Internal Phosphorus Loading in Lakes

About the author(s)

Alan Steinman, Ph.D., is the Director of Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute, a position he has held since 2001. Previously, he was Director of the Lake Okeechobee Restoration Program at the South Florida Water Management District. Steinman has published over 175 scientific articles, book chapters, and books; has been awarded over $55 million in grants for scientific and engineering projects; and has testified before the U.S. Congress and the Michigan and Florida state legislatures.

Among his awards are Phi Beta Kappa, the 2017 Award of Excellence from the National Garden Clubs, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Outstanding Planning Achievement Award, the Joan Hodges Queneau Palladium Medal from the National Audubon Society, Paul Harris Fellow, Keiser Distinguished Lecturer in Life Sciences from Ohio Northern University, and the Patricia B. Johnson Award for Leadership and Innovative Grantmaking from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

Al is a member of science advisory boards for the U.S. EPA, the International Joint Commission, Michigan DEQ, Sea Grant, Healing our Waters, University of Michigan’s Water Center, and the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. He currently serves as Associate Editor for the journal Freshwater Biology and has served on the State of Michigan’s Groundwater Conservation Advisory Council and Phosphorus Advisory Committees. Steinman’s research interests include aquatic ecosystem restoration, harmful algal blooms, phosphorus cycling, and water policy.

His current community service includes serving on the Board of Directors of Goodwill International of West Michigan, the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, and the West Michigan Symphony.  Prior board service included the Michigan Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, and Congregation B’Nai Israel.

Dr. Steinman holds a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a Ph.D. in Botany/Aquatic Ecology from Oregon State University, an M.S. in Botany from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.S. in Botany from the University of Vermont.

Bryan Spears, Ph.D., is a Principal Scientific Officer with the Freshwater Restoration and Sustainability Group at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Edinburgh, UK, part of the Natural Environment Research Council. He has worked at CEH since 2007 in which time he has published over 100 scientific articles and research reports. Much of Bryan’s work has focused on identifying ecological responses to man-made pressures in inland and coastal waters. These pressures include climate change, industrial pollution, and nutrient enrichment and their interactions. He has managed national scale surveys of biogeochemical cycling in rivers and estuaries in Scotland and initiated a series of whole lake experiments to examine geoengineering in lakes for internal phosphorus loading control in the UK, coordinating international efforts in this field through networking initiatives.

In recognition of his contribution to teaching and research, Bryan serves as an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Department of Geosciences, UK. He has supervised 12 Ph.D. students, mostly in the field of lake restoration and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems.

Bryan serves as an Associate Editor for the journals Inland Waters and the Journal of Environmental Quality and has served as a Guest Editor for the journals Water Research and Hydrobiologia. He is a member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Phosphorus Task Team, reporting to the Global Partnership for Nutrient Management, through which he raises awareness of the wide-spread problems caused by phosphorus enrichment of lakes, including the importance of internal loading and its management.

Bryan’s work on lake restoration has a strong focus on delivering benefits to local communities in the UK and internationally. Bryan, in collaboration with Miquel Lürling, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, co-founded the International Society of Limnology Working Group on Lake Restoration which works collectively to deliver knowledge and expertise to those countries that need it most.

Dr Spears holds a Ph.D. in Limnology from St Andrews University, UK; an M.Sc. in Aquatic Ecology from Simon Fraser University, Canada; and a B.Sc. (hons) In Environmental Sciences from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.