Featured Research: by Stephanie Schmidt

Schmidt et al. 2011. Historical and contemporary trophic niche partitioning among Laurentian Great Lakes coregonines. Ecol. Appl. 21:888-896.

An ecologically unique and diverse species assemblage once roamed the deep waters of the Great Lakes, prior to overfishing and non-native species introductions. Now extirpated from Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario (and in low numbers in Superior), the deepwater coregonines were important prey fish for top predators and supported a productive commercial fishery. Rehabilitation of native deepwater fish communities is now a top management priority, yet little is known about their historical ecology.

Stephanie Schmidt and her colleagues collected coregonine tissue samples from museum specimens and from contemporary populations in Lakes Superior and Nipigon. They used stable isotope analysis – a technique that uses carbon and nitrogen information to decipher diet – to reconstruct the food web from the 1920’s to the present.

In each lake, the coregonines were ecologically distinct from one another, their distinctness was maintained throughout a period of tremendous ecosystem change, and the most distinct species was most likely to persist over time. Stephanie suggests that the rehabilitation of ecological diversity be considered in reintroduction programs.

Featured Professional: Jennifer Winter

Jennifer Winter is a senior scientist with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and directs nutrient monitoring programs for inland lakes and the Great Lakes. She also is acting supervisor for the Sport Fish and Biomonitoring Unit, the group responsible for the monitoring of contaminant levels in fish tissues throughout Ontario.

Jennifer’s path to a career in science began in England, where she earned a B.Sc. in Environmental Biology (Univ. of Liverpool) and a M.Sc. in Pollution and Environmental Control (Univ. of Manchester). She then moved to the Univ. of Waterloo (not England!) and the Ministry’s Dorset Environmental Science Centre (www.desc.ca).
Jennifer’s interest and background in environmental sciences forms the basis of a diverse research program on lakes at risk. She has studied the recovery of Sudbury area lakes, the effects of multiple stressors on the phytoplankton communities of Canadian Shield lakes and Lake Simcoe, trends in nutrient and chloride loading to Lake Simcoe, and trends in algal bloom reporting by the public. Currently, she is involved with a large, collaborative research project on Lake Simcoe which explores how key processes such as nutrient loading and climate variability affect the ecology of the lake.

Featured Student: Michelle Palmer

Michelle Palmer, a Ph.D. student at York University in Toronto, is interested in large scale questions concerning ecosystems and their responses to multiple, interacting stressors. Her research focuses on ~40 Ontario lakes and how their physical, chemical and biological properties changed following changes in climate, acidic deposition, nutrients and development, and species introductions. Michelle will also assess whether widespread stressors such as climate change should be used to inform restoration targets for stressed lakes.

Michelle’s first research experience was on cuttlefish communication at Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia), while still an undergrad. After completing her B.Sc. in marine biology and statistics, she moved to McGill University to do an M.Sc. Here, her research focused on biological invasions in the St. Lawrence River.

Michelle’s integration of quantitative approaches and ecology is a winning combination. She has 11 publications in press or submitted, six of which are first-authored! Along the way, she has received several prestigious scholarships and awards.

Michelle is also passionate about teaching and knowledge sharing. She has been a TA for several courses, a coordinator for 1st year Biology, and even found time to found a taxonomic and statistical consulting business!

Featured Research by Anett Trebitz

Trebitz et al. 2010. Status of non-indigenous benthic invertebrates in the Duluth-Superior Harbor and the role of sampling methods in their detection. J. Great Lakes Res. 36:747-756.

Invasive species can cause considerable ecological and economic damage, so it is important to have a monitoring system in place to detect new arrivals early enough to mount an effective response. But how could early detection monitoring be accomplished most efficiently, given time and budgetary constraints?

Anett Trebitz and her colleagues sought to answer that question. They conducted intensive sampling in a known exotic species ‘hotspot’, followed by numeric ‘what-if’ analyses to determine methodological efficiencies. One major finding: combining multiple search strategies is better than traditional single-gear monitoring. Through their efforts, they discovered several new invertebrate exotics in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.

