New research suggests that Lake Erie's algae bloom problem may be getting worse. During the summer of 2011, the western portion of the lake turned green as an algae bloom covered an area 2.5 times larger than any previous Erie bloom on record.
The findings come from a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. According to Anna Michalak, the study's co-author, a number of factors are contributing to the noxious algae blooms.
Among the leading causes have been changes to agricultural practices in recent years that have resulted in far more fertilizer run off into the lake. The fertilizer in turns feeds the algae. This problem was exacerbated by large spring storms in 2011, which washed much of the fertilizer off of surrounding areas and into Lake Erie.
The above average temperatures of the water also provide a great habitat for the algae, and the lack of strong winds prevents it from being mixed into the lake. Climate change is expected to raise the water temperature even higher, with even fewer strong winds and more frequent spring storms.
All of these factors have been contributing to the growth of a type of algae known as "cyanobacteria." These blooms hurt the lake's fish population by decaying and consuming large amounts of oxygen, creating "dead zones" in the water. Additionally, the most common type of cyanobacteria found in the 2011 bloom was Microcystis, a strain that produces a liver toxin. The levels of this toxin in the surface of the lake were found to be upwards of 200 times the recommended limit set by the World Health Organization.
Michalak suggested changes in policy to avoid further and worse instances of algae blooms in Lake Erie.
"We need management policies that are good for agriculture as well as the lake ecology," Michalak told Business Insider. "It doesn't do anybody any good to have these nutrients flowing into the lake. It's money being wasted by the farmers, and you are essentially fertilizing the algae instead of fertilizing the crops."