development of indicators to track the...

The U‐M Water Center engages researchers,

practitioners, policymakers, and non‐profit groups with the goal of supporting,

integrating, and improving current and future restoration

and protection efforts.

The grants program is an important part of the Water Center’s efforts to enhance restoration and protection

activities by engaging exceptional multi‐sector

teams in advancing evaluation and assessment of restoration

projects.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Adrienne MarinoRestoration Specialist, U‐M Water Center

Phone: 734.763.0662Email: [email protected]

graham.umich.edu/water

Principle InvestigatorGreg Boyer, State University of New York ([email protected])

Team membersLindsey Gerstenslager, Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation DistrictSue Watson, Environment Canada National Water Research InstituteEdward Leroux, Save our Sodus, Inc.

Connect, engage, revitalize…PURE BLUE

Project SummaryHarmful and nuisance algal blooms (HNABs) are occurring with increasing frequency in the mid and lower Great Lakes. These include both toxic cyanobacteria blooms in the water column and benthic algal mats that float up and accumulate on the shore. In response, the Great Lakes Commission and US EPA through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) have initiated several projects to help remediate the occurrence and intensity of these events.

Tracking the progress of restoration and remediation efforts related to HNABS is a non‐trivial matter. HNAB events are episodic in occurrence, and extensive monitoring data (especially historical) is not available. Through this project, researchers will conduct a gap analysis of existing indicators for marine and freshwater harmful algal blooms throughout the country, including an analysis of the proposed new State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) and Great Lakes Commission indicators for HNABs. A preferred suite of indicators will be field‐tested using the GLRI remediation efforts for toxic cyanobacteria in Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario. Researchers will also assess community acceptance of these indicators by surveying members of the local bay association, Save Our Sodus, Inc. The end product of this effort will be a suite of indicators that can be used throughout the Great Lakes basin to track progress during the remediation efforts targeting harmful algal blooms. In turn, this will also help us design better monitoring programs for HNABs no matter where they may occur throughout the Great Lakes basin.

Sodus Bay, Lake OntarioPhoto courtesy of Save Our Sodus, Inc.

Nuisance benthic algae washed up on beach Photo courtesy of Michigan Sea Grant

The Water Center is part of the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute. It is supported by funds from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the University of Michigan.

DEVELOPMENT OF INDICATORS TO TRACK THE REMEDIATION OF HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS IN SODUS BAY, LAKE ONTARIO








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InvestigatorsSong Qian, University of Toledo, [email protected] Bridgeman, University of Toledo, [email protected]

Team membersJustin Chaffin, Ohio State UniversityMary Anne Evans, USGSTom Johengen, University of MichiganAmy Jo Klei, Ohio EPAKenneth Kreiger, Heidelberg UniversityEric Weimer, Ohio DNR


Project SummaryLong‐term monitoring is essential in providing information not only about a lake’s environmental and ecological conditions, but also about the effectiveness of various lake restoration projects. Because of its size, Lake Erie has been monitored by different organizations through a network of monitoring stations. These institutions, however, often use different sampling protocols and different laboratory analytical methods for important parameters. Consequently data from these institutions may not be comparable and when assessing water quality status and trends we are limited to using data from one source at a time. Because sites managed by different institutions have different spatial coverage, comparisons of trends in different areas of the lake is difficult. Furthermore, by using data from one source at a time, we are using smaller data sets that may lead to reduced statistical power for detecting trends.

This project will develop statistical models for linking data from different organizations collected using different sampling methods. It will allow existing data sets to be combined to carry out holistic lake analysis in a way that is not currently possible.

• Phase I: compile existing monitoring data, total phosphorus and chlorophyll a concentrations in the Western Basin of Lake Erie, from partners including USGS, Ohio EPA, Ohio DNR, National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University, Lake Erie Center at the University of Toledo, and Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research of the University of Michigan, and develop models linking measurements from different institutions.

• Phase II: the models developed in Phase I will be used to design a field study to collect data from the same locations as the source data using multiple sampling and analytical methods. These data will be used for model assessment.


