CFAES scientist Suzanne Gray explains her research connecting water quality, aquatic diversity and human activities in the video above. It’s her lightning-round talk (6:36) from CFAES’s Annual Research Conference. How do fish — from bluegills in the Scioto River, to walleyes in western Lake Erie, to cichlids in the Nile River basin — respond to rapid changes in their water caused by people?
Harmful Algal Blooms
Watch: Working with Ohio’s farmers to use and improve watershed models
CFAES’s 2018 Annual Research Conference, held on the Wooster campus on April 27, featured keynote presentations by researchers from Iowa and Arkansas; a panel discussion featuring stakeholders from Ohio’s agricultural community; updates by CFAES leaders; and eight fast-paced lightning-round talks by CFAES scientists — good examples of the many ways that CFAES is working to improve water quality, while also securing its food production.
Margaret Kalcic of CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering was one of those lightning-round speakers. Her lab, according to its website, works “to provide producers in the western Lake Erie watersheds, as well as their advisors, information that encourages adoption of appropriate conservation measures to tackle Lake Erie’s nutrient goals.”
You can watch her (short!) presentation in the video above.
Save the date for algal bloom forecast
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Lake Erie harmful algal bloom forecast is set for July 12 at CFAES’s Stone Lab at Put-in-Bay. You also can attend by webinar.
This could be the No. 1 way to keep phosphorus out of Lake Erie
The cheapest, most cost-effective way to reduce the phosphorus getting into Lake Erie is by taxing farmers on their purchase of the nutrient or by paying them not to use it on their fields. That’s according to a study by Shaohui Tang and Brent Sohngen, both of CFAES’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics.
Do water pitchers filter out algal bloom toxins?
Not all water filter pitchers are created equal when it comes to removing toxins from harmful algal blooms. So says a new study led by Justin Chaffin, research coordinator at CFAES’s Stone Lab. Read the Ohio State press release.
They’re seeing if toxins from Lake Erie algae get into food you might eat
Do toxins from Lake Erie algal blooms get into Lake Erie fish you might eat? What about vegetables that growers watered with water they pulled from the lake? Scientists with CFAES, funded by Ohio Sea Grant and the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative, are helping find answers.
FAQ on Lake Erie impairment designation
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s draft 2018 water quality report, released yesterday, includes a proposal to designate western Lake Erie as impaired for recreation (due to harmful algal blooms) and for drinking water (due to the microcystin toxin that is sometimes produced by those blooms). Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab programs today published an FAQ about the designation to help answer people’s questions.
Good for both farming, Lake Erie
“We’re trying to find solutions to move the health of Lake Erie in the right direction, but at the same time, keep the ag industry vibrant,” said Chris Winslow, director of Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory programs, quoted in a March 16 story in the Port Clinton News Herald. He was speaking at the Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual Agricultural Community Breakfast on March 15, and was referring to the issue of agricultural phosphorus runoff, a cause of the harmful algal blooms plaguing Lake Erie and other water bodies. Scientists with Ohio Sea Grant, CFAES, and other agencies and institutions are working to find ways to reduce that runoff.
Know your phosphorus risk (even better)
The Ohio Phosphorus Risk Index, an online planning tool for farmers, and a help for trying to reduce the phosphorus getting into Lake Erie, is being revised through the efforts of a scientist from CFAES.
21 more ways to fight algal blooms
The Ohio Department of Higher Education has awarded $3.5 million in funding for 21 more projects in its ongoing Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative. Some involve scientists from CFAES.