AWRI'S VESSEL EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR FALL 2021

After a year and a half hiatus due to the pandemic, AWRI’s vessel education programs currently are planning for a return to the water in Fall 2021! Of course, conditions can change rapidly given the vagaries of the Delta variant but assuming we sail, we know that this season will be unlike any other in the over 30 years of our vessel programming. We remain committed to quality learning experiences exploring Lake Michigan and adjoining waters. The health and safety of visitors and staff are our highest priority, and we are following all local, state, federal, Coast Guard, and GVSU requirements for our field trips. Our dedicated science instructor team has been diligently preparing to welcome students of grades 4-12 back on board AWRI’s research vessels, the D.J. Angus and W.G. Jackson. Our floating learning laboratories will once again connect young people in west Michigan with local water resources through hands-on, experiential learning about water chemistry, lake food webs, and human impacts on water quality.

Faculty and Staff Activities

The W. G. Jackson and D. J. Angus instructors and crew are preparing for the 2021 season. Training started the first week of August, before the first trips with schools begin in early September.

The Biddanda lab conducted NSF-funded field work in Lake Huron the week of July 19^th – 23^rd.

Sarah Hamsher participated in a field trip to the Lake Huron to collect algae with Bopi Biddanda’s lab for their collaborative NSF project the week of July 19^th.

Jim McNair submitted an abstract for an oral presentation on the decision-theoretic framework for making qPCR-based beach-notification decisions that was accepted to the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Water Resources Association, which will take place on November 8-10 in Kissimmee, FL. Title: “A decision-theoretic framework for assessing the relationship between culture-based and qPCR-based recreational water-quality criteria for fecal indicator bacteria”. Authors are McNair, J. N., Lane, M. J., and Rediske, R. R.

Jim McNair participated in weekly Zoom meetings with Molly Lane, Rick Rediske, and scientists from US EPA, Michigan EGLE, Michigan State University, and several other Michigan universities regarding a new project dealing with statistical analysis and interpretation of qPCR beach-monitoring data.

The Partridge lab has begun genetic analysis on the 2021 sturgeon hatchery samples, through a collaborative project with MI DNR and the Gun Lake Tribe. They will be assessing the parentage of approximately 100 juvenile sturgeon before their release date in late August. Over half of the samples have gone through DNA extractions and microsatellite genotyping.

The Rediske lab started wastewater sampling and testing for the MDHHS grant on July 26^th. In addition to samples from Muskegon County, they will be testing four locations from the Grand Haven area before and after the Coast Guard Festival to see if there is an increase in SARS-CoV-2 virus concentrations. They also started sampling three Lake Michigan tributaries that have outlets on beaches to determine the source of high E. coli levels. They will be evaluating the presence of cow, pig, human, bird, and dog markers in the tributaries and the Lake Michigan mixing zone.

Rick Rediske attended the Community Advisory Work Group of the Michigan PFAS Action Team (MPART) on July 6^th and helped develop recommendations for how to advise the public when PFAS contamination is identified in a residential area.

Rick Rediske participated in a meeting of the Rockford Community Advisory Group on July 15^th and lead the discussion on how to address the problem of PFAS contamination entering the Rogue River.

The Ruetz lab did pre-restoration monitoring at Little Cedar Creek on July 2^nd and July 9^th.

The Ruetz Lab conducted fish sampling as part of the Muskegon Lake Long-Term Monitoring Project the week of July 12^th.

The Ruetz Lab conducted sampling as part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program in Muskegon County the week of July 6^th and in Lake Erie the weeks of July 19^th and 26^th.

The Steinman lab continues to sample Muskegon Lake and Lake Macatawa and its watershed as part of their long-term monitoring efforts.

The Steinman lab continues to monitor Church Lake and its tributary to assess the source of chloride entering the lake.

The Steinman lab sampled Bosma as part of its post-restoration assessment; sediment cores are currently desiccating before being subject to re-wetting to determine nutrient flux and compare to pre-restoration conditions.

