Research

SCIENCE SOCIALS:  Newest coming up October 14, 2025

Our latest.  Be sure to sign up to attend this very important update about your lake. 

The Lake Stewards’ research group wants to help shoreline owners, local authorities and the general public, understand as much as possible about the increasing problem of algae, harmful or helpful. We are bringing in three Ontario experts for you, including our own Director, Dr. Ken Wilson from Ontario Tech., to talk to you in a panel-type forum. There will be ample time for questions at the end. It would be great if you would let us know in advance of your attendance. Sign up at: https://forms.gle/wmYuLVWrB9cEE3LE6

Science Social, June 2025:  YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM. 

DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT CARE! Why do you need to pump your septic tank more often than in Grandma’s time? What helps? What hinders? The Scugog Lake Stewards’ next Science Social, Tuesday, June 3, will help you understand how to keep the living biology of your personal wastewater treatment plant, happy and healthy.

The way you maintain your septic system affects not only your life but the health of the lake water quality.

Dr. Ian Jones, Research Associate at the University of Toronto in the Smith Forest Health Lab. spoke to a wide audience by way of Zoom about his work fighting Canada’s #1 Invasive Species: Phragmites Australis and its new biological control on the evening of January 28, 2025. This gigantic, plumed grass lines the roadways destroying infrastructure is also invading our precious wetlands.  Phragmites Canada’s #1 Invasive Species, Google Docs (1)

The Lake Stewards are planning some action going forward on this truly nasty invader.  We will keep you posted as soon as we have formal plans instituted.  If you have questions, write to Mike at research@scugoglakestewards.com

2024:

IMPORTANT NEW RESEARCH PAPERS THAT ADDRESS LAKE SCUGOG WATER QUALITY:

“JOINT SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELLING OF MULTIPLE TAXONOMIC GROUPS SHOWS THAT WATER QUALITY EXPLAINS MOST OF THE VARIATION IN AQUATIC COMMUNITY COMPOSITION ALONG A LAKE TROPHIC GRADIENT.”

In order to develop an effective lake management plan, it is essential to identify the underlying mechanisms for the composition of the species community in a specific location. It involves understanding the factors that influence which species are present and how they interact with each other within that community.  A study of 4 major lakes within the Kawartha Lakes.  Erin D. Smith and Andrea E. Kirkwood, Aquatic Ecology, April 2025.  Smith_Kirkwood_2025_JSDM (1)

“THE URGENT NEED TO IDENTIFY THRESHOLDS TO USE FOR DECISIONS ABOUT SHORELINE AND RIPARIAN DEVELOPMENT IN FRESHWATER SYSTEMS.”

December 28, 2024, See below for list of authors.

Jennifer B. Korosi, Randelle C. Adano, Pham Ha Phuong Do, Roland I. Hall, Januja Jeyarajah, Emily M. Stewart, Johan A. Wiklund & Joshua R. Thienpont, Ecosystem impacts of an invasive charophyte (Nitellopsis obtusa) interpreted in a multiple stressor context using paleolimnology, Lake and Reservoir Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/10402381.2024.2330071

New research conducted by Dr. J. Korosi et al. provides support for anecdotal evidence that blue-green algae blooms used to occur in Lake Scugog until the 1990’s then cleared up.  Cores taken from the lake bottom clearly demonstrate differences in the sediment after the dam was installed when the lake was flooded. The cores showed evidence markers of blue-green algae blooms after that time until the 1990’s probably caused by excess nutrients from the rotting of the underlying wetland.   Current day blooms have previously been indicated to be linked to invasion by the plant-like alga, Nitellopsis obtusa or  starry stonewort.  This indication of linkage between the presence of this new invader to microcystis or blue-green algae blooms is a corroboration of earlier research conducted by Dr. Tyler Harrow-Lyle under our three year Trillium Fund grant.

“LONG-TERM LAKE ICE DECLINE ON LAKE SCUGOG”

Dr. Jennifer Korosi, Dr. Joshua Thienpont, Aniko Gruber, Zahraa Jaafar, Minahill Malik, Marielle Manansala, Divyam Patel, Raha Pishrow, Altrisha Rodrigues, Katherine Tse, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

York University undergraduate students in the Environmental Science program partnered with the Scugog Lake Stewards to investigate lake ice decline on Lake Scugog as part of their senior capstone experience. The Environmental Science Capstone course pairs students with a community partner to tackle a real-world socio-ecological challenge by applying environmental science knowledge and tools. Over the duration of the 12-week term, students researched lake ice decline and its links to climate change, including implications for lake ecosystem health and water quality.

