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Articles on Our lakes: their secrets and challenges

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A dense cyanobacterial bloom is seen in the Kyiv Water Reservoir during an extreme heatwave near Kyiv, Ukraine in November 2020. While common across the world, Lake Superior has historically been too cold to host cyanobacterial blooms — until now. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Climate change is causing algal blooms in Lake Superior for the first time in history

The spectacular landscapes and pristine waters of the north shore of Lake Superior, which once provided inspiration for the Group of Seven, are now vulnerable to algal blooms.
Invasive species (including the plant species, Eurasian watermilfoil, pictured here) pose a real risk to many of Canada’s freshwater habitats. (Shutterstock)

Invasive species are reshaping aquatic ecosystems, one lake at a time

Freshwater ecosystems in Canada, and around the world, are more fragile than they look and vulnerable to invasive species. Canada’s lakes and rivers require constant vigilance to protect from invasion.
Cyanobacteria blooms. (Christophe Langevin)

Monitoring the health of lakes through the microbes that live in them

New techniques monitor the health of lakes in real time by analyzing their microbiome to anticipate and respond to environmental threats such as cyanobacteria.
Water fleas are planktonic crustaceans who live in lakewater and play a vital role in ecosystems. (Shutterstock)

Understanding how human activity impacts zooplankton is essential for managing and protecting lakewater

Zooplankton are microscopic in size, but crucial for regulating aquatic ecosystems and moving nutrients up the food chain. This is affected by human activities including pollution and climate change.
Ice and snow cover on a boreal forest lake in winter (Lake Simoncouche, Saguenay, Québec). (Noémie Gaudreault)

Lakes don’t sleep in winter! There’s a world living under ice

Canadians are no strangers to cold winters, when everything in nature appears to be frozen solid. However, under the ice cover of lakes, many animals remain active during the winter.
Lake Cromwell at the Station de biologie des Laurentides of the Université de Montréal, where many of our studies are carried out on parasitized fish. (Ariane Côté)

Our lakes are teeming with parasites. Why that’s good…and bad

Many wild fish in Québec have parasites. Is this necessarily a bad thing? How can we limit the proliferation and spread of specific harmful parasites?
View of Papineau Lake in the Kenauk forest, in the Outaouais region of Quebec. (Water and Land Conservation Research Chair)

Groundwater’s invisible role in sustaining lakes

In Canada, groundwater is generally abundant and lakes are ubiquitous. But the exchanges between groundwater and lakes are complex and often invisible.
Microplastics in the environment is a growing global problem. (Shutterstock)

To address the growing issue of microplastics in the Great Lakes, we need to curb our consumption

The growing environmental and health risks posed by microplastics can only be addressed by reducing the amount of plastic produced and ensuring that all of it is recycled.

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