Short abstract:

Algal blooms formed by marine microbes have become more common during the last decades due to issues like pollution and warmer temperatures. This presentation explores boundaries between land, water, nature, and culture connected to the toxic threat posed by cyanobacterial blooms in Finland.

Long abstract:

The way humans relate to aquatic bodies and their nonhuman inhabitants is mediated by a long history of both coexistence and distance. Humans of course depend on water for survival, with obvious examples like hydration or fishing. However, access to water bodies continues to be challenging and humans depend on technology to enter, survive, and know them. This has meant for many communities a strong aquatic attachment that is now at stake given the ongoing ecological crisis leading to, for example, pollution and warming temperatures. In my work I follow the challenges posed by cyanobacteria, a marine microorganism known to be the first ever oxygen producer, nowadays also playing a central role in marine food webs. Besides these arguably positive characteristics, cyanobacteria can form massive blooms that are toxic to human and nonhuman animals. Massive blooms have become common in Finland (among other regions), especially during the summer, since cyanobacteria thrives in eutrophic warm waters (linked to climate change and fertilizer pollution). Their impact brings humans closer and further from aquatic environments. It leads to scientific efforts to know better their role in ecosystems but at the same time health concerns keep people away from interacting with waters they have coexisted with most of or even their entire lives. In this presentation, I explore how boundaries between land, water, nature, and culture, are challenged by this bidirectional move towards and away from cyanobacteria and the water bodies that they inhabit, offering a chance to challenge anthropocentric understandings of microbe-environment-human relations.