New York Great Lakes Research Consortium
Awards Small Grants for 99/00

November 22, 1999
For more information: Jack Manno, Executive Director
Great Lakes Research Consortium, 470-6816
jpmanno@mailbox.syr.edu

This year the Great Lakes Research Consortium, together with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council, funded fourteen projects of up to $25,000 each. The Consortium, a SUNY organization made up of sixteen New York colleges and universities and their faculty and students, engages in multidisciplinary cooperation, combining their research facilities and scientific expertise toward a better understanding of the Great Lakes and the development of techniques for their protection and restoration. The consortium small grants program and the New York Great Lakes Protection Fund (NYGLPF) small grants program were developed to provide "seed" money for new, cooperative approaches to researching and protecting the environmental quality of the Great Lakes. In addition to seven grants for research awarded this year, the consortium is initiating two new workshops, four task groups and one collaborative community project.

Grants for Research
Atlantic salmon once represented a major component of the Lake Ontario fish community. By the late 1890s, however, salmon were extirpated from the Lake Ontario ecosystem. Attempts at restoration over the past one hundred years have been unsuccessful largely because of a lack of understanding about constraints regulating survival and growth of Atlantic Salmon. Dr. Neil Ringler of SUNY ESF, will lead a research project, Analysis of Constraints on Growth and Survival of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon in Lake Ontario Streams, that will evaluate certain hypotheses regarding factors that constrain production of Atlantic salmon in streams. This project, a collaboration between researchers at ESF and Cornell University, will provide important information about reestablishing Atlantic salmon to its native range. Besides an analysis of the environmental constraints on survival and growth of Atlantic salmon juveniles, fisheries managers will be provided with information about the importance of strain differences for stocking Lake Ontario tributaries, and improved strategies for stocking programs. For more information contact Dr. Ringler at nmringle@mailbox.syr.edu.

Recognizing the critical importance of the trophic state of Lake Ontario to the region's general ecology and water quality, as well as the present and future sport fishing industry and tourist trade, the Consortium is supporting another research project, Natural History of Lake Ontario Primary Productivity, led by Dr. Henry Mullins of Syracuse University. This project will initiate new research on the long term history of primary productivity in Lake Ontario in order to provide a natural baseline against which historical and future changes can be compared. Scientists will test the hypothesis that productivity in Lake Ontario may have been greater than anytime within the past 200 years during the Holocene Period (~9000 to 4000 years ago). Summer temperatures then were 2-3 degrees warmer than today due to increased rates of chemical weathering. This project would be the first of its kind. It is hoped that the project will provide considerable new insight into the natural history of biological productivity in eastern Lake Ontario over the past 10,000 years. The project results will be used as the basis of a further study extended to all of Lakes Ontario and Erie. For further information, contact Dr. Mullins at earth@syr.edu.

Another seed grant for research is aimed at the study of a new invading species, Echinogammarus ischnus which has become the dominant amphipod species in western Lake Erie. The project, Impact assessment of the introduced amphipod Echinogammarus ischnus in the Great Lakes, will be led by Dr. Nancy Tisch of Cornell University, and will compare the life history traits of the new invading species with another more established species. The method used will be to quantify interspecific variation in traits from coexisting populations across a range of conditions in which food and temperature are varied in a controlled experiment. The first objective of the proposed study is to quantify growth rate variation, size and age at maturation, and size-specific fertility for the two species. For more information, contact Dr. Tisch at nt34@cornell.edu.

Dr. Joseph Graney from SUNY Binghamton will specifically demonstrate how integrated particle characterization and trace metal measurement capabilities can be added to future consortium proposal submissions. His project entitled, An Integrated Approach to Track the Source and Fate of Trace Metals in Aerosol Samples in the Great Lakes Region, intends to demonstrate how an environmental Scanning electron Microscope (ESEM) and an Inductively-coupled Plasma Mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) can be used to increase the analytical and research capabilities of the Air Transport and Deposition Task Force, and to demonstrate how supplemental information can be obtained from archived aerosol samples. Results from this demonstration project will assist in policy-making decisions concerning the source, transport, and fate of toxic compounds throughout the Great Lakes region. For more information contact Dr. Graney at jgraney@binghamton.edu.

Another research project addressing water quality is entitled, Novel Biosensor for In-situ Detection of Chlorinated Organic Compounds in the Great Lakes, led by Dr. Omowunmi Sadik of the State University of New York at Binghamton. The objective of his project is to develop biosensors for in-situ monitoring of polychloriated biphenyls (PCBs). Experiments will be performed to demonstrate the sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy of the biosensors. Future work will characterize the biosensor and develop a prototype probe and sampling system for measuring PCBs in surface and groundwater. For more information contact Dr. Sadik at sadik@binghamton.edu.

The Rochester Embayment is recognized as an Area of concern by the International Joint Commission. The condition of bottom-dwelling (benthic) organisms is one of the indicators used to determine how healthy or polluted is a particular area. Much has been accomplished in the clean-up of the Bay and this study, Macroinvertebrate Study to Determine Whether or Not a Benthic Use Impairment Currently Exists in the Lake Ontario Portion of the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern, conducted by Dr. Joseph Makarewicz, will determine whether the clean-up is currently reflected in the benthos. For more information contact Dr. Makarewicz at jmakarew@brockport.edu.

