Does This Taste Salty To You?

One understudied effect of climate change is reduced lake ice cover, which leads to greater lake-effect snow and may in turn cause an increase in road salt use. New York State applied over 900,000 tons of salt during winter 2020-2021, more than any other state. Excess salt in freshwater ecosystems can negatively affect critical organisms living there. These organisms are sentinels of water quality, and elevated salinity is likely to have significant consequences for the fish and aquatic food webs within affected ecosystems. The purpose of our study is to investigate the effects of winter road salt throughout the year on stream algae and their invertebrate consumers in four regions across New York state by investigating streams under various salting regimes.