Al Steinman participated in the 2^nd Michigan Groundwater Table meeting on July 7^th and gave a brief update on the Groundwater Summit he hosted in June.

Al Steinman was interviewed on July 14^th by Keith Schneider from Circle of Blue on groundwater for a story he is developing.

Al Steinman was interviewed by Becca Nixon, a postdoctoral Research Associate at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant on July 20^th for her work on AOC revitalization.

Janet Vail attended the virtual 2021 GLOBE Annual Meeting on July 12^th – 16^th. Christina Catanese is viewing selected recorded sessions from this meeting, and has completed training in the GLOBE protocols, which form the basis for the vessel sampling program.

Presentations and Publications

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 ***.

PRESENTATIONS

Elliot Fair, summer intern funded through Pierce Cedar Creek Institute (PCCI) and working in the Charlyn Partridge lab, presented a progress report on the wild rice project to the PCCI students/staff on July 2^nd.

Megan Mader, graduate student working with Carl Ruetz, successfully defended her masters’ thesis on July 14^th.

Emily Neuman, graduate student working with Sarah Hamsher, was the guest speaker at the 24^th Annual Pentwater Lake Association Meeting on June 25^th. Her presentation was titled: Growth of starry stonewort in two Michigan lakes.

Emily Neuman presented a talk entitled, “Predictive modeling of suitable habitats for starry stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) in the upper Midwest (USA)” in the Bold session of the virtual Phycological Society of America meeting on July 15^th.

Emily Neuman successfully defended her masters’ thesis on July 16^th.

PUBLICATIONS

Jim McNair was a co-author on a paper published in Ecosphere:
DeNicola, D., J.N. McNair, and J. Suh. 2021. A stochastic model of epilithic algal succession and patch dynamics in streams. Ecosphere 12(7):e03566. 10.1002/ecs2.3566

Sean Woznicki was an author on a manuscript accepted for publication in Journal of Flood Risk Management:
Shabani, A., S.A. Woznicki, M. Mehaffey, J. Butcher, T.A. Wool, and P. Whung. In Press. A coupled hydrodynamic (HEC-RAS 2D) and water quality model (WASP) for simulating flood-induced soil, sediment, and contaminant transport. Journal of Flood Risk Management.

Grants, Contracts, Awards, and Recognition

GRANTS & CONTRACTS

No new grants & contracts this month.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

No awards or recognitions this month.

AWRI News and Events

“Green Algae is becoming a problem in Lake Michigan”
WKMI talk radio 1360, July 1, 2021
Al Steinman and Rick Rediske were both quoted regarding the green algae currently floating along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Also carried by: WBCK-FM

“Algae bloom plaguing Lake Michigan, but likely won’t stay long”
WOOD-TV 8, July 1, 2021
Al Steinman and Rick Rediske were both quoted regarding the green algae currently floating along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

“Two faculty members, one alumna receives Fulbright Scholar awards”
GVNext, July 12, 2021
Bopi Biddanda will be a senior Fulbright core research/teaching fellow at the University of Granada in Spain for winter semester 2022.

“Steinman named to national committee to assess Everglades restoration, researcher compares Everglades to Great Lakes”
GVNext, July 20, 2021
Al Steinman has been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences committee to oversee Everglades restoration.

“Grand Valley professor appointed to national Everglades restoration committee”
FOX 17, July 20, 2021
Al Steinman has been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences committee to oversee Everglades restoration.

“GVSU researchers work with health departments to test wastewater for COVID-19”
GVNext, July 28, 2021
Rick Rediske was interviewed regarding this new grant to test wastewater for coronavirus and other variants.

“GVSU partnering with counties to test wastewater for COVID-19”
GRR Buzzarchive, July 29, 2021
AWRI, along with GVSU’s Cell and Molecular Biology Department have been working with local municipalities to test wastewater for COVID-19 for months, and a new grant will extend this work for another two years.

LMC EVENTS

There were no events held at the LMC this month.