ITHACA, N.Y. — November 19, 2013 — Cornell University and Buffalo State College will be studying the biology of the Great Lakes in a multi-year research effort that will help fishery managers and policy makers determine fishing seasons, creel limits and other management decisions.
Cornell and Buffalo State researchers have received a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to survey lower trophic levels – or organisms at the bottom of the food chain – that provide valuable insights into the health of higher species.
Specifically, Cornell researchers are using a 180-foot EPA research vessel to collect phytoplankton, zooplankton and mysid shrimp levels in all of the Great Lakes, while Buffalo State researchers will head up collecting benthos (fauna from the bottom of the lakes) levels. Other researchers are also sampling for such pollutants as mercury, nutrients from farm runoff, viruses and bacteria.
The project continues work by the New York Department of Natural Resources and the Cornell Biological Field Station to assess and research lower trophic levels in Lake Ontario.
Read the full story from Cornell University at Newswise