[Coral-List] Lyngbya bloom

[Bill Allison]

I have seen Lyngbya blooms in the back reefs surrounding some islands in
Maldives. On one occasion this was correlated with unusually hot, still,
clear-sky weather. One back reef with poor through-flow and sewage input had
a very impressive bloom. I did not detect unusual levels of iron.

On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 12:17 PM, Mark Vergara <markvergara at gmail.com>wrote:

> Following on Gene Shinn's info on *Lyngbya* bloom stimulated by iron in the
> water, then it would explain the overgrowth of *Lyngbya* on a ship
> grounding
> site we surveyed in northwest Philippines were the ship was not yet
> removed.
>
> Mark Vergara
> The Marine Science Institute
> University of the Philippines
>
>
> Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:05:36 -0400
> From: Gene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Lyngbya bloom
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <a06210206c7ee87e81392@[192.
> 168.1.3]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> Kevin, Recent studies at the Smithsonian Lab in Ft Pierce found  that
> iron is the primary nutrient that  that stimulates Lyngbya growth.
> The question is what is the source of iron? Sewage is not normally a
> source of iron. One  source is African dust. The dust  contains
> between 5 and 6 percent iron. The dust blows in to south Florida
> every summer beginning in June and lasting until November. Due to
> climate changes in North Africa and increased use of water (Lake Chad
> once 100 miles across is now about 10  miles across) the amount of
> dust blowing in from Africa began increasing in the early 1970s and
> peaked in 1983 and 84. 1983 and 1984 was when Lyngbya  as well as
> various green algae proliferated on the reef tract and in Florida
> Bay. Another peak year for dust was 1998. Coral lovers will know what
> happened during those years. The amount of dust leaving Africa is
> around 1 billon tons each year of which hundreds of Millions of tons
> reach our shores. For example the amount of African dust reaching
> Miami  exceeds EPA particulate standards several times a year during
> summer months. Sorry, not much we can do about it. Gene
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>



-- 
________________________________
Say what some poets will, Nature is not so much her own ever-sweet
interpreter as the mere supplier of that cunning alphabet, whereby selecting
and combining as he pleases, each man reads his own peculiar lesson
according to his own peculiar mind and mood. (Herman Melville, 1852)