Royal Society of Canada

Global warming increases human health risk due to toxic algae in Canadian Prairie lakes

Global warming increases human health risk due to toxic algae in Canadian Prairie lakes

New research by scientists at the University of Regina’s Institute of Environmental Change and Society shows that global warming is increasing levels of toxic algae detrimental to human health. The study was published online, in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters. “Our decade-long project establishes that global warming is increasing toxin levels in Prairie lakes,” says Dr. Peter Leavitt, a Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change and Society and a co-author of the study. “What is particularly worrying is that the chance of exceeding toxin levels that cause acute human health effects has increased to one in four in several lakes in southern Saskatchewan.”