Biologists from Washington State University Vancouver have begun taking weekly algae samples from Vancouver Lake as part of a $100,000, one-year research contract with the Clark County Public Works department.

The contract is part of the information gathering process headed by the Vancouver Lake Watershed Partnership, a public involvement group whose mission is to improve the total quality of the lake and the functions it serves in the community.

Recent years have seen frequent cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) blooms in the water which have closed the lake to swimmers and boaters.

"The algae can cause skin irritations in humans, and illness in animals when ingested," said Steve Bollens, director of science programs at WSU Vancouver. "The basic biology and ecology underlying these blooms are not well understood."

"We need to find out what organisms we have, why they grow here, and what factors - such as nutrients and grazers - affect them," said WSU Vancouver marine ecologist Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens, also a researcher on the Vancouver Lake project.

Visitors to Vancouver Lake may see researchers taking weekly samples from a dock, or on the lake in their research vessel, the "Sea Coug," a 22-foot C-Dory craft. -Source: http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu