Toxic Blue-Green Algae Blooms Powered By Extreme Weather Events, Scientist Finds - Montreal Gazette

[hatrack]

It's the weather, people: an ecology professor presented findings yesterday that indicate that the increase in blue-green algae blooms in Quebec might have just as much to do with the weather as it does with phosphate pollution.

David Bird, a professor currently studying the ecology of toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, at the Université du Québec à Montréal, spoke to about 150 scientists and students who packed a Palais des congrès room at the 30th Congress of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology. Bird indicated the increasing occurrence of extreme weather, such as heavy downpours, droughts and warm winters, seems to be linked to the onset of cyanobacteria problems.

EDIT

Studying weather data from 2005 and 2006 at Missisquoi Bay of Lake Champlain, Bird concluded that heavy rainfalls seem to trigger blue-green algae blooms. He suggested this would be because heavy rain soaks the land, then erodes pesticide-laden topsoil before streaming into the lake, which would make it contain more phosphorus than a typical rainfall, which filters through the soil before streaming into a body of water.

Then, drought-like conditions would cause evaporation of water from the lake, which would lead to a higher concentration of phosphorus and in turn a bigger growth of cyanobacteria. In the context of climate change, these extreme weather events are expected to increase in Quebec in the future - leading, speculatively, to even more algae blooms, Bird suggested

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=1a0c09c7-5858-4011-84a8-958d472284ab

[kestrel91316]

1. Between this, and the domoic acid-producing algae in the ocean,

and all the Dead Zones, it's starting to look like Revenge of the Microbes.