FRANCE: A newly released study says cutting phosphorus levels is important for Lake Erie but isn’t a cure-all for one of its biggest environmental hazards: “dead zones” where fish can’t survive.
The Great Lakes – and many other large-scale natural and man-made lakes in the United States – have been suffering from these dead zones for quite some time. Originally, scientists said that these zones – areas where fish are unable to survive in a particular body of water – were being triggered by excess phosphorus runoff into these waters; the phosphorus triggers dangerous algae blooms that pollute the water and rob it of the essential nutrients fish need to survive in the water.
However, the research study says that phosphorus levels, while playing an important role in the formation of dead zones, isn’t the only culprit. In fact, the weather has a role to play as well, according to the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Scientists took a close, hard look at Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes but the most prodigious when it comes to fish production. The largest dead zone on record formed in Lake Erie in the summer of 2012, according to the report, and farms and other agricultural regions near the Lake Erie’s shores were blamed for phosphorus runoff from fertilizers contributing to these dead zones. However, the biggest contributor – according to the research study – was changes in regular weather conditions. In fact low flow rates from tributary rivers and droughts were found to be factors that had an even larger impact than excess phosphorus pouring into the lake’s waters.
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
