The following article originally appeared in the Kenora Daily Miner
& News. It is reproduced here with the permission of
the Kenora Daily Miner & News.
Kenora Daily Miner & News
February 25 2003
Study of algae funded by district property owners
association
By Wes Godin
Miner & News Staff
Ever wondered what causes the green algae on the Lake of
the Woods? Your questions could be answered with a series of
experiments being conducted this summer.
With the help of the first environmental grant from the
Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association Inc.,
Jessica Clasen, a PhD candidate at the University of British
Columbia, will be conducting a number of experiments that look
how rainwater is effecting the algae growth on the Lake of the
Woods.
The two-part study, being conducted during storms or heavy
rainfall in the area from May through to August, will
concentrate on the effects rainwater has on the water quality
of the Lake of the Woods, explained Todd Sellers, second
vice-president of the 4,000-member association of waterfront
property owners in the region.
The first survey will involve the collection of rainwater
where the samples will be analyzed for nutrient concentration
including nitrogen, phosphorus and different forms of nitrogen
nitrate.
Being that nitrogen and phosphorus are the two main
fertilizers that stimulate algae growth, Sellers said she is
hypothesizing that the amount of algae in the lake may be
attributing to the amount of these two nutrients in the rain
water.
In the second survey, Clasen will be looking at the
concentration of bacteria and viruses that are within the
rainwater.
She will be looking into the effects the bacteria and the
viruses from the rainwater have on the lake water and to the
plant cells like algae.
Sellers said the samples will be collected this summer with
the help of a summer student and a series of experiments will
be conducted in the lab throughout the winter months at the
University of British Columbia.
Clasen, who has extensive experience investigating lake
water quality and ecology at the Experimental Lakes Area and
at various government and university research stations in the
United States, has a Masters of Science degree in biology from
Arizona State University.
She will be provided with $5,000 in financial assistance
from the property owners association.
The funding will come out of the association's
environmental fund that members donate money to each year,
Sellers said.
"We'd like to help stimulate some interest in students
and scientists focusing on the area around Kenora, the Lake of
the Woods and inland lakes as well," said Sellers.
Water quality is a big concern for the association members,
Sellers said. There has been a perception that the algae is
getting worse and they want to know what they can do to
prevent it.
"As an association we think we have a role and
responsibility to help support research on water quality on
the Lake of the Woods," said Sellers.
The data recovered by Clasen will be distributed to the
Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association Inc.
after the projects are complete, sometime next year, said
Sellers.
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