Detections of cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) in New York State, United States (2012–2020)

Abstract Gorney RM, June SG, Stainbrook KM, Smith AJ. 2023. Detections of cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cynanoHABs) in New York State, United States (2012–2020). Lake Reserv Manage. 39:21–36. Patterns in frequency, intensity, and duration of cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) were evaluated in New York State from 2012 to 2020. The dataset included information from formal monitoring efforts, beach closures, and public reports. The total dataset included more than 24,000 records from 655 waterbodies and included cyanoHAB reports from 477 lakes. Nearly half of those lakes (49.6%) had only 1 year in which a cyanoHAB was documented. Less than 1% (6 lakes) had cyanoHABs documented in every year of the study. We noted a significant increase in the number of cyanoHABs reports each year (P < 0.001), but not an overall increase in intensity, based on evaluation of chlorophyll levels in mid-lake samples collected on a routine basis. The analysis indicated that cyanoHABs duration did not lengthen over the study period, based on beach closure data captured on a daily observation basis. This study addresses the limitations of monitoring data for analysis of patterns in cyanoHABs, based on the structure of the programs and frequency of observations. We provide retrospective feedback on the design of monitoring programs to improve future data collection and our ability to evaluate cyanoHABs in a wide range of waterbodies.