Climate change is one of the factors driving the growth of toxic algae in western Lake Erie, the Toledo Blade reports.
Conventional wisdom attributes the algae blooms to “commercial farm runoff, animal manure, sewage spills, faulty septic tanks, and other major sources of nutrients responsible for putting much of the excessive phosphorus and nitrogen in the water,” Henry writes. But “as Great Lakes scientists probe deeper into the weeds on this issue, they find such contributing factors as invasive species and climate change also foster algal growth,” he explains, citing a paper in the journal Water Resources Research.
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“The report proposes a more subtle climate-change impact, one that has gone largely unnoticed but played into more algal growth: longer periods of calm winds between those violent summer storms.” It calls for further research on other factors that could make the area more susceptible to algae blooms. (h/t to InsideClimate News)
