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Ecology and Ecosystems | Ohio Sea Grant

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Ecology and Ecosystems

Lake Erie and the ecosystem surrounding it play a vital role in Ohio's health and economy

Lake Erie and the ecosystem surrounding it play a vital role in Ohio’s health and economy. The lake’s central basin receives nutrient-rich waters from the western basin, resulting in annual low oxygen content near the central basin’s bottom. These low- and no-oxygen periods, often referred to as “dead zones”, have caused fish kills and changes in fish behavior and are a topic of concern for Ohio Sea Grant. In addition, research in this category addresses a wide range of other ecological concerns.

CURRENT PROJECTS


Beyond the medicine cabinet: Public perceptions of the risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products to aquatic systems and related disposal behaviors

RECORD:
R/SEL-002
2018
Principal Investigator:

Victoria Campbell-Arvai

Institution:

University of Michigan


Research in progress.

Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in source and finished waters for public supply in Northeast Ohio

RECORD:
R/PS-054
2018
Principal Investigator:

Xiaozhen Mou, Professor, Kent State Department of Biological Sciences

Institution:

Kent State University


Research in progress.

Glyphosate runoff dynamics in tributaries draining into the Sandusky River

RECORD:
R/ES-025
2018
Principal Investigator:

Laura Johnson, Director, National Center for Water Quality Research

Institution:

Heidelberg University


Research in progress.

A Workshop to Build a Lake Erie Area Research Network

RECORD:
R/ER-120-PD
2016
Principal Investigator:

Kristen Fussell, Associate Director, Ohio Sea Grant College Program

Institution:

The Ohio State University


RELEVANCE: Complex stressors on Lake Erie, such as climate change, land use, population shifts, etc., operate on a large scale, and thus the solutions to these issues must also be grand. This presents a need for an established and reliable network for Lake Erie scientist to disseminate research.

RESPONSE: The long term goal of Ohio Sea Grant is to initiate the Lake Erie Area Research Network (LEARN) to better manage and sustain Lake Erie in light of human-driven stressors by creating a consortium of field stations and their associated researchers. Ohio Sea Grant staff was awarded a National Science Foundation planning grant to jump-start the establishment the Lake Erie Area Research Network.

RESULTS: Ohio Sea Grant facilitated a two-day workshop, a series of webinars, and survey work to establish the foundation for the LEARN consortium. Over 50 researchers from 17 institutions around Ohio have invested their time into the development of this new Lake Erie consortium.

BOTTOM LINE

Ohio Sea Grant is working to establish the foundation the Lake Erie Area Research Network (LEARN), a consortium of field stations, scientific equipment, and diverse researchers to address the grand challenges facing Lake Erie.

  •  Summary

Design and implementation of aquatics based after school program at PAST Innovation Lab

RECORD:
E/E-006-PD
2016
Principal Investigator:

Andrew Bruening, Director of Bridge Programs, The PAST Foundation

Institution:

The PAST Foundation


RELEVANCE: After-school programs can be a great way for students to expand their knowledge of aquatic biology and environmental science, but many currently available options can be overwhelming for middle-school students and younger children.

RESPONSE: A seven-week after-school program for middle school students was designed to introduce them to hands-on activities, field sampling and identification techniques, as well as build student confidence.

RESULTS: Participants confidently showed what they had learned during an “open house” that included required presentations to parents and other guests. They were also familiar with local macroinvertebrate identification and water quality testing, and better prepared to participate in additional field studies like summer camps.

BOTTOM LINE

A hands-on after-school program was developed to increase middle school students' ability to participate confidently in field studies and other learning experiences outside the classroom.

  •  Summary

From the headwaters to the littoral zone: using attached algae as indicators of ecosystem impairment and nutrient processing in the Lake Erie watershed

RECORD:
R/ER-115
2016
Principal Investigator:

Yvonne Vadeboncoeur, Professor, Wright State Department of Biological Sciences

Institution:

Wright State University


RELEVANCE: Farm fertilizers and manure can stimulate algal growth in the Great Lakes. Algae attached to the bottom of streams draw nutrients from the water and convert them into food for insects and other invertebrates, but they’re rarely studied. These small streams have the capacity to regulate nutrients moving from the land to the lakes, and understanding that process can help with better understanding algal blooms.

RESPONSE: Researchers monitored attached algae at 54 sites in 14 Lake Erie tributaries that flow into the Maumee, Portage and Grand Rivers. Natural tracer compounds and an enzyme analysis were used to determine whether nitrogen or phosphorus limit algal growth, with information collected soon after fertilizer application as well as right before and after harvest. In Lakes Huron and Erie, five sites each were monitored to assess how attached algae are affected by changes in light availability and wave disturbance at various depths.

RESULTS: Nutrients in the water column rarely predict the amount of attached algae on river beds. The best predictor of algal biomass was the amount of sediment deposited on the river rocks, but no clear explanation for this phenomenon emerged. In Lake Erie, attached algae grew most at intermediate depths, where wave action was minimal, but light was still available. In Lake Huron, attached algae growth seems to be mostly limited by phosphorus availability and wave action near the shore, so algal growth increased with depth.

BOTTOM LINE

Algae attached to the bottom of streams and lakes can draw nutrients from the water, and may indicate which nutrients are affecting Great Lakes algal blooms. Strong wave action, light availability and nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen can all be used to develop models that can predict attached algal growth and abundance in Great Lakes nearshore waters.

