UWO students, faculty continue to tackle region's harmful algal bloom, assess health of aquatic system

On the Fox River in late August, UWO biology professor Robert Stelzer, left, and student researchers Brady Pomplun, Kimberly Huettl and Nickolas Wiedemann use a secchi disk which measures water transparency or turbidity as part of their research with the harmful algal blooms project.

Wearing waders in the shallows of Lake Winnebago or crouched behind a puppet stage captivating kindergartners, a dedicated group of University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh students can reflect on their summer tackling the region's growing problem of harmful algal blooms (HABs).

Now in the third year of a four-year, $1.6 million National Science Foundation grant, the multifaceted HABs project paired shoreline sampling with hands-on educational outreach to spark concern for water quality across all ages.

Led by an interdisciplinary team of UWO faculty and students, the project aims to foster awareness and inspire local solutions to this growing water quality threat.

"This project reflects the best of UW-Oshkosh-students gaining real-world research experience under the guidance of dedicated faculty mentors, while making a tangible difference in the community," said Ed Martini, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. "Their work around harmful algal blooms is not only academically rigorous, but also socially relevant and deeply impactful."

UW-Oshkosh senior lecturer Shannon Davis-Foust, who leads the project's outreach team, has seen the impact of their efforts grow year over year.

"We've already passed last year's numbers of about 2,000 people," Davis-Foust said. She estimated at the end of summer, the project's teams had contact with 3,000 people in the community.

Davis-Foust, a senior lecturer in environmental studies and anthropology, has overseen a team of four dedicated student researchers who bring HAB science to life for audiences of all ages.

"We had kindergartners the other day," Davis-Foust said after an August event. "We've done events with libraries, with the Menominee Park Zoo, with Sheldon Nature Area. We figure out the ages that we're working with and we bring activities to them."

Those activities included a puppet show, a "web of life" yarn game, and story-based lessons featuring characters like Hermie the HAB and Archie the Algae. The goal is to teach people-young and old-not only what causes harmful algal blooms, but also what they can do to help prevent them.

"They're cute stories explaining important concepts," Davis-Foust said. "One of the very important differences in our project compared to many other harmful algal bloom projects is that we are making sure people understand that not all algae is bad.

Truly, Hermie the HAB is not actually algae-it's bacteria-and we try to educate people about that."

Concentrated effort

Student researcher Kimberly Huettl, a senior majoring in environmental science, spent her summer toggling between microscopes and puppet shows. As a member of both the biological and outreach teams, she was out on the Fox River aboard a pontoon boat, collecting water samples and using a dissolved oxygen probe to assess the health of the aquatic system.

"We analyze samples through the microscope to count how much cyanobacteria we're seeing," Huettl said. "We're identifying the types and tracking how they change over time. It's fascinating to connect what we learn in class to what we're seeing in the field."

Huettl also helped rewrite the team's educational puppet show, which features new characters and updated messaging about the role of cyanobacteria in local ecosystems.

"We get to educate people about why cyanobacteria is here, why it's dangerous, and what they can do," she said. Blue-green algal blooms are harmful when they produce toxins that can sicken people and animals.

Huettl emphasized how field work has helped her understand the real-world impact of HABs.

"You can learn all you want about Microcystis or Dolichospermum, which are types of cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae, that can form harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater," she said, "butuntil you see it in the field, you can't fully grasp the depth of its impact on the lake and the community."

On a water testing outing, Huettl spent a day on a UWO pontoon with Brady Pomplun, a junior majoring in environmental studies, who is part of the geospatial team to conduct field mapping of the water system. Also on board was biology graduate student Nickolas Wiedemann, who volunteered to help, and Robert Stelzer, a professor of biology and the biophysical team lead on the HABs project.

Looking ahead, Huettl hopes to pursue a career in aquatic ecology and is particularly interested in expanding monitoring efforts like those used for E. coli to include cyanobacteria.

"If the DNR starts something like that for the Winnebago system, I'm definitely in," she said.

Will Stevens, a senior majoring in anthropology and environmental studies, is the only returning student from last year's outreach team. Over summer, he took on a dual role, also serving on the ethnography team that interviewed residents, farmers and environmental professionals across the region.

"Last year I didn't realize how much of a difference I could make," Stevens said. "But when you're out at a school or a fair and you see a kid's face light up as they're looking at lake water under a microscope or playing the game we designed-that's incredibly rewarding."

His growing involvement in the project also led him to write his senior thesis for Anthropology 400, the department's capstone seminar. His research focused on one of the key questions used in the team's public surveys: Who do you think should be responsible for addressing harmful algal blooms?

"There's a pretty wide split about who people think should be doing something," he said. "Some say individuals, others say local governments or agencies. But the one thing people do agree on is that something needs to be done."

In addition to public events, Stevens and his ethnographic teammates conducted more than 50 semi-structured interviews. The goal is to better understand community knowledge, perceptions and concerns about HABs. Interview subjects include lakefront homeowners, park staff, Department of Natural Resources personnel and others who interact closely with the region's waterways.

That complexity is central to the project's design. Faculty from across campus-including biology, geography, anthropology, chemistry, history and environmental studies-are working together to approach HABs as both a scientific and a human challenge.

Davis-Foust said the outreach team's work goes well beyond handing out brochures.

"This is real-life experience, real experience in research and outreach," she said. "They started off way back in May, looking up and calling all these different organizations, explaining who we are, what we want and then setting up these events. That takes a lot of work. It's a lot of coordinating. And then to go out there and actually work with the kids, too, that also takes a lot of skill."

Making a difference

Twelve UWO students worked across different teams, though the outreach work was largely handled by four student researchers. Others from the ethnography, biophysical and geography teams assisted with large-scale events when needed.

In the works are a traveling exhibit featuring interactive displays and story maps based on the project's ethnographic and historical research, along with K-12 curriculum materials and policy briefs aimed at local decision-makers.

The power of the project lies in its interdisciplinary components. On one side, researchers are analyzing nutrients, tracking cyanobacteria and running lab samples. On the other, they're collecting oral histories, mapping relationships between humans and water and crafting public-friendly narratives to share the findings.

For Stevens, that's part of what made the project such a perfect fit.

"It pulls from both my majors, anthropology and environmental studies," he said. "And it's made me realize that solutions to environmental problems need to be collaborative. You need biologists and chemists, but you also need educators, social scientists and artists. Everybody has a role."

He credits the experience with helping him prepare for life after graduation.

"Book learning is important, but it's not enough," Stevens said. "This gave me a real job with real expectations and real impact."

Learn more:

UWO algal blooms research connects with more than 2,000 stakeholders, shapes education effort

Winnebago Lakes Harmful Algal Bloom Project

Sustainability Institute for Regional transformations (SIRT)