Snow Pond / Messalonskee Lake Association

Professors Whitney King of Colby College received funding from the Belgrade Lakes Association to do a study during the summer of 2005 on the nature of recent Gloeotrichia blooms in Great and Long Ponds. Gloeotrichia is a blue-green bacteria that resides on lake sediments over winter and becomes buoyant, rising to the surface during the summer months. Nutrients, including phosphorus (a critical nutrient for algal growth) are brought from the bottom sediments with the colony of bacteria as it rises in the water column. As the colonies multiply they are driven along the surface by winds and accumulate along the shore, sometimes forming large mats in cove areas.

During the Summer of 2005 Gloeotrichia was also noted in Messalonskee Lake from the middle to the end of the summer for the first time, . Professor King’s work does not answer all of he questions about why we are seeing more Gloeotrichia in Lake Messalonskee, but his work will likely help understand the magnitude and impact of this change.

You can read the detail of his study by downloading a copy of his study HERE