Alan D. Steinman

Alan D. Steinman
Grand Valley State University | GVSU · Annis Water Resources Institute

PhD

About

240
Publications
53,581
Reads
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11,482
Citations
Additional affiliations
January 2001 - December 2012
Grand Valley State University
October 1993 - July 2001
South Florida Water Management District
Position
  • Managing Director
October 1987 - October 1992
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Publications

Publications (240)
Article
Full-text available
When cyanobacterial phytoplankton form harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs), the toxins they produce threaten freshwater ecosystems. Hydrogen peroxide is often used to control HCBs, but it is broadly toxic and dangerous to handle. Previously, we demonstrated that glucose addition to lake water could suppress the abundance of cyanobacteria. In this...
Article
Full-text available
The Great Lakes region of North America is experiencing climate-driven disturbances that threaten the safety and livelihoods of coastal communities and people. Limitations to the spatial and temporal coverage of research have the potential to hamper the ability to predict site-specific conditions and responses to climatic events. In this paper, we...
Article
Aquatic plants are potentially impacted by microcystins (MCs) in lakes experiencing harmful algal blooms. However, how these plants respond, and possibly adapt to osmotic stress caused by MCs is unclear. Vallisneria natans is a pioneer taxon with a global distribution in eutrophic lakes. In this study, we investigated the effect of MC-LR on morphol...
Article
Full-text available
Salinization in freshwater ecosystems has become an increasingly prevalent issue. Past studies indicate that increased salinity levels in lakes can impact biota, stimulate internal nutrient loading, and prevent seasonal turnover, potentially resulting in impairment to the lake ecosystem. Salt retention in soils and groundwater causes elevated salt...
Article
Aquatic plants play an important role in maintaining lake water status and ecosystem stability, but the effect of the cyanotoxin microcystin (MC) on ion homeostasis in aquatic plants and the resulting adverse consequences remains unclear. This study used non-invasive micro-test technology to detect the effect of MC-LR on homeostasis of calcium (Ca2...
Article
The Laurentian Great Lakes region in North America is experiencing climate-driven disturbances that threaten the public safety of the region and is forcing communities to respond. Communities vary in their ability to respond to these disturbances based on their existing capacities and access to resources, but responses in the region are uneven and...
Article
Full-text available
We evaluated whether sediment excavation improved water quality in a former (pre-European settlement) wetland complex that was a farm in the early 1900s and then later in the 1990s/early 2000s was allowed to naturally refill with water and became nutrient-rich ponds plagued by legacy phosphorus issues. Two ponds were recently restored via dewaterin...
Article
Full-text available
Eutrophication is a major problem in lakes and rivers throughout the world. One such system is Lake Macatawa, located in West Michigan, which hydrologically connects to Lake Michigan. Lake Macatawa and its watershed suffer from excess phosphorus and sediment loads. The total maximum daily load for the lake calls for a total phosphorus (TP) reductio...
Article
Full-text available
Macroinvertebrate community assemblages were examined in three areas of the littoral zone of an impacted, drowned river mouth lake in west Michigan, USA. Muskegon Lake has an extensive history of environmental abuse, resulting in its listing as a Great Lakes Area of Concern. A multi-organizational, shoreline restoration initiative was started in 20...
Article
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Understanding the history of microcystins (MCs) pollution in large lakes can help inform future lake management. We collected sediment cores from Lake Taihu to: investigate the long-term record of MCs (MC-LR, MC-YR, and MC-RR), explore the main environmental drivers of MCs, and assess their public health and ecological risks. Results showed that MC...
Article
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Groundwater historically has been a critical but understudied, underfunded, and underappreciated natural resource, although recent challenges associated with both groundwater quantity and quality have raised its profile. This is particularly true in the Laurentian Great Lakes (LGL) region, where the rich abundance of surface water results in the pe...
Article
Kindervater E, Oudsema M, Hassett MC, Partridge CG, Steinman AD. 2022. Assessment of the effectiveness of muck-digesting bacterial pellets. Lake Reserv Manage. 38:150–164. We assessed the ability of Mukk Busster bacterial pellets to decrease organic matter (OM) in lake sediments, as well as their impact on overlying water quality and the native bac...
Article
Full-text available
Climate-driven disturbances threaten the sustainability of coastal communities in the Great Lakes Basin. Because such disturbances are unpredictable, their magnitude, number and intensity are changing, and they occur at varying temporal and spatial scales. Consequently, communities struggle to respond in effective ways. The expected intensification...
