Lake Washington and Puget Sound
- Use the Puget Sound tab in Day 3 to briefly talk about the aspects of our region. Briefly talk about the effects of some of the harmful algal blooms using the tabs in Day 3. Watch this KOMO 4 news video: http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/hab/outreach/videos/ecohabpnw2.html to learn a little about potential impacts on oyster beds.
- Challenge students to find an example of a harmful algal bloom in Puget Sound that has not been mentioned already. It would be best to find blooms that have information about the triggers of the blooms, changes in the ecosystem, closures, etc. to create a rich story/exploration.
- Bring students' attention back to the photo in Day 1 (also below). All the examples listed affected wildlife and aquaculture organisms. However, this Lake Washington harmful algal blooms was toxic to dogs and people. Several consequences of wading in Lake Washington during this harmful algal bloom are seizures and paralysis in dogs and general sickness in people.
- Load this webpage to give students an idea of the known harmful algal blooms that have occurred in Lake Washington; you/students can discover that the algal species responsible for the January 2015 bloom was Aphanizomenon, a cyanobacteria (32).