News
Study on Diatom domination in Muskegon Lake during 2019 published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research
September 21, 2021
A study exploring the domination by Diatoms in the Muskegon Lake Algal community will be published in the October issue of the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Led by recent Master's graduate Jasmine Mancuso, the paper investigates the conditions that led Diatoms, a type of algae, to dominate the Muskegon Lake algal community during 2019. This was a year with the highest amount of precipitation on record for the Muskegon River watershed, which feeds Muskegon Lake. Jasmine and her co-authors found that conditions associated with this extremely cold and wet year led Diatoms to take over the algal community in Muskegon Lake throughout the year, which is abnormal considering they are usually only dominant in the spring and fall.
Read more about this exciting, open access study, and what changes we might expect in the future with climate change and extreme weather oscillations.