NOAA (Vera Trainer)

13. The Blob → Algal Bloom → Can’t Clam
What happened!?!
The Blob → Algal Bloom → Can’t Clam
So what happened? How did the blob create the algae bloom? And how did the algae bloom make the clams toxic?

14. What questions do I still have? What did I learn from others?
What do I know?
What questions do I still have?
What did I learn from others?
Fill in what you know and your questions

15. What questions do I still have? What did I learn from others?
What do I know?
What questions do I still have?
What did I learn from others?
Compare what you know
Compare your questions with your group
Write down notes in this box

16. Split into groups As a group, draw a Conceptual Model
What processes caused the 2015 closure of razor clam fisheries in WA?
Things to think about?
What ingredients do algae need to bloom?
Where do these ingredients come from?
What makes an algal bloom “harmful”?
What is the fate of these harmful products?

17. Let’s grow a bloom!

18. Let’s grow a bloom!
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19. Let’s grow a bloom!
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Light

20. Let’s grow a bloom! No Nutrients No Light No Nutrients Light Nutrients

21. Let’s grow a bloom! No Nutrients No Light No Nutrients Light Nutrients