The results of the generalized additive model revealed that ice-off date has been declining since 1971 (R-sq. Adj. = 0.174, deviance explained = 18.7%), and that ice-off now occurs approximately 2 weeks earlier, on average, compared to pre-1970 (Figure 1). This year broke a new record for earliest ice-off, occurring on March 5 compared to the previous record of March 15 in 2012. The trend of earlier ice-off dates fits with the global pattern of lake ice decline described above, due to climate warming.    Ice in, Ice out report, J.Korosi, May ’24

RESEARCH REPORTS AS OF THE END OF MARCH, 2024

1. The Kirkwood Lab. at Ontario Tech. U. and Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority, will be once again out on Lake Scugog and Lake Simcoe this summer conducting surveys to monitor aquatic plants and detect invasive species.  This will be the second year of this study. https://lsrca.on.ca/index.php/home/single-biggest-threat-to-lake-simcoe
2. We are planning the first of our 3 to 4 pontoon boat exploration trips to start in early June to bring researchers, Board members and citizen science volunteers up to speed about current status of the lake and its macrophytes, take samples and photos.
3. We are planning our first Science Social: We are inviting Dr. Ian Jones, of the University of Toronto to speak via Zoom to a wide range of invited guests and the public about:  ‘Fighting Canada’s #1 Invasive Species:  Phragmites Grass and its New Biological Control’  on January 28th, 2025 from 7 to 8:30pm. Regular herbicide treatment to control phragmites may not be used near or over water, therefore such a biological reduction program is being studied.  To take part in this Zoom presentation, please send a note to research@scugoglakestewards.com   Actual Zoom invitations will be sent out on January 26.  Dr. Jones studies are funded by Ducks Unlimited and approved by Agriculture and Agrifood Canada.
4. Ditch management of Phragmites on municipal lands as well as treatment of several other troublesome invasive species is beginning this year.  Unfortunately many of our Scugog roads are either regional, or Minstry of Ontario Transportation responsibility, especially Hwy. 7a at the Causeway. https://www.thestandardnewspaper.ca/post/scugog-tackles-invasive-species-with-new-management-plan
5. We are researching suitable septic system research methodologies for septic systems within 100m of the lake or its tributaries.  Simple 5 year re-inspections are already carried out by Durham Region Health in areas in the Lake Simcoe watershed part of Scugog.
6. August is Lake Month, and August 9 is Lake Discovery Day.
7. We need a volunteer, with a boat, motor and GPS to take part in the Lake Partner Program to go out on the East side of the lake to take water samples once a month from May to September for the long running Lake Partner Program.  All supplies will be provided and shipping costs for samples will be covered by the program.

Resulting previous scientific publications and resources:

All regarding studies on Lake Scugog, many backed by funds from the Scugog Lake Stewards Research Funds.

• Kathryn Peiman, Trina Rytwinski, Karen E Smokorowski, Jennifer Lamoureux, Andrea E. Kirkwood, Stephanie Melles, Sarah Rijkenberg, Chantal Vis, Valerie Minelga, Slana Tyner, Meagan Harper, Bret Tregunno, Jesse C. Vermaire, Colin Rennie and Steven J. Cooke, The urgent need to identify thresholds to use for decisions about shoreline and riparian development in freshwater systems, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Managment Society, December 2024.
• Erin D. Smith, Andrea E. Kirkwood, Community science to the rescue: capturing water quality data during the COVID-19 pandemic, By monitoring these lakes during the summer of 2020, a large water quality data gap was filled, and new findings about regional nutrient patterns were uncovered. https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2023-0004
• Erin D. Smith, Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2022) Nearshore plankton and macroinvertebrated community structure is strongly associated with macrophyte abundance in a large lake with high shoreline development. Fundamental Applied Limnology 196/1 (2022), Learn More
• Tyler J Harrow-Lyle, Andrea Kirkwood. (2021) Pervasive changes to the lower aquatic food web following Nitellopsis obtusa establishment in a large, shallow lake, Freshwater Biology.  file:///C:/Users/Barbara/Desktop/GREAT%20%20INFO/Pervasive%20Changes%20to%20the%20lower%20aquatic%20food%20web.pdf
• Erin D. Smith, Deborah Balika, & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2021). Community science-based monitoring reveals the role of land use scale in driving nearshore water quality in a large, shallow, Canadian lake. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/10402381.2021.1989525
• Erin D. Smith, Deborah Balika, & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2020). An assessment of Lake Scugog nearshore water quality and ecological condition (2017-2019). https://scugoglakestewards.com/lake-scugog-research/
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2020). An assessment of Lake Scugog offshore water quality and ecological condition (2017-2019). https://scugoglakestewards.com/lake-scugog-research/
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2020). The invasive macrophyte Nitellopsis obtusa may facilitate the invasive mussel Dreissena polymorpha and Microcystis blooms in a large, shallow lake. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2019-0337
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2021). Low benthic oxygen and high internal phosphorus- loading are strongly associated with the invasive macrophyte Nitellopsis obtusa (starry stonewort) in a large, polymictic lake. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.735509
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2021). An ecological niche model based on a broad calcium-gradient reveals additional habitat preferences of the invasive charophyte Nitellopsis obtusa. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2021.103397
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood.  (2021)  Pervasive changes to the lower aquatic food web following Nitellopsis obtusa establishment in a large, shallow lake, Freshwater Biology.
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood. (2022). The non-native charophyte Nitellopsis obtusa (starry stonewort) influences shifts in macrophyte diversity and community structure in lakes across a geologically heterogeneous landscape, Aquatic Ecology.
• Tyler J. Harrow-Lyle & Andrea E. Kirkwood (2022), The non-native charophyte Nitellopsis obtusa (starry stonewort) influences shifts in macrophyte diversity and community structure in lakes across a geologically heterogeneous landscape,  Aquatic Ecology.