Video about Ohio Sea Grant and the Cuyahoga River Area of Concern (AOC) Advisory Committee commemorating the latest milestone in restoring the Cuyahoga River with a celebration honoring the removal of the area’s sixth Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI)

An information video on the Lake Erie and Aquatic Research Network (LEARN) and its first project, the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program

Video of Jenna Malloy sharing her experience with Semester at Stone Lab 2023

A video highlighting the events of Stone Lab’s 2024 Lake Erie Awareness Day

Video recording of the live web event for NOAA’s annual HABs Forecast for western Lake Erie on June 27, 2024

Video about the Discover Aquaculture event hosted by Ohio Sea Grant at The Ohio State University Extension’s Delaware County Office on June 14, 2024

A video teaser of Chris Winslow introducing NOAA’s annual Lake Erie HABs Forecast on June 27, 2024

Video featuring the Fish Fillet Day at Dublin Jerome High School on May 7, 2024

A promotional video centered on Stone Lab’s positive impacts on one student, Spencer Knisely

A playlist of videos from Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science Conference 2023

A video detailing the Semester at Stone Lab experience, highlighting personal testimony from student Schuyler Butze.

Alum application is sometimes used to treat or prevent harmful algal blooms in inland lakes such as Ohio’s Grand Lake St. Mary’s, which experiences severe harmful algal blooms similar to Lake Erie’s western basin. But a 2021 Wright State University study suggests that the benefits, if any, of alum application and other interventions are short-lived.

Dr. Mark McCarthy, who led the project, suggests that climate change and external nitrogen inputs play a larger role in the persistence and severity of algal blooms in these lakes.

Event Archive

What is Ohio Sea Grant?

What is Stone Laboratory?

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), including antibiotics, are emerging contaminants in water that are not completely eliminated during water treatment. Because these compounds can affect human and wildlife health, it’s important to assess their presence in drinking and wastewater.

Dr. Jen Mou and Dr. Laura Leff at Kent State University are developing new methods to detect these compounds, to help guide approaches for dealing with contaminants like them in the future. The team also wants to determine if the presence of a bacterial gene that codes for antibiotic resistance can predict levels of antibiotic contamination in water samples.

Event Archive

The Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science Conference will highlight current scientific knowledge related to algal blooms.

Event Archive

A video about a student’s experience within Stone Lab’s Semester at Stone Lab program, where Ohio State School of Environment and Natural Resources students take an entire summer of courses.

Beach visits play an important role in Ohio’s $15 billion tourism industry, but water quality issues like harmful algal blooms and E. coli outbreaks can negatively affect beachgoers and discourage them from returning to a favorite spot. The economic impact of these water quality issues is not well understood yet, but estimates of this reduced economic welfare from 2019 are as high as $5.8 million.

Dr. Brent Sohngen at The Ohio State University is working on determining the value of Lake Erie beaches to the state’s overall economy, and how that value is affected when water quality issues like harmful algal blooms occur.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), including antibiotics, are emerging contaminants in water that are not completely eliminated during water treatment. Because these compounds can affect human and wildlife health, it’s important to assess their presence in drinking and wastewater.

Dr. Jen Mou at Kent State University is developing new methods to detect these compounds, to help guide approaches for dealing with contaminants like them in the future. The team also wants to determine if the presence of a bacterial gene that codes for antibiotic resistance can predict levels of antibiotic contamination in water samples.

Single-use plastic bags are everywhere in society, but despite their convenience, they can have negative impacts on the environment and on waste management. Farmers markets seem like a logical place to encourage the use of reusable bags, but when Jill Bartolotta and Dr. Scott Hardy from Ohio Sea Grant examined the effects of giving out free reusable bags at the Ohio farmers markets, they found that just having bags available is not an effective approach to reducing the use of plastic bags. Instead, communities should consider focused approaches like bag bans and education and outreach strategies, as well as financial and policy incentives.

Resources for the Fishy Finances: Tips to Help Fund Your Fish Farm webinar, held on November 17, 2021.

Join the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative and Ohio Sea Grant for a webinar about seafood safety, grilling tips, and demonstrations of seafood prep and grilling at home using seafood grown in Great Lakes aquaculture!

Preparing fish at home may seem intimidating, but you can do it! Seafood is an important and nutritious source of protein we can all benefit from in our diets. This webinar will show you how to choose, prepare and grill seafood kebabs using trout, catfish and shrimp so you can take advantage of great seafood in the Great Lakes. You’ll also learn important food safety information, from buying, storing and preparing fish and other seafood safely to putting away your leftovers properly.

