Robotic laboratories on the bottom of Lake Erie have revealed that the muddy sediments there release nearly as much of the nutrient phosphorus into the surrounding waters as enters the lake s central basin each year from rivers and their tributaries.
Excessive phosphorus, largely from agricultural sources, contributes to the annual summer cyanobacteria bloom that plagues Lake Erie s western basin and the central basin s annual dead zone, an oxygen-starved region that blankets several thousand square miles of lake bottom and that reduces habitat for fish and other organisms.
The release of phosphorus from Lake Erie sediments during periods of low oxygen a phenomenon known as self-fertilization or internal loading has been acknowledged since the 1970s. But the new University of Michigan-led study marks the first time the process has been monitored step by step for an entire season using lake-bottom sensors.
Release of nutrients from lake-bottom sediments worsens Lake Erie s annual dead zone, could intensify as climate warms miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Watertown Daily Times The state Department of Environmental Conservation this week released its two-year progress report on Great Lakes restoration, noting 103 of 124 actions have progressed since being written in 2015. The 20-page report details 2018-20 progress across several projects on Lake Erie, the St. Lawrence River, Genesee River, Black River and the Finger Lakes, as well as the state’s areas of concern listed by the federal government. Prepared as part of the DEC’s Great Lakes Program, the report is based on the Great Lakes Action Agenda, a set of multi-year restoration and management goals that involve local, state and federal plans. The program and agenda are driven by an ecosystems-based management approach, which prioritizes environmental restoration and resource management simultaneously with community resiliency and stewardship.