USGS Great Lakes Science Center

1
USGS Great Lakes Science Center

• Great Lakes Research

2
GLSC Fisheries and Aquatic Research on the Great
Lakes

• Our Mission To advance scientific knowledge
  and provide scientific information for restoring,
  enhancing, managing, and protecting the living
  resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes
  basin ecosystem

3
Our Basin-wide Facilities enable us to conduct
research throughout the Great Lakes basin, and to
link terrestrial, coastal, nearshore, and
deepwater ecosystems.

Lake Superior



Munising



Biological Station



Biological
Station
Hammond Bay Biological Station



Cheboygan Vessel Base


l




Lake Ontario


Biological Station


Tunison Laboratory
Ann Arbor

ê

of Aquatic Science


Lake Michigan


Lake Erie




Ecological Research Station

Biological Station


4
GLSC Research Focusing on

• Deepwater Science
• Invasive Species
• Aquatic Ecosystem Health
• Restoration Ecology
• Wetlands and Coastal Habitats

5
Deepwater Science
Research Vessels on all 5 of the Great Lakes
6
Long-term data provides information on changes in
fish community structure and the impact of
invasive species.
7
Invasive species

• Our History
• Van Oosten part of international team working on
  smelt in Lake Champlain in late 1930s
• Hammond Bay Biological Station established in
  1950 to control and eradicate sea lamprey
• Current Program
• Long-term monitoring of fish community structure
  and food-web dynamics
• Targeted research addressing current and future
  partner and resource needs related to individual
  exotic species

8
Sea Lamprey
Lampricide Control
Data Archiving Tags
Alternative Control Technologies
(barriers, sterilization of males)
9
Zebra Mussel Expansion

10
Aquatic Ecosystem Health

• Focus areas
• Tributaries
• Wetlands
• Nearshore habitats
• Deepwater habitats

11
Decline of Diporeia and Mysis

• Deepwater benthic invertebrates and diet staple
  of fishes
• Decline coincident with proliferation of invasive
  dreissenid mussels
• Trophic dynamics decline results in aquatic
  food web disruption

12
E. Coli and Lake Michigan Beach Closures

• E. coli not as a nuisance species but as a
  component of the ecosystem
• Life history of E. coli
• Source is often wildlife and waterfowl

13
Thiamine Deficiency Complex (TDC)/Early
Mortality Syndrome (EMS)

• Nutritional deficiency believed to result from
  salmonids (lake trout, salmon) consuming
  non-native forage fish (alewife, rainbow smelt)
• May be fatal and seriously impact population
  and/or fish community

14
Restoration Ecology Rehabilitation of Native
Species and Their Habitats
15
Huron/Erie Corridor Initiative

• This Initiative addresses
• Conservation biology of native species
• Threats posed to native species by invasives
  (e.g. egg predation, similar spawning
  requirements)
• Alteration of habitats used by native threatened
  and endangered species (e.g. substrate removal,
  reduced availability of low water velocity
  habitat, water temperature)
• Restoration ecology

16
Lake sturgeon Restoration of spawning habitat
in the Detroit River
17
Restoration of Native Mussels

• Unionids are the most endangered fauna in North
  America
• Over 70 of the 300 species are listed as either
  endangered or threatened
• In the Great Lakes basin, proliferation of
  dreissenid mussels pose a significant threat to
  native mussels
• Research assess unionid species composition
  abundance, and community structure, determine the
  potential of public lands to serve as refuges for
  unionids

18
Lake trout restoration

• For over 40 years the GLSC has worked closely
  with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and its
  cooperating U.S. and Canadian Federal agencies,
  the eight Great Lakes states, the Province of
  Ontario, and Tribal fishery management agencies
  to restore lake trout populations in all of the
  Great Lakes.

19
Wetlands and Coastal Habitats
GLSC provides critical scientific information to
natural resource managers through wetland
restoration and management studies, and long-term
effects of lake level changes (IJC partnership).
Metzger Marsh before and after restoration
(western Lake Erie)
Wetland studies and development of new water
level regulation plans for Lake Ontario
20
Coastal Ecosystem InitiativeResearch Focus

• Understanding relationships between protection of
  natural coastal habitats and biota and
  environmental factors such as
• Water-level change
• Coastal sediment dynamics
• Coastal tributary sediment dynamics and hydrology
• Ground water contributions to the coastal zone

21
GLSC Research Focus Summary

• Deepwater Science long-term datasets for fish
  population/community assessment
• Invasive Species Program understanding
  biological impacts of current invasives and
  preventing further invasions
• Aquatic Ecosystem Health food web dynamics and
  other key issues (E.coli,TDC/EMS)
• Restoration Ecology rehabilitation of native
  species and habitats
• Wetlands and Coastal Habitats wetland
  restoration and management studies effects of
  Great Lakes water level changes

22
USGS Great Lakes Science Center
(Maybe something here to re-iterate the
importance and value of water quality monitoring
and research to GLSC projects value of
partnerships between BRD and WRD and also
inter-agency collaborations.)