Article
The Laurentian Great Lakes Watershed (LGLW) is a complex socio-ecological system that spans the United States and Canada and includes Anishinaabe Nations, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and Métis Nations. However, this system contains overlapping political and ecological boundaries that do not conform, obscuring a true geographic definition of the...
Article
Full-text available
Sediment nutrients can be released to the surface water when hydraulic disturbance becomes strong in shallow lakes, which contributes to nutrient enrichment and subsequent lake eutrophication in the water column. To explore the seasonal variations and spatial distributions exhibited by nutrients in the water column, surface sediment, and pore water...
Article
In this study, the simultaneous removal effects of electrochemical oxidation with boron-doped diamond anodes at different current densities were tested on Microcystis aeruginosa and sulfamethoxazole. Flow cytometry and non-invasive micro-test technology were applied to study the physiological states of M. aeruginosa and Vallisneria spiralis leaf ce...
Article
Full-text available
Lake Macatawa is a hypereutrophic water body that connects with Lake Michigan via a navigation channel. Excess phosphorus (P) concentrations have resulted in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for total phosphorus (TP) in the lake, which has not been met. To guide land management and water pollution control in the Macatawa watershed, a Soil and Wate...
Article
Full-text available
The presence of both microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is ubiquitous in the environment. The ecological impacts associated with their presence are still poorly understood, however, these contaminants are extremely persistent. Although plastic in the environment can concentrate pollutants, factors such as the type of plast...
Article
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The frequent occurrence of microcystins (MCs) in freshwater poses serious threats to the drinking water safety and health of human beings. Although MCs have been detected in individual fresh waters in China, little is known about their occurrence over a large geographic scale. An investigation of 30 subtropical lakes in eastern China was performed...
Article
Full-text available
The ecosystem services provided by large, complex freshwater systems have long been subjected to various stresses by humans; drinking water, transport, manufacturing, and even recreation have been impaired in different ways. How can these systems be managed to protect their health and services for present and future generations? We discuss the juri...
Article
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Macrophytes are critical components of biologically productive lake littoral zones. Sensitivity to environmental factors such as sediment content and light availability makes macrophytes potential bioindicators of anthropogenic stress. The industrial past of Muskegon Lake (Michigan, USA) has severely disturbed the system, resulting in shoreline har...
Article
Full-text available
Three different types of microplastics (MPs): low density polyethylene; polypropylene; and polyester, were incubated for one and three months at two sites (Channel and Lake) in Muskegon Lake (MI). After retrieval, MPs were analyzed for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCs), select metals...
Article
Antibiotics can cause severe ecological problems for aquatic ecosystems due to their wide use and incomplete removal. Microcystis aeruginosa was exposed to different levels of erythromycin (ERY) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) separately to assess their cytotoxic effects on harmful cyanobacteria. The production and release of the toxin MC-LR was measure...
Book
Steinman and Spears bring together an international cast of experts to summarize the state of knowledge of phosphorus loading and cycling in lakes around the world. In a well crafted treatment of the topic, the book first introduces the problem of P loading, its measurement, driving factors, and mathematical modeling. In the second section, 17 chap...
Chapter
We set out in this book to present a comprehensive assessment of internal phosphorus (P) loading in lakes, drawing on a vast peer reviewed literature as well as long-term data from case studies. Most importantly, our co-authors have imparted hundreds (collectively) of years of expertise in measurement, modelling and management of internal loading a...
Chapter
Lake eutrophication is a global problem that is being exacerbated by climate change, excess nutrient runoff, and land use alterations. While nutrient inputs to lakes from surrounding watersheds (external loading) have historically received considerable attention, phosphorus inputs (and other elements) generated from within the lake (internal loadin...
Article
High concentrations of microcystins (MCs) in sediment pose a serious hazard to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Hence, we investigated the seasonal variation of dominant MCs (MC-LR, MC-RR and MC-YR) in sediments of Lake Taihu over four seasons for the first time. Sediment MCs varied seasonally (p < 0.01) with concentrations highest in August and...
Article
Full-text available
The passive sampling method of diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) was developed to provide a quantitative and time-integrated measurement of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) in waters. The DGT method in this study used HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic-balanced) material as a binding agent, and methanol as an eluent. The diffusion coefficient of MC-LR was 5.0...
