Essay Question: Describe how harmful algal blooms develop in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Discuss who is responsible and the consequences for harmful algal blooms to public health and the environment. Discuss how the problem is being addressed.

Harmful Algal Blooms Development In Western Lake Erie Basin Algal blooms that are highly toxic or have negative consequences on consumers, fish, sea mammals, wildlife, and local economies are known as harmful algal blooms (HABs). HABs should not be confused with the cyanobacteria as they are not exactly same but correlated. HABs, or hazardous algal blooms, are blooms that have the propensity to endanger marine environment or people's health. On the other hand, Cyanobacteria, formerly referred as blue-green algae, are microorganisms that can create HABs in aquatic habitats. Contamination from runoff is the root cause of algae blooms in Lake Erie. Over the past several years, there has been an upsurge in the severity of HABs in western Lake Erie. Such blooms are constituted of cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, both of which are dangerous to both animals and humans due to their capacity to produce toxins. In one way or other, hazardous algal blooms harm the marine animals, human (through the basins like Erie), and our entire ecology. The study of microorganisms and how they interact with their surroundings as well as other species is known as ecology. The chairman of the Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health, George Bullerjahn, asserts (NFS) that numerous populations (A group of a species that interbreeds) of cyanobacteria that produce microcystin can live in various regions of Lake Erie and that algae blooms can contain both hazardous and non-toxic types of algae. Rainfall causes fertilization and excrement that has been applied to expansive farmlands to be washed into nearby creeks that then enter Lake Erie, causing this sort of pollution. As a result, there is a yearly bumper growth of algae that can contaminate the water and harm humans, animals, and fish. Despite the fact that sewage pipes, gardens, and treatment facilities for wastewater also provide phosphorus to runoff that resulted in Lake Erie, around 85% of the phosphorus comes from agricultural sources. The Toledo water system experienced a three-day shutdown in 2014 due to HABs (Dierkes and Christina), which provides an evidence of how dangerous HABs could be. Also, According to a report that the International Joint Commission published, Lake Erie's hazardous algal blooms cost the economy $43 million in missed tourism and recreation spending in 2014. Although phosphorus and nitrogen from farmland and large lawns are the primary drivers of HAB production, there are few other factors that contribute as well. Some HABs have also been documented as a consequence of natural processes like slow water flow, exceptionally high water temperatures, and severe weather conditions like cyclones, floods, and droughts. How much negative consequences of HAB that can appear and the possibility to occur, solely depends on the demography (collecting, compiling, and presenting information about human populations) of that region. A recognizable liver toxin, harmful algal blooms can damage the central nervous system. Another issue is skin irritability. Pets, who are unable to regulate their water consumption as effectively as humans, face the same health consequences. It must me noted that the Symbiosis (The association between two related organisms that involves either positive or adverse interaction is known as symbiosis) between HABs and ecology is not predation (Where one species benefits and the other is harmed) but an absolute negative impact over ecology. There have been various approaches of dealing with the problem of toxic algal blooms in the Erie lake basin. Since both phosphorus and nitrogen contribute to excessive accumulation of HABs, the solution is to cut down on their input into the lake. This might be accomplished by forbidding farmers from applying fertilizers to frozen ground and empowering them to inject fertilizer directly into their crops as contrast to applying it in a thin layer. Lesser phosphorus ends up in the runoff as a result. A water body's sediments and, consequently, nitrogen influx, can be reduced by planting trees and bushes around water body. To maintain the sustainability (preservation of ecological equilibrium through avoiding the exhaustion of natural resources) of environment along the stable food chain (the process of substance and energy being transferred from one organism to the next in the form of food), it is must to understand the seriousness of harmful algal blooms and its consequences over our environment. Work Cited “Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (CyanoHABs) in Water Bodies.” US EPA, 26 Apr. 2022, www.epa.gov/cyanohabs. “Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Blooms: Why Is the Water Turning Green?” NSF - National Science Foundation, beta.nsf.gov/news/lake-eries-toxic-algae-blooms-why-water-turning. Accessed 19 Oct. 2022. Dierkes, Christina. “Algae Through the Ages.” Ohio Sea Grant College Program, 18 June 2015, ohioseagrant.osu.edu/news/2014/17gmc/algae-through-the-ages.