LONDON, Ohio - Potentially harmful algal blooms, or HABs, have become more prevalent throughout Ohio in recent years. These blooms on public waters have drawn much attention in the media, but are still a mystery to many people, said Eugene Braig, Ohio State University Extension aquatic ecosystems program director.
The blooms, technically caused by blue-green algae/cyanobacteria, are not true algae at all, Braig said.
"HABs and their associated environmental problems are almost always directly linked to excessive nutrients in the water," Braig said. "Factors contributing to HABs are complex, but will always involve nutrients to fuel them."
Warm temperatures, prolonged still water, low water levels and a lack of competition from other plants and true algae are conditions that further contribute to HAB growth, he said.
"Farmers can potentially contribute to the problem through the runoff of fertilizer and soil nutrients," Braig said.
Farmers can minimize their contribution to HABs by reducing runoff from and retaining nutrients within agricultural fields; maintaining buffer strips of native vegetation along streams, ditches and other surface waters; not giving livestock direct access to streams; and not applying fertilizers to frozen, impenetrable fields.
"These are just some of the practices that can make a difference within the agricultural community," Braig said.