Perhaps science will bear this out. But perhaps scientists should also look upstream to factory farms and lawns drenched with fertilizers as sources of Lake Erie's recurrent algae problem.
Sep. 8--ELYRIA, Ohio -- Despite the annoyance that mayflies pose each June when they swarm across the region, Ohioans have generally held the broad-winged insects in high esteem because of what they have symbolized: Lake Erie's recovery.
Now, a decade after pollution dissipated enough for mayflies to make their comeback, some researchers believe they could be hurting the lake by helping algae grow.
The theory is that they stir up tiny particles of nutrient-laden sediment, a subtle action at the lake's bottom that might even make the central basin's infamous "dead zone" worse. Those tidbits were among the relatively new pieces of information emerging at yesterday's annual Ohio Lake Erie Conference, which drew nearly 200 people to Lorain County Community College. The event was sponsored by the Toledo-based Ohio Lake Erie Office, an arm of the governor's office, which reports to state agency directors.
Posted by Dave at September 11, 2006 08:54 AM