Are algae blooms harmful to aquatic life?
Now that weve examined some of the reasons why algae blooms occur and why they have been particularly intense on the Fox River this year, what are the potential effects of the blooms on the Fox ecosystem? As noted earlier, algae utilize the process of photosynthesis to convert energy from sunlight into the chemical energy used to sustain itself. Part of the process of photosynthesis involves the release of oxygen into the environment during the daylight hours. In this case, the algae living in the Fox River release oxygen into the water during the daytime. However, at night, those same algae plants pull dissolved oxygen from the water. When algae concentrations are exceedingly high, wild swings in dissolved oxygen levels occur between the day and night time periods with extremely high (superoxygentated) levels occurring during the day and very low (hypoxic) conditions occurring during the night. If nighttime dissolved oxygen levels fall below critical levels, fish kills can result. Eve
