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What's in Your Water? Institute Eyes Lakes for their Biological Health

August 29, 2007 - Sangerville - It's summer and there is nothing unusual about folks going out on the water. People boat, both power and sail, fish, canoe, windsurf, and swim. It's what Mainers wait all winter and spring to do. Kids, on vacation from three seasons of school classes, revel in the recreational opportunities available in the myriad lakes and ponds in the Penquis region.

But a small group of high school students took a day off from vacation play and headed back to the classroom -- a floating classroom, that is -- offered by the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute (MLCI). The group of 10 students from Piscataquis Community High School (PCHS) boarded a specially fitted pontoon boat, piloted by MLCI's Phil Mulville. PCHS science teacher Heather Doherty came along for the class, but MLCI's Rex Turner taught the class.

Center Pond is located in the heart of Sangerville. It's not a large pond and its deepest point is only 19 feet. Though small, it has plenty to offer by way of plant and animal life.

"We try to get people to understand better how lakes work. If they do, they are more apt to preserve the lakes and habitats of animals," Turner said, explaining to the group the Institute's mission.

Lakes are indigenous to Maine and especially the Penquis region. Generations have vacation memories of slipping into cool, clean lake waters, shores lined with towering pines and spruces, the calls of loons, the smell of wood smoke from an evening campfire and the opportunity to view a vast canopy of stars at night.

Though plentiful, these placid waters are at risk, because the ecological balance is fragile and finite. More than 70 million people can reach a Maine lake or pond within a day's drive, according to MLCI statistics, a fact which drives the need for active stewardship.

To be a good steward, one needs knowledge, Rex Turner told his 10 students.

While everyone thinks of grasses, water lilies and other aquatic plants, as well as various species of fish that live in a pond, the water is teaming with other life.

Plankton -- microscopic organisms -- should be prolific in a healthy lake. Turner described two kinds of plankton and emphasized the balance between them.

Phyto-plankton is a plant, and most identify it as algae. Zoo-plankton is an animal, and provides food for many species of fish, especially white perch. Phyto-plankton, as a plant, flourishes with photosynthesis -- turning light into food -- and in the process gives off vital carbon dioxide.

However, too much phyto-plankton in a body of water produces something called an algae bloom, which is when the tiny plant is so prolific that it stifles the rest of the growth and oxygen in the water. The balancing factor is zoo-plankton, which feeds on phyto-plankton, keeping its population at a productive, not destructive, level.

Among the devices on board the MLCI was a piece that looks much like a windsock with a cup on the bottom. After a dip deep into the water, the equipment brought up an ample sample of screened zoo plankton.

Why go deep, Turner asked his students. Zoo-plankton is part of the food chain and is more visible on the surface. They are much harder to be seen and therefore eaten deep in the water, he explained.

Although able to be seen by the naked eye, the cup of plankton looked like a collection of small tan spots. However, when placed on a magnifying screen and viewed on a monitor, the tiny animals were active, dashing around the sample cup and hard to study.

"Does anyone have a club soda?" Turner asked. A close second -- diet Sprite -- was produced and a few drops of it applied to the sample dish. Immediately the plankton slowed the pace and was much more easily studied.

"It's the carbonation," Turner told the group, admitting that while they know that his slows the plankton down, they don't know why.

The day was sunny with a light breeze playing across the water. An eagle flew over in the morning. It was an extraordinarily pleasant way to spend a few hours and learn something in the process.

The following day, a group of adults from the Center Pond Association went out with the MLCI team to learn about the waters on which they had summered for so long.

"It's not just biology," Turner said. The health of Maine's lakes and ponds has a very real economic benefit.

Without them, tourists would no longer come to visit, and they, with the dollars they spend in the community, are an essential piece of Maine's economy, he said.

For more about Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute, visit www.mlci.org.

This article first appeared in the Piscataquis Observer, August 22, 2007.

Lakes: Center Pond
Regions: Bangor, Embden


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