  •  Summary

Lower food web response to an extreme high ice year in Lake Erie

RECORD:
R/ER-107
2015
Principal Investigator:

Robert Michael McKay, Professor, BGSU Department of Biological Sciences

Institution:

Bowling Green State University


RELEVANCE: Winter surveys of Lake Erie since 2007 have documented high phytoplankton biomass associated with ice cover, often in discrete bloom formations and dominated by filamentous diatoms. These diatom blooms have positive and negative impact on the Lake's ecosystem. While they are an important food source for other lake organisms, dead diatoms sinking to the lake bottom also promote recurrent hypoxia in the Lake's central basin during summer.

RESPONSE: Historically our winter surveys rely on collaboration with Coast Guards and their ice-breaking programs. The extreme heavy ice conditions of winter 2015 limited Coast Guard participation thus prompting a Sea Grant request for sampling by helicopter. Ice cores and water were sampled from sites in the Lake's central basin. Samples were analyzed for chlorophyll biomass, nutrients, primary productivity and microbial community structure by microscopy and RNA sequencing.

RESULTS: Linkages exist between ice extent and phytoplankton community structure and abundance in Lake Erie. Winters with excessive ice had not been included in our prior analysis Whereas sampling during winter 2015 identified a phytoplankton community dominated by filamentous diatoms, strong light decrease attributed to thick ice and heavy snow pack resulted in a light-limited community. Limited sampling did not reveal expansive blooms associated with the extreme winter of 2015.

BOTTOM LINE

Whereas the presence of expansive ice in Lake Erie promotes growth of diatoms, Ohio Sea Grant-supported research showed that heavy ice cover and snow pack associated with the extreme winter of 2015 suppressed growth of these important phototrophs, showing that there is a fine line between ice promoting and limiting growth of Lake Erie algae.

  •  Summary

Relative Contributions of Hypoxia and Natural Gas Drilling to Methane Emissions From Lake Erie

RECORD:
R/PS-048
2015
Principal Investigator:

Amy Townsend-Small, Assistant Professor, UC Department of Geology and Geography

Institution:

University of Cincinnati


RELEVANCE: Most people in Ohio are familiar with harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, but not necessarily with what happens after the algae die and sink to the bottom of the lake. Researchers suspect that the hypoxia (or “dead zone”) caused when decomposing algae use up dissolved oxygen in the water contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

RESPONSE: Samples taken across Lake Erie throughout the year were analyzed for methane and nitrous oxide, two powerful greenhouse gases. From there, researchers could calculate the amounts of these gases being released from the water into the atmosphere.

RESULTS: The highest rates of methane emissions were found in August, at the height of harmful algal blooms, when dissolved oxygen in the water is lowest. The lowest rates occurred in February, when the water is richest in dissolved oxygen. The highest emission rates overall were found near the Maumee River, the largest source of nutrients that fuel algal blooms, indicating a strong connection between the decomposing algae and greenhouse gas emissions.

BOTTOM LINE

Harmful algal blooms may not only cause drinking water problems, but also increase the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere from Lake Erie. Sampling showed that when decomposing algae use up dissolved oxygen in the water, methane emissions from the lake increased, and overall emissions were higher near areas where algal blooms are common.

  •  Summary

The Role of Aquatic Sediments In Microcystin Removal

RECORD:
R/ES-022
2015
Principal Investigator:

Audrey Sawyer, Assistant Professor, OSU School of Earth Sciences

Institution:

The Ohio State University


RELEVANCE: Algal blooms have become more prevalent in Lake Erie and can release harmful toxins like microcystin that impair water quality. Little is known about the fate of microcystin in lake water. Our specific goal was to understand whether lakebed sediments help remove microcystin from lake water by absorbing them or breaking them down.

RESPONSE: A Sea Grant-funded scientist and three students developed wave tank experiments and computer models to measure rates of microcystin removal in sediments and lake water.

RESULTS: Microcystin disappears rapidly from surface water in the presence of waves and sediment, suggesting that the toxin is either bound to sediment particles or degrades by water movement. Three students are being trained in scientific research methods.

BOTTOM LINE

A Sea Grant-funded scientist and three students have shown that microcystin disappears rapidly from surface water in the presence of waves and sediment. Sediment-water interactions are important in decreasing microcystin in shallow lake waters.

  •  Summary

Delayed Neonatal Growth in the Lake Erie Watersnake, Nerodia sipedon insularum

RECORD:
R/LR-022
2014
Principal Investigators:

Elizabeth Mack

Richard King, Assistant Professor, Northern Illinois University Department of Biological Sciences

Institution:

Northern Illinois University


RELEVANCE: A better understanding of the behavior and life history variation of the youngest age classes of Lake Erie Watersnakes is needed for the conservation of this threatened species that is endemic to Ohio.

RESPONSE: A graduate student from Northern Illinois University utilized captive feeding experiments and field work to study young Lake Erie Watersnakes and found that they delay feeding and growth until after their first hibernation, which is a rare life history strategy with consequences for later growth and reproduction.

RESULTS: Delayed feeding and growth and variation in growth rates among sites and years may have large impacts on the age at maturity, and consequently total reproductive output, of different cohorts of Lake Erie Watersnakes. This should be taken into consideration when designing conservation actions for this threatened species.

BOTTOM LINE

A Sea Grant-funded graduate student quantified life history characteristics and variation in the threatened Lake Erie Watersnake that can be used to inform conservation efforts.

  •  Summary