Current Events
August 2021
The GVSU crew just wrapped up another successful field season sampling coastal wetlands all around Michigan. Some of the fish pictured below include northern pike, common carp, longnose gar, and bowfin. A common snapping turtle is also pictured below. To read more about the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program, click here.
May 2021
The 2021 field season for the Ruetz Lab started up this week with sampling fish on Muskegon Lake using fyke nets. Some of the most abundant fish species that we sampled were yellow perch, brook silverside, and rock bass. Picture below is a large bowfin and a rock bass. For more information on the Muskegon Lake Long-Term Monitoring, click here.
October 2020
To close out our 2020 field sampling season, we sampled fish and macroinvertebrates in the ponds at Riverside Park (Ottawa County Parks). Some of the sampling days were quite cold, but we were excited about the fish we sampled like warmouth, yellow perch, bowfin, and lake chubsucker. Pictured below is a student with a pumpkinseed. In our sampling efforts in 2018 and 2020, we sampled a total of 17 different species of fish in these ponds at Riverside Park. To find out more information on this project, follow this link.
July 2020
This week we were again on Muskegon Lake sampling fish using fyke nets. Pictured here are a white sucker and a flathead catfish. Our fyke nets typically sample fairly small fish, so capturing such a large flathead catfish in one of our nets was quite a surprise.
July 2020
We recently finished up our second week of sampling coastal wetlands for the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. These photos highlight a few of the coastal wetlands we sampled. Pictured here are a painted turtle and a common carp. To learn more about the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (CWMP), click here.
July 2020
Travis and Matt spent two days on Muskegon Lake this month sampling fish using fyke nets. This sampling was a part of the Muskegon Lake Long-Term Monitoring Project. Pictured here are a bowfin and a silver redhorse.
October 2019
From October 7 to October 10 we sampled fish to assess post-restoration conditions at Veterans Memorial Park. This sampling effort will compare the water quality and fish community with pre-restoration sampling done in 2015. With student summer interns back in class, technicians from other labs at AWRI stepped in to make this sampling possible. Both the north and south pond at Veterans Park have good numbers of warmouth- a fish species that is not very common in the nearby Muskegon Lake. Pictured below are two different warmouth that we sampled.
August 2019
On August 21 and 22 we sampled fish in two wetlands in Bear Lake (Muskegon County). Some of the most common fish we encountered in this sampling were largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and yellow perch.
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August 2019
Our research takes us to many picturesque places in Michigan. These four photos below highlight some of the beautiful landscapes we have experienced so far in Summer 2019.
July 2019
In the end of July we wrapped up our third week of sampling coastal wetlands as a part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. We spent this last week of July sampling coastal wetlands in Michigan's Upper Peninsula near the town of Naubinway. In Fall 2018 we added a larger jon boat to the GVSU fleet. This boat (picture below) has been very useful this year. Although our fyke nets are used primarily to sample fish, we do occasionally catch turtles. Pictured below is a large snapping turtle that was captured and released.
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June 2019
On June 24, we started our coastal wetland sampling as a part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (CWMP). Our first three sites were in the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Pictured here are a common carp and longnose gar.
May 2019
On May 13 and 14, Dr. Ruetz led fish sampling on Muskegon Lake using fyke nets in the shallow-water areas of the lake. This fish sampling is a part of the Muskegon Lake Long Term Monitoring Project. Yellow perch was the most common fish species we sampled in spring 2019. A large pumpkinseed is pictured.
April 2019
Spring is here and with it comes installation of remote site incubators as a part of our assessment of streamside egg incubators. In these photos we see AWRI student workers, Zak and Katy, working to install the remote site incubators in a tributary to the Manistee River. This research is a collaborative effort with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and a component of the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative.
March 2019
Identification of macroinvertebrates is in full swing in the Ruetz Lab. During the 2018 field season, macroinvertebrates were collected from wetlands all around the Great Lakes for the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. Here we see some of the common macroinvertebrate taxa we encounter in coastal wetlands.
