Impacts of Great Lakes Harmful Algal Blooms on Public Health
PIs: Jay Martin (OSU), Stuart Ludsin, Jiyoung Lee (OSU), Carlo DeMarchi (Case Western Reserve)
A major gap in knowledge exists in that there are no predictive tools capable of quantifying how HABs, microcystin production, and the threat to public health will respond to changes in climate or land use. Therefore, a modeling tool would greatly benefit management entities across the Great Lakes that experience seasonal HABs (e.g., Maumee Bay, Lake Erie; Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron; Muskegon Lake, Lake Michigan; Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario) by allowing them to predict the magnitude of future health threats and determine if and what type of management may be needed to mitigate these outcomes. My colleagues and I are in the process of building a model to fill this knowledge gap.