Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring

The overall goal of the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (CWMP) is to assess the ecological health of Great Lakes coastal wetlands, focusing on both status and trends. Since 2011, the Ruetz Lab at AWRI has monitored Great Lakes coastal wetlands each summer as part of the CWMP. The monitoring consists of sampling fish, aquatic invertebrates, and water quality. This year the AWRI field crew is about halfway done with sampling. They travelled to southeast Michigan, where they sampled coastal wetlands in the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Their next stop will include a trip to the Upper Peninsula to sample sites in northern Lake Michigan. In addition to providing valuable data to state and federal agencies that manage Great Lakes coastal wetlands, the CWMP is helping to train the next generation of aquatic scientists and managers. GVSU students receive hands-on experience in conducting ecological fieldwork that aids the conservation and management of Michigan’s wetlands.

The CWMP (www.greatlakeswetlands.org) is funded by the Great Lakes National Program Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is a collaboration among 16 institutions, with representatives from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and Ontario. The overall project is led by Central Michigan University.

AWRI faculty members Sarah Hamsher and Rick Rediske gave instruction and Janet Vail coordinated logistics during a 3-day Plankton and Algae Course sponsored by the Michigan Section of the American Water Works Association that was held at AWRI from July 23^rd – 25^th.

Bopi Biddanda, Jasmine Mancuso (graduate student), Ian Stone (summer intern), and Janet Vail participated in a photo shoot supported by GVSU University Marketing.  The research vessels D. J. Angus and W. G. Jackson, and a drone were involved in filming AWRI faculty and students doing science on Lake Michigan on July 15^th.

Bopi Biddanda represented AWRI at a site meeting with the NOAA Deputy Administrator Rear Admiral Dr. Timothy Gallaudet, along with NOAA-GLERL scientists and community partners regarding NOAA-supported ongoing restoration activities in Muskegon Lake on July 16^th.

Barney Boyer, graduate student working with Mark Luttenton, successfully defended his master’s thesis on July 17^th.  The title of his presentation was: “A Comparison of Macroinvertebrate Drift in a 4th Order Reach of the Au Sable River, MI”.

Paula Capizzi and Cheri Gerhart, vessel instructors on the research vessel D. J. Angus, represented AWRI with an interactive display at the Macatawa Water Festival on July 13^th.  Emily Kindervater and Rachel Orzechowski from the Steinman lab also were in attendance, assisting with a kayaking event.

Sarah Lamar, graduate student working with Charlyn Partridge, successfully defended her master’s thesis on July 19^th. The title of her presentation was: “Biological Invasions on a Large Scale: Investigating the Spread of Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila paniculata) Across North America”.

Alan Mock, graduate student working with Carl Ruetz, successfully defended his master’s thesis on July 19^th. The title of his presentation was: “Evaluating Remote Site Incubators to Support Restoration of Arctic Grayling in Michigan”.

Al Steinman attended a Blue Economy Summit in Ann Arbor on July 15^th.  Approximately 75 people were in attendance.  The main topic was next steps for the Blue Economy in the Great Lakes.

Al Steinman attended an Ottawa County Groundwater Executive Team meeting on July 16^th.  The goal of this meeting was to finalize the plan being rolled out by the County on how to promote water conservation in a water-rich area.

Janet Vail has been elected Chair of the West Michigan Clean Air Coalition. The West Michigan Clean Air Coalition is a partnership of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies, industry, and nonprofit organizations in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, and Kalamazoo counties working together to achieve cleaner air in the region through the education and promotion of voluntary emission reduction activities.

Janet Vail hosted a group of graduate students from Johns Hopkins University at AWRI on July 27^th for a tour, talks by AWRI scientists, and a trip on the research vessel W.G. Jackson. Rick Rediske, Al Steinman, and Mark Luttenton gave presentations to the group.

Janet Vail participated in the Groundswell Summer Institute for teachers. She is helping to facilitate water monitoring sessions at Allendale Middle School on July 31^st. The Groundswell teachers were on the research vessel D. J. Angus as part of their Institute programming. 

Anthony Weinke, technical call-in for the Biddanda Lab, showcased the role of the Muskegon Lake Observatory in monitoring water quality during a shipboard excursion on the W.G. Jackson with the Plankton and Algae Course participants on July 24^th.

