Researchers at Laurentian University look at the past to find out blue-green algae blooms

To help the communities manage blue-green algae bloom, researchers at the University of Laurentian are looking at the past.

Masters student McKenzie Hobbs is collecting sediment from Northeast Ontario lakes to determine how industrialization has affected the level of blue-green algae in those water.

“I think the past is very important for the future,” said Hobbes.

“Because we need to know how far we have gone in terms of phosphorus for example.

Lakes that have high levels of nutrients, such as phosphorus, create conditions that are perfect for cyanobacteria, and eventually blue-green algae bloom.

Bloom can produce toxins that can be harmful to humans and animals and sometimes close the beaches.

Hobbes stated that the Lake Cediment provides several clues that allow researchers to look back more than 200 years, before the development and industry would have added nutrients to local waterways.

One of those indicators is chironomids, which are larvae phase of flies and usually live in sediment.

“They are indicators of the dissolved oxygen content in lakes,” said Hobbes. “I am taking out their head capsules out of sediment and identifying them.”

To determine the level of the previous phosphorus in the lakes, Hobbes said that she is also looking at a microelge called Diam, some of which thrives in water -rich water. The number of species found in the historical record suggests how much phosphorus was in the water at that time.

The Laurentian professor, who is the supervisor of Hobbes, said that if he finds out that some lakes have high levels of phosphorus, they were before industrialization, they can address some cities and towns.

But its own research has found that some lakes with low nutrient levels still bloom blue-algae due to climate change. The cyanobacteria that blooms can also thrive in hot water.

“If so, it is very difficult to manage,” Favot said.

Benefits for Espanola

One of the lakes he is studying is Epsi Lake, where Espanola city draws its municipal drinking water.

Joseph Burke, Chief Administrative Officer of Espanola, said that Hobbes’ research can inform policies around the plan of land use near Lake.

Burke said that three or four blue-green algae have blossomed on the lake since 2015.

While this is not as much with some lakes in Sudbari, where there is more development, he said that the trend has increased.

Burke said, “Hopefully (study) will give us information that will allow us to implement new policies or measures, such as helping to prevent land use scheme in the area and to help move around the health of the lake,”.