Article
Microcystins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons commonly co-exist in eutrophic freshwater environments. However, their combined toxicity remains unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combined toxic effects of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and phenanthrene (Phe) on duckweed (Lemna gibba L.) during a short-term exposure (7 d). L. gibba was ex...
Article
Phosphorus (P) and sediment inputs from agricultural drainage contribute to the development of hypereutrophic conditions in lakes across the world. Two‐stage (2‐S) ditches, an agricultural best management practice gaining acceptance in the Midwestern United States, increase floodplain area within drainage ditches to help capture nutrients and sedim...
Article
Full-text available
Traditionally, ecosystem monitoring, conservation, and restoration have been conducted in a piecemeal manner at the local scale without regional landscape context. However, scientifically driven conservation and restoration decisions benefit greatly when they are based on regionally determined benchmarks and goals. Unfortunately, required data sets...
Article
Full-text available
Dreissenid mussels (including the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha and the quagga mussel D. rostriformis) are among the world's most notorious invasive species, with large and widespread ecological and economic effects. However, their long‐term population dynamics are poorly known, even though these dynamics are critical to determining impacts and...
Presentation
Full-text available
A comprehensive inventory of ecosystem services across the entire Great Lakes basin is currently lacking and is needed to make informed management decisions. A greater appreciation and understanding of ecosystem services, including both use and non-use services, may have avoided misguided resource management decisions in the past that resulted in n...
Article
Full-text available
Reducing nonpoint source pollution is an ongoing challenge in watersheds throughout the world. Implementation of best management practices, both structural and nonstructural, is the usual response to this challenge, with the presumption that they are effective. However, monitoring of their efficacy is not a standard practice. In this study, we eval...
Article
Many riverine wetlands have been drained for the creation of agricultural land; however, global declines in freshwater biodiversity have begun to motivate wetland restoration projects around the world. Legacy phosphorus (P) increases the risk that wetland restoration may liberate excess P to the water column and connecting waterbodies, resulting in...
Article
Full-text available
Restoration of freshwater wetlands presents a potential water quality benefit via removal of nutrients, but complex and unresolved changes in nutrient cycling can occur following restoration. In this study, we evaluated N removal and release in a deltaic wetland under scenarios of hydrologic reconnection and sediment dredging, and we modeled potent...
Article
As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a $10 million grant was awarded to restore wetlands and stabilize shoreline along the south shore of Muskegon Lake (MI), a Great Lakes Area of Concern. A socioeconomic analysis was conducted as part of this award, which included a travel cost survey for lake recreation and a hedonic...
Article
Steinman AD, Hassett MC, Oudsema M, Rediske R. 2018. Alum efficacy 11 years following treatment: phosphorus and macroinvertebrates. Lake Reserv Manage. 00:00–00. Internal phosphorus loading and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure were analyzed at 4 sites in Spring Lake, Michigan, ∼11 yr following an alum treatment. Phosphorus (P) release...
Chapter
Full-text available
Biomass is one of the most fundamental measurements made in ecology. In stream ecology, biomass is frequently used to estimate the abundance of benthic primary producers, both autotrophic and heterotrophic. In this chapter, we (1) provide a context for the study of benthic algal biomass; (2) discuss in detail some of the more commonly used approach...
Chapter
Phosphorus is essential for life and is often considered either the primary limiting or colimiting nutrient in freshwater ecosystems. In this chapter, we describe experiments that examine how to (1) assess whether or not benthic stream algal growth is limited by phosphorus; (2) measure phosphorus uptake from stream water by benthic algae; and (3) m...
Article
Full-text available
Irrigation with eutrophic water containing cyanobacteria toxins poses a potential risk to soil animals. To evaluate ecotoxicological effect of microcystins (MCs) on earthworms, filter paper acute toxicity test, avoidance test and a 14-d artificial soil test were carried out. No acute toxicity was found in the filter paper test, and earthworms showe...
Article
Michigan's current water management system is highly decentralized and based more on jurisdictional than watershed boundaries. There is both environmental and economic justification to examine alternate water resource management approaches given the current system's potential for inefficiency and redundancy. Our research addresses a central questio...
Article
Full-text available
The Laurentian Great Lakes (LGL) constitute one of the largest freshwater systems in the world while providing social and economic value to two powerful nations. The spatial scale of these inland seas falls between two endpoints: small lakes and oceans. Lacustrine in many characteristics, the LGL often require a scientific approach with attributes...
