Comparing the Interannual Variability of the Annual Cyanobactria Bloom in Western Lake Erie with Saginaw Bay

Session: Poster session

Timothy Wynne, NOAA, [email protected]
Richard Stumpf, NOAA, [email protected]
Andrew Meredith, NOAA, [email protected]
Sachidananda Mishra, NOAA, [email protected]

Abstract

Saginaw Bay and western Lake Erie are both sub basins in the Laurentian Great Lakes which host annual summer cyanobacterial blooms. The two basins share several commonalities. They are the same size (26,000 – 27,000 km²), roughly the same depth (average depth 24-27 meters) and  are both fed by a river (Maumee River in Lake Erie and Saginaw River in Saginaw Bay) into their southwestern portion of the basin. The watersheds of each river are roughly the same size ranging from 22,000 km² (Saginaw River) to 16,500 km² (Maumee River).  The two river mouths are separated by approximately 215 km. Despite the fact that the Maumee River has a smaller watershed the median of the mean annual discharge from 2002-2015 is 27% higher than the discharge from the Saginaw River. The blooms in both systems have a degree of interannual variability ranging from a factor of two in Saginaw bay to a factor of 30 in western Lake Erie. Why do two seemingly similar systems have such a high degree of interannual variability in cyanobacteria bloom abundances? This poster will present the hypothesis that the differences in bloom variability are a function of land use within the respective watersheds.

1. Keyword
cyanophyta

2. Keyword
algae

3. Keyword
harmful algal blooms

4. Additional Keyword
Lake Erie

5. Additional Keyword
Saginaw Bay