Harmful Algal Blooms: Molecular Screening Tool to Rapidly Assess Toxic Cyanobacteria Blooms in Minnesota Lakes

2020-2022 Biennial Request for Proposal Project

Image credit: MPCA

The goal of this project is to develop rapid-assessment tools that can identify cyanobacterial harmful algae bloom (cHAB) growth and toxicity in Minnesota lakes.

Expand all

Why do this?

Cyanobacterial harmful algae blooms (cHABs) have been reported with increasing frequency in recent years and have now been documented in all five Great Lakes. Annual estimates of the economic costs associated with cHABs in the United States exceed $4 billion per year with single events in the Laurentian Great Lakes having estimated costs approaching $65-70 million.

What have we done lately?

Project leader Christopher Filstrup's update on his project team's work on White Iron Lake appeared in the August 2020 issue of the WICOLA News, page 4. WICOLA is White Iron Chain of Lakes Association.

Funding

Minnesota Sea Grant provided research support through our 2020-2022 biennial competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

Lead scientist(s)

Christopher Filstrup
Applied Limnologist
Natural Resources Research Institute
University of Minnesota Duluth
218-788-2764
filstrup@d.umn.edu