National Geographic quotes Wells in article on toxic algae blooms
Mark Wells, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Maine, was quoted in a National Geographic report about how spreading toxic algae blooms, perhaps accelerated by ocean warming and other climate shifts, are poisoning marine life and people. It’s been understood for decades that nutrients, such as fertilizer and livestock waste that flush off farms and into the Mississippi River, can fuel harmful blooms in the ocean, according to the article. Such events have been on the rise around the world, as population centers boom and more nitrogen and other waste washes out to sea. But scientists also now see evidence of harmful algae in places nearly devoid of people, and some are finding that even in places overburdened by poor waste management, climate-related shifts in weather may already be exacerbating problems, the article states. “We expect to see conditions that are conducive for harmful algal blooms to happen more and more often,” Wells said. “We’ve got some pretty good ideas about what will happen, but there will be surprises, and those surprises can be quite radical.”