Researchers at the University of Wisconsin say that nitrogen levels play a role in whether or not blue-green algae produce toxins, according to a release. Their findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.<\/p>\n
Phosphorus has long been known to fuel the growth of toxic algae, but nitrogen at the right concentrations will as well. The researchers say a lack of nitrogen causes algae cells to produce extra toxins as they try to maintain stability with their environment until there is once again enough nitrogen for normal growth.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin team studied water in Lake Mendota from 2010 to 2011 and say that toxic blooms consistently followed non-toxic blooms that used up most of the water\u2019s nitrogen.The findings are important because they further explain the role nitrogen plays in the growth of toxic algae.<\/p>\n
Image:\u00a0Lake Erie algal bloom 2011 (Credit: Brenda Culler \/ Ohio Department of Natural Resources)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers at the University of Wisconsin say that nitrogen levels play a role in whether or not blue-green algae produce toxins, according to a release. Their findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE. Phosphorus has long been known to fuel the growth of toxic algae, but nitrogen at the right concentrations will as well. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":10518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,7],"tags":[346],"class_list":["post-15856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakes-reservoirs","category-news","tag-lakes-reservoirs"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n