Early algal blooms in Lake O could mean fewer blooms later in summer
LAKE OKEECHOBEE – Algal blooms on Lake Okeechobee were in the news in April, causing some to worry 2021 would be a bad year for algal blooms. But the early blooms may instead be a positive sign.
At the May 13 meeting of the South Florida Water Management Governing Board, Division Director Water Resources Lawrence Glenn explained an early bloom can consume most of the available dissolved nitrogen, leaving less fuel for algal blooms later in the summer.
Glenn said expanded monitoring on the lake has begun with 32 stations sampled every two weeks May through October.
He said the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in the lake are fairly high right now. That DIN is available to fuel cyanobacteria (sometimes called blue-green algae). While some cyanobacteria can “fix” nitrogen from the air, Microcysits – the species dominant in about a third of the lake – requires DIN in the water to thrive.
He said as the Microcystis reproduces, it will consume the DIN.
“We are fairly high and we expect to see a drop again,” said Glenn. “Maybe having his occur a month earlier in the season, it will consume that nitrogen source so that the bloom won’t last as long in the summer when the rains come and the lake starts to fill back up.”
Another factor that might help the lake this year is the increase in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) which competes with the cyanobacteria for nutrients/
