NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE HURON CSMI (2022)
NOAA GLERL and CIGLR partners will conduct a suite of projects for Lake Huron 2022 CSMI that will address most of the Lake Huron science and monitoring priorities under the following efforts: Nutrient and Bacterial Pollution, Habitat and Native Species, Invasive Species, and Other Stressors. The subprojects include monitoring of dreissenid mussels; defining the fine-scale spatial structure and function of the food web in a key region of Lake Huron; assessing primary productivity across key gradients in the lake such as near- to offshore; and providing daily nowcast and forecast information in support of CSMI field research.
FY 2021 funding: $521,000
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE MICHIGAN CSMI (2020)
NOAA is continuing its support of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative with the 2020 Lake Michigan field year. GLERL and partners will conduct spatially and temporally intensive sampling in the southeastern region. Biophysical modeling will aid in the collection and interpretation of field data. Research priorities include fish recruitment bottlenecks, dreissenid mussels (with a focus on veligers), the lower food web from nearshore to offshore, nutrients, and productivity ‘hot spots.’
FY 2019 funding: $610,000
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE ERIE CSMI (2019)
NOAA is continuing its support of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative with the 2019 Lake Erie field year. Research activities focused on harmful algal blooms, phytoplankton production and succession, nutrients, and hypoxia. New experiments and surveys revealed the distribution and fate of manganese, which affects drinking water quality, in response to hypoxia. GLERL also partnered with USGS to continue the long-term Western Lake Erie Mayfly and Mussel Survey.
FY 2018 funding: $500,000
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE ONTARIO CSMI (2018)
NOAA is continuing its support of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative with the 2018 Lake Ontario field year. The GLERL Benthic Ecology Lab conducted year-long multi-depth quagga mussel growth experiments in one region of Lake Ontario in collaboration with the USGS Lake Ontario Biological Station. Two regions in Lake Huron were also sampled.
FY 2017 funding: $73,000
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE HURON CSMI (2017)
NOAA is continuing its support of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative with the 2017 Lake Huron field year. Spatial surveys in May, June, July, and September provided detailed seasonal information and spatio-temporal connections of the entire food web (including microbial) and movement of nutrients from nearshore to offshore in the Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay regions.
FY 2016 funding: $318,400
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE MICHIGAN CSMI (2015)
NOAA is continuing its support of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative with the 2015 Lake Michigan CSMI. GLRI funds are supporting two sub-projects that examine spatial distributions and interaction of benthic and pelagic components of the food web to better understand the movement of nutrients from inshore to offshore and spatial coupling of the food web that has been disrupted by invasive mussels.
1. Lake Michigan 2015 Benthic Survey: Lake-wide benthic surveys have been conducted through other programs in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010, and the 2015 CSMI with replicate the latest study to assess changes and trends in the benthic environment. This is the longest data set of benthic populations in the Great Lakes that have been consistently collected at the same sites using the same methods. Over 130 sites will be sampled in Lake Michigan, followed by laboratory analysis in 2016, and a broad-scale communication effort of the results by 2017 through publications, presentations, and workshops.
2. Temporal and spatial coupling of nutrients and food web — microbes to fish: This project will provide detailed seasonal information and spatio-temporal connections of the entire food web and movement of nutrient through it in the Muskegon/Grand River region of Lake Michigan. This will project results across time for greater generalization of results and development of spatially explicit ecosystem models incorporating nutrient movement from inshore to offshore, and impacts of dreissenids and other stressors.
FY 2014 funding: $249,000
NOAA SUPPORT OF LAKE HURON CSMI (2012)
Launching one of NOAA-GLERL’s AUV into Lake Huron as part of the Lake Huron CSMI.
In spring 2012, NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) began a multi-agency project, sponsored by EPA’s Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) in Lake Huron. This project is examining spatial distributions of the Lake Huron food web near Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, characterizing the composition and abundance of the benthic community, and determining the role of Saginaw Bay for removing phosphorous. The field campaign includes using research vessels (e.g. NOAA-GLERL’s R/V Laurentian and R/V Storm, USGS’s R/V Sturgeon and Grayling). Field sampling occurred between April and September of 2012. The 2012 Lake Huron CSMI is foundation for NOAA-GLERL to establish long-term ecological research programs in Lake Huron based out of NOAA’s Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, MI. The project integrates long-term observations on biological, chemical, and physical variables with laboratory experiments to develop new concepts and modeling tools to explore changes in the lake. The overall goal of the CSMI project is to obtain a “holistic” understanding of the Lake Huron ecosystem and actively use the data in an effort to create effective Great Lakes management planning and management strategies in the face of ecosystem stressors. Lake Huron CSMI website.
NOAA supports three sub-project categories of the Lake Huron CSMI:
- Lake Huron Benthic Survey: Lake-wide surveys have been conducted through other programs in 2000, 2003, and 2007, and the 2012 CSMI with replicate the latest study to assess changes and trends in the benthic environment. Over 90 sites will be sampled in Lake Huron, followed by laboratory analysis in 2013, and a broad-scale communication effort of the results by 2014 through publications, presentations, and workshops.
- Spatial Study of the Lower Food Web: Characterizing the spatial distribution of the Lake Huron food web by using vessels and survey systems for measuring the distributions of plankton, fish, and Mysis in relationship to dressnenid-driven changes to phytoplankton distributions. This will be performed in 2012, analyzed in 2013, and prepared for communication efforts and publications by 2014.
- Sediment Core Study of Phosphorous Deposition: Testing the hypothesis that dressenid mussels have increased phosphorous retention in nearshore areas via filtration and deposition in the sediment. Ten sediment cores will be collected (2012) in Saginaw Bay and in the main body of Lake Huron, nutrient analysis (2013) will be performed to determine phosphorous retention behavior over the last 20 years, and communication efforts and publications will follow by 2014.
FY 2011 funding: $323,000
Contacts:
Henry Vanderploeg, henry.vanderploeg@noaa.gov; Ashley Elgin, ashley.elgin@noaa.gov