The status of Lake Erie is up for discussion at the among scientists, managers and citizens at the University of Windsor this week.

At the eighth binational meeting, the Lake Erie Millennium Network will discuss "The Status of Lake Erie - Understanding the Nearshore and its Connections."

More than 125 scientists, resource managers, citizens, and students from Canada and the US at the meeting that runs from Tuesday until Thursday.

The network says Lake Erie is in a state of change, reflecting human and environmental influences acting together on a poorly understood system. Although some pollution problems are disappearing, other concerns are appearing.

The two-and-a-half day meeting has been organized by a team that includes the University of Windsor; Environment and Climate Canada; the US EPA's Large Lakes Research Lab at Grosse Ile, Michigan; and the Ohio Sea Grant/F.T. Stone Laboratory of Ohio State University.

The group has invited leading experts to make presentations and discuss the conditions and their predictions for the future of the Lake Erie ecosystem.

The purpose of the meeting is to take stock of results of the last few years' research, and to ask what is needed to improve our understanding and predictions for the next few years.

Highlights of the meeting will include:

-Understanding algal blooms and relationships;

-Reports on how well the timing and amounts of nutrients entering the lake can predict harmful algal blooms;

-Updates on the status and threats posed by zebra and quagga mussels and new invertebrate invaders;

-New technology to study how the physical environment affects the biological community;

-Predictions for how climate change may affect Lake Erie temperature, water levels and the shorelines;

-Potential risks associated with chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and fire retardants in the ecosystem;

 -Maps showing where combined ecosystem risks are greatest, and plans for protecting and restoring Lake Erie's resources and biodiversity;

-A special session on the condition of Lake St. Clair, and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers.