Improving Phosphorus Detection

Phosphorus is almost always at the forefront of concerns about the health of Lake Erie and its tributaries. Watershed managers never stop searching for ways to reduce phosphorus input into the ecosystem, but they also need to be able to monitor those nutrient levels easily and cost-effectively to report on their progress and address worsening conditions as soon as possible.

Dr. Chris Spiese of Ohio Northern University (ONU) is working on the development of just this kind of rapid phosphate detection - phosphate is the most common form of phosphorus in the environment, and most of that phosphate comes from agricultural runoff. Funded by an Ohio Sea Grant development grant, Spiese and undergraduate student Joanne Berry are testing variations of a novel reagent first published in 2011 that quickly forms a yellow-green fluorescent compound in the presence of phosphate. That fluorescence can be detected with standard lab equipment, and forms the basis of a promising new testing method.