Catching the Bloom

Great day on the lake with Sarah Garcia, Gabby Holm,
Amanda McCormick, and Joe Phillips

Gabby taking gas samples

Much has happened since our last post.  Thanks to the generosity of Árni Einarsson at the Mývatn Research Station and the University of Wisconsin-Madison research crew, we have set up our gas chromatograph, learned how to navigate the lake and skipper the boat, and how to set up both sediment and pelagic incubations to make our measurements. It has been our first priority to catch the bloom of Anabaena that has covered the lake in recent weeks.  And, I am happy to report that we have successfully completed several sets of nitrogen fixation and metabolism measurements!  

Late night on the GC with Gabby

We are busy analyzing data now and preparing for our next few field days on the lake.  Days on the lake are dictated by the weather and while we can handle rain, high winds keep us off the lake and indoors, in the warm lab.  But, both field and lab days are important to accomplishing our work.  Blooms of Anabaena have regularly occurred in Mývatn; however, they may be becoming more frequent and extensive.  This year the bloom has been quite thick in some locations, blocking light from reaching the bottom.  Working with the team of researchers here, we want to understand how the cyanobacteria blooms influence the ecology of this amazing ecosystem.  We will have more to report as our project continues to develop.  Stay tuned…..

Sarah deploying our incubation tubes,
stocked with Anabaena, into the lake