Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Great Lakes Science Center, is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for a research project seeking to improve understanding of the food-web linkages between nearshore and offshore. This project is under the umbrella of the 2015 Coordinated Science and Monitoring Initiative that focuses on the Lake Michigan Ecosystem. The USGS design includes sampling eight nearshore-to-offshore transects, with water, plankton, benthos, and fish being sampled at 18, 46, and >100 m bottom depth at each transect. It also locates transects along a gradient of proximity to tributary inputs of phosphorus (from adjacent to high-loading tributaries, such as the St. Joseph River, to adjacent to no tributaries, such as offshore of Arcadia, Michigan). Sampling of transects will occur in spring, summer, and autumn. Two key research objectives include 1) How does nutrient availability change from nearshore to offshore and how is that availability influenced by proximity to tributary inputs?, 2) How well does productivity of phytoplankton within a given habitat correspond to productivity of zooplankton and fish?. Understanding the distribution and abundance of nutrients and biota (e.g., invertebrates, fish) across a nearshore to offshore gradient remains a key knowledge gap identified by the Lake Michigan LAMP and fishery management community. Increased understanding and knowledge of the Lake Michigan nearshore will facilitate the development of a Nearshore Strategy by the LAMP, which is called for in the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
Office: Geological Survey
fgraves@usgs.gov