To help increase the survival of Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario, Dr. Donald Stewart of SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, will evaluate two genetic strains of Atlantic salmon for differences in overwinter survival in the Lake Ontario watershed. The research entitled, Over Winter Survival and Bioenergetics of Two Strains of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), will increase our knowledge about stocking certain genetic strains and overwinter survival including metabolic demands for early life stages of Atlantic salmon. It will provide fisheries managers with important information about which genetic strain may be more suited to life in New York's streams since the original strain of New York's salmon is now extinct. For more information contact Dr. Stewart at djstewar@mailbox.syr.edu.

Task Forces
The GLRC will continue funding for two successful task forces, and support two new groups. Philip Hopke, of Clarkson University, will continue to lead a task force concerned with the atmospheric transfer and deposition of pollutants. Along with fellow researchers from Clarkson , SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Oswego, this task force will facilitate coordination and communication among the three institutions so as to maximize the opportunities for obtaining support for expanded studies of the behavior of persistent organic pollutants with respect to their transport to, deposition in or emission from Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Recently some members of this task force were successful in obtaining a 400,000 grant from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), evidence of the large returns on small grant investments. For more information, contact Dr. Hopke at hopkepk@clarkson.edu.

Continued funding will go to the Governance Task Group, led by Dr. Margaret Shannon of SUNY Buffalo, and joined by scholars from SUNY ESF and the University of Waterloo. This group is developing into a region-wide network of scholars and practitioners interested in and concerned with Governance of the Great Lakes. Continuation of funding will enable members to continue to develop joint research and writing projects and continue to develop and maintain a web page to facilitate collaboration and support for seminars. For more information, contact Dr. Shannon at mshannon@acsu.buffalo.edu.

Dr. Peter Ducey of SUNY Cortland will lead a new task force, studying the status and ecological roles of amphibians and reptiles of the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River basin. These species are believed to play significant roles in all wetland ecosystems. Predators on numerous invertebrates and small vertebrates, they are important food items for many larger vertebrates, and make up a large portion of the total vertebrate biomass in many wetlands. In addition, it has been suggested that the biphasic life-cycles of many amphibians makes them important conduits for the movement of nutrients and contaminants between terrestrial and aquatic systems, and possibly valuable indicators of environmental quality. This group, comprised of researchers from SUNY Oswego, SUNY Potsdam and the NYS DEC, in addition to SUNY Cortland, will facilitate an increase in collaborative research efforts concerning the status and ecological roles of herpetofauna in these ecosystems. For more information, contact Dr, Ducey at duceyp@cortland.edu.

Another new task force, led by Dr. James Haynes of SUNY Brockport who is joined by participants from SUNY Oswego and Clarkson University, will assess the policies and procedures needed to implement an effective academic program utilizing the resources of the NYS Great Lakes Research Consortium. The task of this group is to assess the potential processes and mechanisms that are required to enable consortium member institutions to develop and implement inter-campus Great Lakes undergraduate and graduate academic programs. For more information, contact Dr. Haynes at jhaynes@brockport.edu.

Workshops
Two workshops will be supported by the GLRC this year. One workshop, organized by Dr. Richard Smardon of SUNY ESF, and assisted by the Atlantic States Legal Foundation, will attract experts in the field of remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Research. The first day will be devoted to technological assessment, summary presentations of environmental issues, and a panel discussion to link issues with potential resolution strategies. The second day will consist of breakout sessions on the identified issues, and preparation of proposals. It is anticipated that the workshop will be held at SUNY ESF. For more information, contact Dr. Smardon at rsmardon@mailbox.syr.edu.

Gordon Fraser of Buffalo State College, and colleagues at Buffalo State and SUNY Buffalo, will develop a workshop on the Impacts of Global Climate Change on the Great Lakes Basin. The earth's climate is predicted to change because human activities are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases - primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. Researchers of the GLRC have the expertise to develop programs that can address these issues and help planners and policy makers to understand the impacts of global change and to identify sectors which are particularly vulnerable to the stresses that climate change will impart. This workshop will bring together those in the Consortium that are willing to participate in a broad research effort to develop the information needed to assess the impacts of global warming and climate variability in the region. The workshop will identify the dominant stresses, assess the potential impacts of climatic change on these stresses, determine the information base needed to develop decision support tools and outline research efforts that would derive and analyze this information. For more information, contact Dr. Fraser at frasergs@buffalostate.edu.

Community Education Project
Concerns regarding the water quality of the Great Lakes basin are focusing on the community level in Rochester. Monroe County is in the process of creating a Water Education Collaborative that would coordinate and implement educational efforts in the Rochester Embayment Watershed that drains into Lake Ontario. Margit Brazda of the Monroe County Health Department will lead a project entitled, Survey of Public Attitudes and Knowledge Regarding Water Quality in Monroe County. This project will conduct a random phone survey in Monroe County to poll people about their attitudes and knowledge regarding water quality issues. This information would then be used by the collaborative to focus their education efforts on the most important and/or misunderstood issues. For more information contact Ms. Brazda at mbrazda@mcls.rochester.lib.ny.us.