{"id":276964,"date":"2026-09-02T01:52:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276964\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T01:52:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:52:42","slug":"researchers-investigate-harmful-effects-of-lake-erie-algal-bloom-toxins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276964\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers investigate harmful effects of Lake Erie algal bloom toxins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) &#8211; The algal bloom in the western basin of Lake Erie is just under 400 square miles, with the highest concentrations in Maumee Bay. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6QR5LR7RSREWVLNCOCJ77EY6WA.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"455\" \/>National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science(National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coastalscience.noaa.gov\/science-areas\/habs\/hab-forecasts\/lake-erie\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/coastalscience.noaa.gov\/science-areas\/habs\/hab-forecasts\/lake-erie\/\">Click here<\/a> for the NOAA Lake Erie Harmful Algae Bloom Forecast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">There are currently four areas of active research being conducted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/\">Great Lakes Center for Freshwaters and Human Health.<\/a> These projects are looking at the different harmful aspects of algal blooms. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-1\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-1\/\"> first one<\/a> is looking at nutrients and environmental variabilities, such as the impacts of phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as weather conditions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-2\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-2\/\">second project<\/a> is looking at different toxins and other materials that are produced in the blooms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThere are over 300 different types of microcystin, but that is only one of the things that are coming out of these blooms,\u201d said Sara Guiher, a harmful algal bloom and water quality specialist for <a href=\" https:\/\/ohioseagrant.osu.edu\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\" https:\/\/ohioseagrant.osu.edu\/\">Ohio Sea Grant<\/a> Extension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">This part of the project is also studying the human health impacts of these toxins, as well as the effects of mixing combinations of different toxins. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-3\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-3\/\"> third project<\/a> is looking at aerosolization, studying bubble formation in the water and how different toxins, such as microcystin, may become airborne.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThey are working with modelers who look at climate and weather to see if we can incorporate it maybe into forecasts \u2013 you know \u2013 toxins are presents, they are going into the air, and how they might move,\u201d said Guiher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-4\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/greatlakeshumanhealth\/research\/active-projects\/project-4\/\">Project four<\/a> is a five year study looking at the human health impacts of inhaling these airborne toxins such as microcystin. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">September is a month where the blooms start to wind down, but it is recommended that you avoid those clusters of algae as they may include toxins that could be harmful to health. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/news\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/news\/\">Latest Local News<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/weather\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">First Alert Weather<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/news\/crime\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Crime<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/news\/national\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">National<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13abc.com\/franchises\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">13abc Originals<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WTVG. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) &#8211; The algal bloom in the western basin of Lake Erie is just under 400&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-276964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}