Anett is a research ecologist with the US EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth. She received her MS from the University of Tennessee and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Annett cares about how people affect aquatic ecosystems, and currently is part of a team studying linkages between watershed development and the health of Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

Featured Professional: Stephanie Guildford

In the world’s largest deepest lakes, phytoplankton photosynthesis is an important source of new carbon that fuels whole lake productivity. Research by Stephanie Guildford, an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, focuses on determining rates and controlling factors on primary production (PP) and, importantly, fates of PP.

Great Lakes, especially those with low nutrient concentrations and low phytoplankton biomass, pose extreme logistical challenges. Stephanie and her colleagues use advanced fluorometric instruments to characterize phytoplankton composition and photosynthetic capacity at highly-resolved spatial and temporal scales.

Using data collected from Lake Superior during five cruises in 2010, Stephanie’s lab and colleagues at UMD are studying the deep chlorophyll layer (DCL). In particular, is the DCL light limited, nutrient limited, controlled by grazers, or the sinking of phytoplankton? What links exist between the DCL and the vertical migrating zooplankton Limnocalanus and Mysis? Do these zooplankton feed in the DCL and, if so, how much of their productivity is derived from the DCL? Do the phytoplankton in the DCL use the nutrients excreted by the migrating zooplankton? If so, the connection between the DCL and migrating zooplankton may be an important control point of primary production.

Featured Student: Jessica Van Der Werff

Jessica Van Der Werff is a Master’s student in Water Resources Science at the University of Minnesota–Duluth. Her keen interest in water resources and their management began during her undergrad years at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. During this time, she obtained skills and experience in an aquatic ecology laboratory and as a water quality intern in southeastern Minnesota.

Jessica’s Master’s research focuses on nutrient and light stress in phytoplankton in Lake Superior. The first challenge is to collect phytoplankton and water samples at this vast scale, which means multiple cruises for Jessica throughout the summer months. This is followed by sophisticated analytical techniques (e.g., bioassays and fluorometry) to measure key indicators of stress and nutrient composition of water.

Jessica’s research occurs within the framework of a larger project on nutrient cycling dynamics, translocation of nutrients by biota, and overall productivity of Lake Superior. By describing the spatial and temporal patterns in indicators of nutrient stress in this system, Jessica will contribute important information about nutrient cycling in Lake Superior.

As Jessica plans her second summer of research cruises, she is looking forward to presenting preliminary data at the 2011 IAGLR conference in Duluth.

Featured Research: by Brenda Moraska Lafrancois

Lafrancois et al. 2011. Links between type E botulism outbreaks, lake levels, and surface water temperatures in Lake Michigan, 1963-2008. J. Great Lakes Res. 37:86-91.

In response to a recent resurgence of type E botulism in the Great Lakes, Brenda Moraska Lafrancois and her colleagues evaluated long-term relationships between botulism outbreaks and large-scale environmental factors in Lake Michigan. The team found associations between avian botulism outbreaks and low water levels and high summer surface water temperatures. Notable outbreaks coincided with periods of high prey fish abundance (alewife in the 1960s, round gobies in the 2000s).

Given that climate change scenarios predict lower water levels and higher water temperatures in the Great Lakes region, this study suggests that the frequency and magnitude of type E botulism outbreaks may increase in the future.

Brenda is a regional aquatic ecologist with the National Park Service and is stationed in St. Croix, Minnesota. She received a BS from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a PhD in ecology from Colorado State University. Her current role is to advise on water resource issues in Great Lakes’ national parks, including nutrient enrichment, atmospheric contaminants, and aquatic invasive species.

Featured Professional: Kathy Sakamoto

Kathy Sakamoto is driven to build her knowledge of fish habitat to help protect our aquatic resources. After graduating from Lakehead University in Forest Technology, she worked with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Nipigon District, on fish habitat issues. A workshop on fluvial geomorphology by David Rosgen opened her eyes to the connection between surficial geology and fish habitat, and whetted her appetite for more knowledge.

A move to Thunder Bay was an opportunity to go back to school to complete an Honour’s BSc part time. Her thesis research focused on surficial geology and fish habitat in the Black Sturgeon River. This tributary of Lake Superior flows into Black Bay, the location of a historically important walleye fishery. Besides reviewing files, maps, and aerial photographs, Kathy spent long days doing field work by canoe along 70 km of the river. Her research identified important spawning habitat for walleye, most of which was blocked by a logging dam used for sea lamprey control.

