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Asking the big questions: like where does blue-green algae come from? And how much is too much?

Kaitlin Reinl

Blue-green algae, like a lot of other things in nature, is part of what researcher Kaitlin Reinl calls "a happy, healthy ecosystem."

Too much of it, though, and it's a problem. Algal blooms consuming oxygen as they die and decompose can create dead zones - areas in water with little or no oxygen - where aquatic life cannot survive.  And the same toxins that can make people sick or even kill their dogs can kill fish, too.

So the more we know about blue-green algae - in particular the link between major algal blooms and extreme weather events - the easier it will be to keep it in balance with the rest of the ecosystem.

Lisa Johnson started her broadcast career anchoring the television news at her high school and spinning country music at KWWK/KOLM Radio in Rochester, Minnesota. She was a reporter and news anchor at KTHI in Fargo, ND (not to mention the host of a children's program called "Lisa's Lane") and a radio reporter and anchor in Moorhead, Bismarck, Wahpeton and Fergus Falls.Since 1991, she has hosted Northland Morning on KUMD. One of the best parts of her job includes "paying it forward" by mentoring upcoming journalists and broadcasters on the student news team that helps produce Northland Morning. She also loves introducing the different people she meets in her job to one another, helping to forge new "community connections" and partnerships.Lisa has amassed a book collection weighing over two tons, and she enjoys reading, photography, volunteering with Animal Allies Humane Society and fantasizing about farmland. She goes to bed at 8pm, long before her daughter, two cats, or three dogs.
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