"Thick Algal Bloom Forming In Sandusky Bay, Moving Into Open Water"

"Lake Erie’s Sandusky Bay is already struggling with a species of toxin-producing algae, another sign that the rest of the lake’s western basin is likely headed for another massive bloom this summer.

Called planktothrix, Sandusky Bay’s dominant form of cyanobacteria — or what most people euphemistically simply call toxic algae — differs from microcystis in how it grows and how it responds to anything from sunlight to phosphorus. Microcystis has been the most dominant type of harmful algal bloom in the vast majority of western Lake Erie since at least 1995.

Why is it that one form of algae tends to take over Sandusky Bay and another tends to take over the rest of the lake’s western basin and occasionally move into its central basin?"

Tom Henry reports for the Toledo Blade June 30, 2019.

SEE ALSO:

"Algae Blooms Fed by Farm Flooding Add to Midwest's Climate Woes" (InsideClimate News)

Source: Toledo Blade, 07/01/2019