The Lake Scugog Stewards partnered with Kawartha Conservation and Ontario Tech College to conduct analysis from 2016 to 2019 on Lake Scugog.
Throughout that interval, researchers Dr. Andrea Kirkwood, Shelby Ravary, and Dr. Tyler Harrow Lyle studied water samples taken from 12 websites on the lake. By final February, 10 papers have been revealed primarily based on their findings. A lot of this analysis targeted on a comparatively new invasive species, a macroalgae often called starry stonewort.
The researchers decided that its institution might have particularly dramatic impacts on the decrease aquatic meals internet and should trigger will increase in zebra mussels and blue inexperienced algae abundance. The discovered starry stonewort can also be answerable for decrease dissolved oxygen and a rise in soluble reactive phosphorous ranges. Additionally, they think its growth throughout Ontario might trigger declines in native macroalgae.
Extra research
Kirkwood and her colleagues additionally revealed two research on Lake Scugog’s total well being which discovered Scugog’s shoreline to be extremely variable in its ecological well being, with some areas in nice situation, whereas others have been extraordinarily poor. They famous that, regardless of representing the smallest proportion of Scugog’s watershed land-use, shorelines with city growth had the best stage of water and ecological degradation.
One other research targeted on offshore websites chosen particularly for his or her previous or current use as walleye spawning grounds. The researchers noticed a shift from native species to an invasive species-dominant system over the interval of their research, together with the beforehand dominant invasive plant, Eurasian water milfoil, being overtaken by starry stonewort.
Excessive ranges of phosphorus, noticed as being on the rise, have been concluded to be a possible driver for the success of invasives like zebra mussels and starry stonewort in Lake Scugog and eutrophication gave the impression to be worsening.
The research additionally discovered that offshore water and ecological well being relies on location, fairly than being constant throughout the waterbody. This may occasionally provide some hope for the way forward for the lake, as future stewardship actions can select key goal areas for max impression.
For more information go to: scugoglakestewards.com/analysis