AWRI staff are bolded, undergraduate students are denoted with a single asterisk*, graduate students are denoted with two asterisks**, and post-doc researchers are donated with three asterisks ***.

Publications

Bopi Biddanda is a co-author of an article accepted to American Society for Microbiology:
Rubbens, P., M. Schmidt., R. Props, B. Biddanda, N. Boon., W. Waegeman, and V. Denef. In Press. Randomized lasso links microbial taxa with aquatic functional groups inferred from flow cytometry. mSystems, American Society for Microbiology.

Emma Rice, recent graduate student who worked with Jim McNair, has an article, based on her thesis work, accepted to Invasive Plant Science and Management: 
Rice, E.K.**, P. Martinez-Oquendo, and J.N. McNair.  Phenology of seed maturation in Gypsophila paniculata in northwest Michigan, USA, and its relation to glyphosate efficacy.  Invasive Plant Science and Management.

Al Steinman is a co-author of a paper in press with Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety:
Wan, X., A.D. Steinman, X. Shua, Q. Cao, L. Yao, and L. Xie. In Press.
Combined toxicity effects of microcystin-LR and phenanthrene on growth and antioxidant system of Lemna gibba. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

Al Steinman is a co-author of a white paper that was generated from the CIGLR-funded summit on Conceptual Models in the Great Lakes. A manuscript will be derived from the white paper:
Murray, M., A.D. Steinman, J.D. Allan, J.F. Bratton, L.B. Johnson, J. Ciborowski, and C. Stow. 2019. Conceptual frameworks and Great Lakes restoration and protection: a white paper. National Wildlife Federation, Ann Arbor, MI.

Presentations

(Presenter listed first)

Sarah Hamsher attended the 25^th North American Diatom Symposium held at University of Georgia in Eatonton, Georgia from July 31^st – August 4^th.  She also presented a poster:
Hamsher, S. Poster. Extensive chloroplast genome rearrangement amongst three closely related Halamphora spp. (Bacillariophyceae), and evidence for rapid evolution as compared to land plants.

Charlyn Partridge presented “How to apply for NSF graduate research fellowships” to the GVSU Student Summer Scholars (S³) at an event held on the Allendale campus on July 22^nd. 

Steve Smit, undergraduate summer intern working with Charlyn Partridge, gave a presentation based on his summer work here at AWRI at the Institute for Great Lakes Research in Ann Arbor on July 25^th.

There were no new awards and recognition for this issue.  Check again next month!

The Rick Rediske Lab obtained a $30,000 amendment to their Molecular Source Tracking grant to work on 3 manuscripts for EGLE (former DEQ) concerning beach monitoring.  The papers include analyses of the 2018 qPCR/Colilert data by Michigan and EPA labs and the qPCR advisory value for beach closings.

“Waterlogged Wonderland: high water, rainy weather put damper on West Michigan tourism, recreation industries”
MiBiz, July 8, 2019
Al Steinman was quoted regarding Great Lakes water levels.

“Duck Lake beach in West Michigan closed due to high E. Coli”
MLive, July 20, 2019
AWRI does E. coli sampling for inland lakes.  High bacteria levels were detected in the water at Duck Lake State Park on July 9, and the beach was closed.

“Beaches closed”
shorelinemedia.net, July 10, 2019
AWRI does E. Coli sampling for inland lakes.  High bacteria levels were detected in the water at Duck Lake State Park on July 9, and the beach was closed.

“The Green Room: PFAS Part I: Health Impacts”
WEMU 89.1 (radio), July 26, 2019
Rick Rediske was one of the people interviewed regarding PFAS in Michigan

“Large amounts of dune grass washing up on Grand Haven beach”
FOX 17, July 26, 2019
Al Steinman was interviewed regarding the beach grass washing up onto the beach.

LMC Events

July 11
Goodwill Industries of West Michigan held a strategic planning retreat at the LMC.

July 23-25
AWRI hosted a three-day Plankton-Algae course sponsored by the Michigan Section of the American Water Works Association at the LMC.

July 27
A group from Johns Hopkins University received a tour of AWRI, short talks, and a trip on the research vessel, W.G. Jackson.