January 25, 2014
What is this green slime in Lake Erie, why is it there, and what can be done to get rid of it?

An interactive session led by Dr. Douglas Kane

Associate Professor Defiance College
Dr. Douglas Kane's Personal Website

The addition of too many nutrients to Lake Erie during the 20th century led to its eutrophication with negative consequences such as bluegreen algal (cyanobacterial) blooms and expanded anoxic (no oxygen) conditions in its central basin.  Legislation during the early 1970’s, most notably the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the U.S., led to reduced nutrient pollution of the lake and by the 1980’s the lake had returned to a more desired state.  However, since the mid-1990’s Lake Erie has undergone a re-eutrophication event, with massive toxic bluegreen algal blooms and large areas of anoxia and hypoxia (low oxygen).  In this session, we will look at the historic factors that caused Lake Erie’s initial eutrophication, how the lake was “cleaned up,” why it has undergone a re-eutrophication event and what can be done to again fix this environmental problem and restore the Lake Erie ecosystem.    

Doug Kane is an Associate Professor of Biology in the Division of Natural and Applied Sciences and Mathematics at Defiance College.  His research interests lie in plankton and sediment organisms of Lake Erie and the human impacts on the ecology of lake Erie. During the summer Doug Kane is a visiting scientist, and research mentor for students taking courses at Ohio State University’s F.T Stone Laboratory http://stonelab.osu.edu.