Food Safety Considerations Prior to Purchasing Seafood
Lauren Jescovitch, Ph.D., Extension Educator, Michigan Sea Grant

Lauren works as an Extension Educator in the Houghton/Hancock area in the Upper Peninsula. Lauren’s work focuses on state and tribal aquaculture and fisheries, HACCP, water quality, and needs assessments.

Food Safety Considerations at Home
Elliot Nelson, Extension Educator, Michigan Sea Grant

Elliot works with coastal communities and businesses in the Eastern Upper Peninsula to apply science-based knowledge to address Great Lakes, Lake Superior, northern Lake Michigan, and northern Lake Huron issues. Elliot’s focus areas include environmental literacy, aquaculture, water and birding trails, and coastal ecosystem restoration.

Grilling in the Great Lakes (demonstration and discussion)
Sharon Moen, Eat Wisconsin Fish Outreach Specialist, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Sharon provides information, trainings and opportunities so that people can make science-based decisions when producing, procuring, marketing or eating fish, especially in Wisconsin. She works with commercial fishers, food-fish producers and fish consumers so that Wisconsin can better support sustainable fisheries industries and improve human health.

Stone Lab shows off how it benefits students and the community for 2017’s Giving Tuesday.

Get an aerial view of the facilities at Stone Lab, OSU’s island campus

Video showing off the features ans facilities of Gibraltar Island, where stone Lab is located.

Crude Oil Movement in the Great Lakes Basin Presentation

Dr. Stuart Ludsin answers the question “Are fish caught in or near a harmful algal bloom safe to eat?”

Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffery Reutter answers the question “How is drinking water treated to remove microcystin?”

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffry Reutter answers the question “What level of exposure to microcystin in drinking water is dangerous?”

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Reutter answers the question “Is the air near an algae bloom dangerous to inhale?”

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Reutter gives advice for helping reduce the amount of phosphorous that runs into Lake Erie.

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Reutter explains the difference between microcysis and microcystin.

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffry Reutter answers the question “How quickly will Lake Erie recover if we reduce phosphorus runoff?”

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Reutter explains what conditions facilitate a harmful algal bloom.

Frequently Asked Questions Harmful Algal Blooms — Ohio Sea Grant Special Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Reutter explains the main steps we need to take to prevent harmful algal blooms.

Stone Lab Guest Lecture
Craig Butler, Director, Ohio Environmental Agency
An Update of Ohio’s Efforts to Protect Lake Erie

Research Brief
Dr. Kristen Fussel, Ohio Sea Grant
Spacial Correlation and Facilitation Between Dreissena and Hexagenia: Possible Food-Web Disruption?

Jay Martin breaks down impacts of phosphorus in the western Basin of Lake Erie and what needs to be done to help fix the problem.

Carolyn Whitacre, Vice President for Research at the Ohio State University explains how OSU facilitates research and provides research opportunities for its students.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Lake Erie and other Ohio lakes impact water quality, public health and recreation. This 3-part overview introduces the basics of the problem, as well as some solutions currently in the works at Ohio State and its partner institutions.

Stone Lab Guest Lecture
Roger Thoma, Senior Research Associate, Midwest Biodiversity Institute
A Brief history of Crayfish Evolution and Their Conservation Status in North America

Research Brief
Chris Vandergoot, ODNR Division of Wildlife
Following Lake Erie Walleye: confirming previous movement perceptions or formulating new ones?

Stone Lab Guest Lecture
Amanda Bonavia, Rockford University, Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences
Migration and Invasions: Connections Between Migrant Birds and Invasive Shrubs

Research Brief
Jim McCormac, ODNR Division of Wildlife
The Importance of Conservation: Tales of Recoveries and Discoveries

Ohio Division of Wildlife – Who, Why and What’s Hot?
Scott Zody, Chief, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife

Research Brief: Gene thieves in your backyard: An introduction to the amazing unisexual salamanders
Katherine Greenwald, Eastern Michigan University

Ideally, people are objective when they perceive risks and make decisions in climate and other domains. But psychological research suggests that this is not always how the human mind works. Examples in climate change and other politically charged domains will be considered along with evidence-based strategies that may help.

This event was part of the Climate Explorations series of events held during Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 to communicate the science of climate change and its impacts on the Central Ohio community.