Thesis Title:

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Publications:

Nathan is a MS student who is working on toxic algae in the Salton Sea.

	Nathan has collected water and algae samples from July, 2010 to July, 2011.
Nathan in the lab processing samples from the Salton Sea.	Microscopy helps Nathan identify the cyanobacteria species from his samples.
A new phase of Nathan's research is looking at deceased fish from the Salton Sea trying to find out if algal toxins were responsible for the fish deaths.	Nathan collects some of the internal organs of the fish for toxin analysis.
The beaches of the Salton Sea are made up of reminants of fish and barncles accumliated over the past hundred years.	This was once a spot for tourist and sport fisherman now because of increasing salinty and agricultural runn-off it has become a barren wasteland.
Fish deaths occur throughout the year because of anoxic environments and Gypsiumn blooms ; possibly from some toxins released by algae. This is what Nathan is working on.	In the laboratory tanks with algae laiden water from the Salton Sea are kept for study.

Photo: S.G. Dunbar