In her current role as Regional Information Management Specialist, Kathy advises fisheries personnel on how to use technology to collect and organize information.

Kathy is currently focusing on an early retirement and return to graduate school to complete a MSc in fisheries science. Choosing a university is her next challenge!

Featured Student: Kimberly Peters

Kimberly Peters is a recent Master’s graduate of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University.

Having grown up in Toledo, Ohio, she grew to love the Great Lakes at a young age. She pursued a BA in Environmental Policy and Analysis at Bowling Green State University to further cultivate this passion and get involved with the protection of the Great Lakes. She quickly realized that policy in combination with science could provide a deeper and richer understanding of the Great Lakes.

Under the supervision of Dr. Scott Peacor, Kim completed an interdisciplinary Master’s project that brought together stakeholders, policy-makers, and scientists to battle common environmental stressors in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. Her research focused on the influence of light and nutrient limitation on benthic algal health, the main biotic culprits in shoreline fouling events in this system. In recognition of her work, Kim was awarded the prestigious Paul W. Rodgers Scholarship from IAGLR.

Kim continues to work with the research community and stakeholders in Saginaw Bay to help residents predict and alleviate future fouling events. In the future, she hopes to continue developing the joint policy-ecology arena to help protect the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Featured Research by Cheryl Dykstra

Dykstra, C.R., et al. 2010. Contaminant concentrations in Bald Eagles nesting on Lake Superior, the upper Mississippi River, and the St. Croix River. J. Great Lakes Res. 36:561-569.

Cheryl Dykstra and her colleagues measured contaminant concentrations in Bald Eagle nestlings collected from three regions over the past two decades. Their study documents a steady decrease in concentrations of the persistent organochlorines DDE and total PCBs, as well as mercury, along the Lake Superior shoreline. Lake Superior nestlings had the highest concentrations of DDE. Concentrations of total PCBs were highest along the industrial areas of the Mississippi and Lower St. Croix rivers, and levels of mercury were greatest along the upper St. Croix River. Levels of all three contaminants were below those associated with significant impairment of reproduction, and observed reproductive rates were indicative of a healthy population.

Cheryl Dykstra is an independent researcher and self-employed wildlife consultant in West Chester, Ohio. Her training in wildlife ecology includes a B.S. degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work now focuses on evaluating the effects of urbanization on the ecology of raptors in suburban areas of southwestern Ohio.

Featured Professional: Jessica Hellman

Have you ever wondered what humans might do to reduce the negative effects of climate change? This is one of the newest challenges for climate change biology and a question that Dr. Jessica Hellmann and her students at the University of Notre Dame are tackling.

Jessica’s work on "adaptation" to climate change has emerged from her studies on the ecological impacts of climate change. She feels that ecologists have spent many years diagnosing the effects of climate change on biodiversity, but now we need to use this knowledge to design management strategies to live with climate change.

Specifically, the Hellmann Lab is studying the ecological and evolutionary factors that limit the ability of species to track climate as it shifts. These limitations include local adaptation of populations to local climates and specialized interactions between species. Humans might be able to overcome these limitations for some species by facilitating their movement and even putting some in new locations. Several species in the Great Lakes region are helping Jessica grapple with these issues, including the hybridizing Midwestern butterflies, Papilio glaucus and P. canadensis, and the endangered Karner blue butterfly.

For more information about Jessica Hellmann and her research group, see http://www.nd.edu/~hellmann/.

Featured Student or Postdoc: Julie Marentette

Julie Marentette is a Ph.D. student working with Sigal Balshine in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

For Julie, a large part of growing up was fishing and swimming in Lakes St. Clair and Erie. Following a love of nature, she completed a B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Windsor. While there, she developed an interest in Great Lakes research as an NSERC undergraduate research assistant, and later thesis student, in the laboratory of Lynda Corkum. With Lynda, Julie studied pheromone communication in the invasive round goby.

Julie’s ongoing research with Sigal at McMaster University continues to focus on the reproductive biology of the round goby. Currently, she is examining the consequences of living in contaminated habitats. This involves a comparison of physiological and behavioural biomarkers of pollutant exposure in fish from areas of varying contamination in Hamilton Harbour, an Area of Concern. She suspects that contamination will affect activity levels, foraging, and responses to predators. Her work will help determine how contaminants affect round goby population dynamics, and thus the transfer of toxicants through local foodwebs.

