ABSTRACT
This chapter came about from a struggle to engage with the complex problem of emergent super algal blooms in an estuary, the northern Indian River Lagoon (IRL) (Figure 2.1), on the east central coast of Florida. Climate change was initially deemed responsible for the emergent condition, but estuaries are complex “systems of systems,” with perhaps unknown elements that interact in as yet unknown ways. The list of possible causes is lengthy and crosses disciplinary boundaries, including nutrient overloading from land use change, increasing human population and economic growth, overshing, extreme weather events, and phytoplankton biology and metabolism.
