Reference no: EM132405283

The Problem Matt and Flora are college sophomores studying biology who had met in their freshman biology lab. Matt had invited Flora up to his summer cottage on Lake Michigan to spend a week with his family and was excited to show her the beautiful beach. He hadn't been to the cottage in a couple of years because he had been working in the city to save up money for college. After arriving on a hot August evening, they decided to go straight out to the beach and chatted as they walked along the path. "I can't wait for you to see the beach. I've been walking and swimming here since before I can remember. It even inspired me to study biology," Matt explained. "It sounds really beautiful. Maybe we can take a dip in the lake to cool down after the long drive," said Flora. When they arrived, there was a bad smell in the air and there were piles of brown goop along the water's edge. This wasn't how Matt remembered the beach. "What's that lined up along the shore? And that smell! Do you think there's been a sewage leak?" Flora asked. "I'm not sure, but I don't think we should stick around to find out. Let's go back to the cottage and ask my parents if they know what's going on," Matt replied. When they got back to the cottage, Matt's parents told them that for the past two years large quantities of green algae had washed up on the beach. The rotting algae formed stinking clumps along the shore. Fewer tourists had been coming to visit the area since the beach was so unpleasant when this happened. Their neighbors were worried about the impact on the value of their lake property. "I wonder what's going on?" Matt asked. "I think we should find out," Flora replied. "My Aunt Janet works for the Department of Natural Resources. I'm going to send her an email and ask if she knows anything about this," said Flora. "Great idea. I'm so sorry, Flora, that wasn't the romantic walk I had in mind," said Matt.

1. What could have caused a recent increase in the amount of algae washing up on the beach? Brainstorm a list of possibilities.

2. Choose three of your ideas from the above list and a testable hypothesis for each one. Describe the data that you would need to test each hypothesis.

3. Describe what has happened to phytoplankton in Lake Michigan.

4. What factors in the environment would make one kind of alga increase while another decreases? Examine the information about the two species of filter feeding mussels as you answer this question.

5. Speculate about how water temperature changes could influence the success of Cladophora.

6. Do you think recent changes in atmospheric carbon could play a role in problems with algae? Why or why not?

7. What actions could we take in response to these problems with Cladophora?

8. Comment on

A) What you learned so far from this reading and

B) Any personal encounters with similar growths in lakes or ponds, or stories with sources that have been in the news.