Featured Research: by Lyndsay Smith

Smith, L. A. & P. Chow-Fraser. 2010. Impacts of adjacent land use and isolation on marsh bird communities. Environ. Manage. 45: 1040-1051.

Lyndsay Smith and her co-author evaluated how urbanization around coastal wetlands affects marsh bird communities in southern Ontario. Birds specialized for nesting in wetlands were found to prefer rural over urban wetlands, whereas generalist species showed no preference. Synanthropic species (those using human-associated habitats for nesting) tended towards increased species richness and abundance in urban wetlands.

Rural wetlands, in comparison to urban wetlands, had significantly higher scores for an index of biological integrity specifically designed for marsh-bird communities (the Index of Marsh Bird Community Integrity). More isolated wetlands had lower biological integrity and lower species richness of obligate marsh-nesters than less isolated wetlands.

Management implications from this research include limiting urban development next to wetlands and the protection of all existing wetlands to preserve biodiversity and to mitigate against isolation effects.

Lyndsay is a Postdoctoral Fellow working in the Biology Department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Featured Professional: Ashley Moerke

Ashley Moerke is Associate Professor of Biology and Co-Director of the Aquatic Research Laboratory at Lake Superior State University, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. Her career path began as an undergrad, when she spent two summers doing research at Toolik Lake LTER Field Station in northern Alaska. After receiving her B.S. from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, she focused on aspects of aquatic ecology for her M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame.

At LSSU, Ashley strives to share her passion for aquatic ecology in and out of the classroom. Through extensive collaboration, she introduces her students to stimulating research experiences and helps them build their professional networks. Ashley’s greatest thrill is to hear from former students about their personal and professional accomplishments.

One of Ashley’s goals is to create a center of freshwater sciences in the Upper Great Lakes region, located in Sault Sainte Marie, that will advance scientific understanding of freshwater issues in the Great Lakes basin and provide hands-on training opportunities for students.

Outside of the classroom and field, Ashley takes advantage of living in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She spends her winters snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, her summers fishing, biking, canoeing, kayaking, and camping, and her autumns bird hunting with her husband and two dogs.

Featured Student or Postdoc: Amanda Haponski

Amanda Haponski is a Ph.D. student at the University of Toledo studying the population genetic structure of walleye. Her main interest is in how fine-scale temporal and spatial genetic structure and composition of Lake Erie spawning groups has changed with the introduction of invasive species, climate change, and harvesting.

Amanda began her academic career as an undergrad at the University of Maine, studying marine biology. With a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates award in hand, she went to study the phylogenetics of the greenside darter with Carol Stepien, University of Toledo. This project sparked her interest in genetics, and formed the basis of her subsequent M.Sc. research.

Amanda, now hooked on population genetics and conservation of native fishes, stayed on to begin her dissertation on walleye.

Amanda has six publications, with three first-authored. Recently, she was awarded the International Association for Great Lakes Research Norman S. Baldwin Fishery Science Scholarship, Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, NSF DeepFin Student Exchange Program Award, and a Smithsonian Institution Fellowship to support her studies.

Featured Research: by Karin Limburg

Limburg, K.E., and 4 others. 2010. The good, the bad, and the algae: perceiving ecosystem services and disservices generated by zebra and quagga mussels. J Great Lakes Res. 36:86-92

Karin Limburg and colleagues explore the social complexities surrounding the common perception of zebra and quagga mussels as pests in the Great Lakes region. In fact, these non-native invasives are responsible for phenomena considered both good and bad: the production of clear water versus an increase in nuisance filamentous algae (e.g., Cladophora glomerata can become superabundant, and when it dies it sloughs off onto beaches and becomes a nuisance). People form very strong preferences for clear water, and very strong dislikes of the algae. These preferences have economic consequences: homeowners experienced a $3500 increase in property values that they attributed to increased water clarity, and a $750 decline in property values due to nuisance algae.

This study highlights the importance of considering the social dimension in the assessment of invasive species, as it may identify “positives” in addition to “negatives”.

Karin is an Associate Professor of Fisheries and Ecosystem Science at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry of the State University of New York in Syracuse.

