SANIBEL, Fla. — Dozens of different species live in our local waterways from sharks to schools of fish to even microscopic organisms. And it's those microscopic organisms that play a big factor in the health of our estuaries. Recently, two new phytoplankton were discovered upriver, near the Moore Haven Lock, flowing down the Caloosahatchee.
“You are looking under the microscope and you are sort of saying, well that is not in any of the books that I have seen,” said Dr. Eric Milbrandt, Marine Laboratory Director with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
The two new dinoflagellate phytoplankton have never been seen in Florida. While some dinoflagellates are scary like red tide, these freshwater relatives are thought to be non-toxic. But where did they come from?
“Well, they have always been here,” said Dr. Milbrandt. “People just haven’t looked.”
Dr. Milbrandt says this because scientists typically are looking for cyanobacteria or otherwise affectionately known as blue green algae and not looking for dinoflagellates in freshwater.
“Very interesting are far as their diversity,” said Dr. Milbrandt. “They seem to be more dominate when the more toxic species are less dominate.”
He adds these could be very helpful in planning releases from Lake Okeechobee and understanding the big picture of the Caloosahatchee ecosystem.
“If we are ever going to solve these problems we have to know the details,” said Dr. Milbrandt. “And those details are, yea, there are certain times of year when it is not harmful to the ecology of the estuary to release the water, to help lower the level of the lake. But there are certain critical times that you need to pay attention to risk of producing a catastrophic bloom are quite high.”
The hope is learning how these organisms interact with the environment so we can better forecast harmful blooms and improve how we manage our most important resource in Southwest Florida, our water.
