Lyngbya
Quick Facts
- Scientific name: Microseira wollei (formerly classified as Lyngbya wollei)
- Origin: Asia, Africa, and Australia
- Introduction: Uncertain – in US >100 years
- Aquatic community: Submersed, not rooted / floating mats
- Habitat: Nutrient rich, degraded waters
- Distribution: Throughout Florida, mostly peninsular
- Management effort: Maintenance
- 2020 Acres Treated: 0
Environmental and Economic Concerns
- Cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) associated with waters with high organic content or nutrient levels
- Increasingly common in Florida springs and lakes / ponds with soft sediments
- Submersed filaments expand into extensive mats especially in Florida where mats can overwinter
- Gas bubbles float mats to surface in late spring through summer
- Dense mats interfere with boating, fishing, swimming, and aesthetics – clog water intakes
- blocks sunlight from reaching submersed plants
- reduces oxygen levels by blocking the interface between the water surface and the atmosphere
- Produces skin, liver, neuro, fish and shellfish toxins can cause gastrointestinal problems
- Produces off-flavor compounds that imparting earthy or mush-like taste and odor to water
- May be allelopathic
- Algal cells reproduce and spread rapidly by water movement, boats, animals; even water droplets
- Mucilaginous sheath makes herbicide control difficult
- Most control involves harvesting surface mats or combing submersed mats from native plants
- Carp will consume almost all other plants before feeding on lyngbya
Management Options
- Biological: Triploid grass carp ineffective
- Chemical: Sequential amine endothall + copper applications peroxide;
- Mechanical: Harvest surface mats – Comb / lift submersed lyngbya from sediments
- Physical: Drawdowns impractical – can survive dry periods