Wells quoted in articles on international workshop on harmful algal blooms
Science Codex and Summit County Citizens Voice quoted Mark Wells, a marine science professor at the University of Maine, in reports on an international workshop on harmful algal blooms and climate change. The workshop was organized by the North Pacific Marine Science Organization and the Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms and endorsed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, according to the Science Codex article. Findings from the workshop, which Wells attended and helped organize, were published in the journal “Harmful Algae.” The central findings were that while there are reasons to expect harmful algal blooms to increase with climate change, poor scientific understanding seriously limits forecasts, and current research strategies will not likely improve this capacity, the article states. “There is growing concern among scientists that climate change may exacerbate this trend,” Wells said. “We are frustrated by the inadequate national research focus to determine the likelihood of these worst-case scenarios.”