Technical Report
Full-text available
The Bosma property adjacent to the lower Muskegon River has a land use history ranging from celery farming to oil and gas exploration. The site is being considered for restoration and hydrologic reconnection to the River to improve fish and wildlife habitat. AWRI will conduct a series of studies at the site to advise land managers during this proce...
Poster
Full-text available
Bear Lake (MI) is a shallow eutrophic lake that drains directly into Muskegon Lake, and is part of the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern (AOC). Restoration of the wetland area near Bear Creek, the main tributary to Bear Lake, would address a portion of the remaining restoration needed to remove two Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) within this AOC1: ‘F...
Article
Full-text available
A comprehensive inventory of ecosystem services across the entire Great Lakes basin is currently lacking and is needed to make informed management decisions. A greater appreciation and understanding of ecosystem services, including both use and non-use services, may have avoided misguided resource management decisions in the past that resulted in n...
Article
Full-text available
Diatom bioassessment of streams/rivers does not distinguish between live (cells with intact chloroplasts) and dead (empty cells) individuals, even though most diatom samples collected from the field will be composed of a mixture of both. This study aimed to evaluate whether percentage of live diatoms (PLD), live diatom density and chlorophyll a, an...
Article
Phosphorus (P) loading from nonpoint sources is often implicated as a contributing factor to the proliferation of algal blooms in freshwater ecosystems. However, the influence of subsurface tile drains as a source of P, especially in agricultural areas, has received limited attention. We examined the importance of tile drain effluent in the Macataw...
Article
Full-text available
We studied the phosphorus dynamics in a former wetland, which had been converted to a celery farm, and now consists of two shallow, flooded ponds that are being proposed for aquatic habitat restoration. However, like many agricultural areas, this site is plagued by phosphorus legacy issues. Proposed restoration includes hydrologic reconnection of t...
Article
Steinman A, Abdimalik M, Ogdahl ME, Oudsema M. 2016. Understanding planktonic vs. benthic algal response to manipulation of nutrients and light in a eutrophic lake. Lake Reserve Manage. 00:1–9. We examined the environmental factors influencing the growth of benthic and planktonic algae in Lake Macatawa, a hypereutrophic lake located in west Michiga...
Article
Full-text available
Since European settlement, over 50 % of coastal wetlands have been lost in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin, causing growing concern and increased monitoring by government agencies. For over a decade, monitoring efforts have focused on the development of regional and organism-specific measures. To facilitate collaboration and information sharing be...
Article
Full-text available
Much attention had been paid to reducing external loading of nutrients to improve water quality, while internal loading from sediment, which has been largely neglected, is also an important source for water eutrophication. The internal load in deep lakes or reservoirs is not easy to be detected and be quantified. In this study, three different meth...
Article
Full-text available
Although there have been numerous studies on microcystin (MC) accumulation in aquatic organisms recently, the bioaccumulation of MCs in relatively small sized organisms, as well as potential influencing factors, has been rarely studied. Thus, in this study, we investigated the bioaccumulation of three MC congeners (-LR, -RR and -YR) in the chironom...
Article
We examined the bioaccumulation of three microcystin (MC) congeners (MC-LR, MC-RR and MC-YR) in the oligochaete Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri from July 2013 through June 2014 in Lake Taihu, China. Environmental parameters and MCs in sediment, phytoplankton and water column also were examined. L. hoffmeisteri accumulated extremely high MC concentrations...
Article
Full-text available
Freshwater coastal wetlands are sensitive to drying and wetting events (DWE), associated with water level fluctuations. Prior studies have shown that DWE influence sediment–water nutrient exchange, but the fate of these nutrients has received much less attention. To address this information gap, we investigated how microbial (i.e., bacteria and phy...
Article
Microcystins (MCs) produced by cyanobacteria have been recognized as a major public health threat. However, the toxicity of MCs to humans is still largely unknown. In this study, we examined the changes in pancreatic islet function in fishers exposed to ambient levels of MCs at Lake Taihu, and using a mouse model, explored the molecular mechanisms...
Article
Aluminum sulfate (alum) has been applied in hundreds of eutrophic lakes and wetlands worldwide for >4 decades to inactivate internal P loading and to reduce potentially toxic cyanobacteria blooms. However, the ecological effects of alum additions on benthic invertebrate activities and the feedback effect of invertebrate bioturbation on alum effecti...