Featured Professional: Pat Chow-Fraser

Pat Chow-Fraser is Professor and Chair of Biology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Her research and passion is to conserve the pristine wetlands of eastern and northern Georgian Bay, and to prevent them from suffering the same fate as degraded urban marshes of Lakes Erie and Ontario.

Pat and her lab group work hard and publish many papers on the use of models to predict the effects of water level, invasive species, and human disturbance on marsh vegetation and fish habitat in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. In addition, she inspires the next generation of ecologists by teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Ecology and Biodiversity.

Pat’s career in freshwater ecology started in 1978 following her B.Sc. (Hons Biology) at University of Waterloo, where she remained to pursue a M.Sc. (Biology), focusing on the impact of low-level fertilization on the phytoplankton community of a bay in Lac Matamec, Quebec. This was followed by a Ph.D (Zoology) at University of Toronto, where she studied zooplankton grazing in small Ontario lakes. Other interesting postdoctoral research, ranging from copepod mating to trophic indicators of aquatic health, followed before Pat landed her appointment as Assistant Professor at McMaster in 1991.

Featured Student or Postdoc: Michelle Farwell

Michelle Farwell is a Ph.D. student at the University of Windsor investigating the effects of aquatic contaminants on reproductive traits. In one study, Michelle is testing whether contamination in the Detroit River elicits adaptive responses in wild populations of brown bullhead. She is also testing whether synthetic estrogen present in birth control pills (and consequently also in municipal waste water effluents) affects gamete quality and reproductive success in fathead minnows, and similar to the bullheads, whether wild populations adapt to chronic exposure.

Michelle started her academic career as an undergraduate working with Michael Fox at Trent University studying hypoxia tolerance in sunfishes. She then completed her M.Sc. with Robert McLaughlin at the University of Guelph where a keen interest in animal behaviour began. Her M.Sc. thesis focussed on how personality traits in young-of-the-year brook charr relate to large-scale differences in the migratory tactics of adults.

Michelle was excited to join the field of ecotoxicology with Dr. Pitcher as her Ph.D. supervisor to broaden her research scope and apply research to local conservation efforts. Michelle was recently awarded a prestigious NSERC scholarship to support her studies!

Featured Research: by Heather Dawson

Dawson, HA., and M.L. Jones. 2009. Factors affecting recruitment dynamics of Great Lakes sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) populations. J Great Lakes Res. 35:353-360.

In this paper, Heather Dawson and her colleague explore the population dynamics of sea lamprey, an important predator of fish species in the Great Lakes. They found that larval production of sea lampreys varies tremendously among streams and lake basins independently of other factors, and that spawning and/or larval habitat quality must play a critical role.

Heather recently became an assistant professor in the Wildlife Biology program (Biology Dept.) at the Univ. of Michigan-Flint. Her research program uses field, laboratory, and modeling techniques to study and predict impacts of species invasive to the Great Lakes. Heather is a native Michigander who enjoys fishing and the outdoors. She is dedicated to solving natural resource management problems, and doing her part to protect and enhance the fish communities of the Great Lakes.

Heather received a dual Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior from Michigan State University in 2007. She then worked as a fishery biologist from 2007-09 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their sea lamprey control office located in Marquette, MI.

Featured Professional: Elizabeth Wright

Elizabeth Wright is the Coordinator of Fish Health and Aquaculture with the Great Lakes Branch, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Beth initially studied Marine Biology (B.Sc., Univ. Guelph) but switched to freshwater fisheries research for her M.Sc. (Laurentian Univ.) and Ph.D. (McGill Univ.). Beth grew up in Brampton, Ontario spending summers at the family cottage on Lake Huron where she was encouraged by family and neighbours to examine dead fish on the beach.

Beth started her career as a summer student with MNR and has worked in Ontario, Quebec, and B.C. Beth now provides fish health expertise to the provincial fish culture program and partner hatcheries. She helps to develop MNR programs and policies related to fish health management, aquaculture, and emerging fish health issues. Most of Beth’s recent work has focused on understanding and treating viral and bacterial infections in fish. Beth represents MNR on national fish health committees, at workshops and conferences, and is the current Chair of the Great Lakes Fish Health Committee.

Beth encourages young women to pursue interests and careers in science, by doing volunteer work with CAGIS, the Canadian Association for Girls in Science. This is a fantastic association that encourages girls to explore science through a hands-on approach.