NDP TEACHER UNDERTAKES IMPORTANT GREAT LAKES RESEARCH

Share this article with a friend.

July 18, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Laura Elwood NDP'10 sails out on EPA research vessel as part of a shipboard science workshop on Lake Erie.

The Great Lakes provide drinking water to 40 million people, support a $6 trillion regional economy, and generate more than 1.5 million jobs in the United States and Canada. The Great Lakes also contain 84% of the available freshwater in North America and are home to 3,500 species of plants and animals.

During the last 10 years, however, nearly 90% of water samples taken from those Great Lakes have exceeded safe levels for wildlife. Researchers from the University of Toronto and the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development came to this conclusion recently after conducting a comprehensive review of microplastics studies.

For Notre Dame Prep's Laura Elwood, who teaches AP/IB biology, she confirmed many of those same conclusions and learned much more about harmful algae blooms during an "opportunity of a lifetime" when she joined other educators and a number of researchers from the EPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for a week-long workshop on Lake Erie aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Research Vessel (R/V) Lake Guardian.

Invasive mussels and algae blooms 

Elwood was one of 15 teachers chosen by Michigan Sea Grant — a cooperative program of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — to spend the week of July 7-13, 2024, aboard the R/V Lake Guardian. Hosts for the Center for Great Lakes Literacy (CGLL) workshop also included CGLL partners Ohio Sea Grant and Pennsylvania Sea Grant.

"Our three major focuses for the week were on the amount and composition of plastic in Lake Erie and the amount and types of algae in the lake to determine if a harmful algae bloom was occurring," said Elwood shortly after completing the trip. "My group concentrated on what the composition of benthic organisms, which are invertebrates that live on the lake floor, primarily focusing on invasive zebra and quagga mussels. We took three to five samples in each the western, central and eastern basins of Lake Erie to compare with each other in order to better answer those questions."

She said the scientific equipment used to collect the samples necessary for the study included the PONAR and underwater camera to help analyze the benthic sediment for mussels, a rosette and plankton net for capturing algae at different depths to analyze, and a manta trawl used to collect plastic at the surface.

Nonstandard standards

"What we eventually determined after our week on the lake was that the amount of plastic has quadrupled in the past 10 years with most of the plastic under 5 mm in size," said Elwood, who was chosen for the assignment from 100 other educator applicants. "We also found that there are now mostly quagga mussels instead of zebra mussels on the bottom of the lake and that unfortunately they are filtering out the beneficial algae and leaving behind toxic bloom algae."

She pointed out that according to Ohio standards, the lake exhibited a moderate algae bloom, but according to New York standards, there is no algae bloom, since each state has their own standards set.

Elwood's trip on board the research vessel is part of a rotation among the five Great Lakes and was designed to promote Great Lakes sciences while forging lasting relationships between Great Lakes researchers and educators, according to Michigan Sea Grant. Next year's workshop will be on Lake Michigan.

In addition to her research work on the lake, Elwood also had the opportunity to work at the Ohio State Stone Lab in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, and in Erie, Penn., on a beach clean up and to learn more about plastics management. 

"This opportunity of a lifetime made me appreciate even more the gem of a resource that surrounds us," she said. "We need to actively work on managing the invasive species and plastic that we are allowing into our Great Lakes. Another major take-away for me was that many people doing a few things can add up to huge results overall. All of us doing small things can make a a huge difference in protecting our amazing lakes."

More on the CGLL Shipboard Science Workshop:
Organized by the Center for Great Lakes Literacy (CGLL), the experience is a collaborative effort led by Sea Grant educators throughout the U.S. Great Lakes watershed. CGLL fosters informed and responsible decisions that advance basin-wide stewardship by providing hands-on experiences, educational resources and networking opportunities promoting Great Lakes literacy among an engaged community of educators, scientists and youth. For more information on the Shipboard Science Workshop and application materials, visit the CGLL website.

 

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.