U of A's Brian Haggard will give a virtual seminar titled "Microcystin is highly variable in Lake Fayetteville" on Zoom from 4-5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18. The talk is free and open to the public.

Haggard is an avid water enthusiast (kayaking, fishing, etc.) and his research and hobbies align around streams, rivers and reservoirs. He is a professor in the biological engineering program at the U of A and director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center.

Haggard's education is diverse, he holds a B.S. life sciences, an M.S. in agronomy (which he calls environmental soil and water sciences), and a Ph.D. in engineering.

"It's definitely not the normal path to an engineering Ph.D., but I started in chemical engineering until I decided to go pre-medicine. Then I took ecology and my interests shifted to environmental sciences," Haggard said.

Haggard will speak about microcystin (MC) that has been observed in lakes and reservoirs nationwide. After MC was found in a few small reservoirs in Dec. 2018, a routine monitoring program was used at Lake Fayetteville throughout the 2019 growing season of May through October. The project goal was to try to understand why cyanobacteria produced high MC concentrations, and how variable MC concentrations were over time and space.

Haggard will talk about how MC concentrations varied spatially at the three routine monitoring sites, as well as during a comprehensive sampling at 14 sites across Lake Fayetteville. Cyanobacteria MC production was greatest when nitrogen was becoming limiting, but then when dissolved nitrogen was not available these cyanobacteria did not produce high MC concentrations. The big three cyanobacteria seen in the lake included Microcystis, Aphanizomenon, and Anabaena.

To attend the seminar, first download Zoom, if you haven't already done so. Then you can use the Zoom link or enter the meeting information.

Fifteen minutes prior to the seminar, attendees are welcome to join and chat with the speaker. Attendees are encouraged to stay on the Zoom meeting following the seminar, grab something to eat or drink, and socialize with the speaker and other attendees.

Meeting ID: 873 4638 0922
Passcode: 8x&W7k)B