A BAYESIAN HIERARCHICAL MODELING APPROACH FOR COMPARING WATER QUALITY MEASUREMENTS FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES

MODIS satellite image of Lake Erie. Photo courtesy of NOAA CoastWatch








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Principle Co‐InvestigatorsCyndee Gruden, University of Toledo, [email protected] Gerwin, Toledo Metropolitan Council of Governments


Rain Garden. Photo courtesy of Toledo Division of Environmental Services


Project SummaryIn Lucas County, Ohio, nonpoint source pollution from storm water runoff has been identified as a significant cause of impairments to aquatic life. The Western Lake Erie Basin has experienced significant algal blooms over the past decade commonly attributed to nonpoint sources of contaminants including nutrients and suspended solids. In 2012, The USEPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) provided Surface Water Improvement Funds (SWIF) to Lucas County, Ohio to support the design and installation of innovative storm water management demonstration projects on public lands. As a result, several innovative storm water management demonstration projects are being designed and installed in Lucas County including rain gardens, wetlands, permeable pavement, and biofiltration.

Barriers to implementing storm water best management practices ( BMPs) in our region include comprehensive and comparable monitoring and local cost data. Storm water BMPs are often constructed without any performance assessment or cost comparison, which results in uninformed decisions about new installations. Funding for this project will enable the collection of performance monitoring and cost data for GLRI project assessment and evaluation as well as collaboration across multiple SWIF projects in Lucas County, Ohio. This project leverages over half a million dollars allocated by GLRI through the Ohio EPA to local stakeholders including the City of Toledo, City of Oregon, Lucas County Soil and Water, City of Whitehouse, Toledo Metroparks, and the University of Toledo. Project coordination will be facilitated through monthly Storm Water Action Group (SWAG) meetings hosted by Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments since most Lucas County SWIF Project Awardees are SWAG participants.

Bioswale. Photo courtesy of Defiance County Soil and Water Conservation Department

PERFORMANCE DATA COLLECTION FOR GLRI SWIF PROJECT ASSESSMENT IN LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO








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InvestigatorsNathan Johnson, University of Minnesota‐Duluth, [email protected] Brennan, University of Minnesota‐Duluth



ASSESSING THE BIOAVAILABILITY OF HYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS (HOCS) DURING HABITAT RESTORATION

This project will evaluate the bioavailability of sediment‐associated legacy contaminants before and after restoration efforts involving dredged materials from the Duluth‐Superior Harbor.

The state of Minnesota’s current practices for assessing sediment contamination involve primarily bulk sediment analysis, which quantifies all sediment contaminants, including those that are strongly sequestered and not available for uptake by organisms. This bulk sediment analysis cannot address important questions such as which contaminants benthic organisms are exposed to and how complex sediment characteristics affect the uptake of these contaminants into organisms.

Bioavailability based techniques utilized in this research will employ passive sampling to quantify the concentrations of contaminants freely dissolved in sediment porewater, thereby providing a realistic measure of organism exposure. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers are working together to evaluate the contaminant‐related implications of utilizing dredged material for habitat restoration and their feedback will be solicited and incorporated at various stages of the project.

Locally, the results of this project will provide resource managers with a greater understanding of the contaminant‐related implications of using dredged sediments from the Duluth‐Superior Harbor for restoration activities. On a broader scale, this project will serve as a template for the integration of data from bioavailability based techniques in assessments of site restoration in Minnesota and the Great Lakes.

Project SummaryRe‐use of navigational dredged materials for the purpose of habitat creation could potentially benefit current and future restoration activities at moderately contaminated areas of the St. Louis River Estuary as well as reduce costs associated with management of dredged materials.

Photo by Chris J. Benson








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InvestigatorsEmily Saarinen, University of Michigan‐Dearborn, [email protected] Napieralski, University of Michigan‐DearbornSally Petrella, Friends of the Rouge



Project SummaryThe Rouge River is situated in a highly urbanized watershed in southeast Michigan. It serves as the catchment area for three counties and 1.35 million people, and is a major tributary to the Detroit River. Despite persistent water quality issues in the Rouge River, it appears to support a unique fish community. The river has undergone restoration efforts aimed at improving water quality and enhancing biotic communities that include adding combined sewer overflow retention treatment basins throughout the watershed and removing a migration barrier in the lower reaches to improve habitat connectivity within the watershed. Preliminary work in 2012 suggests that fish biodiversity has increased in the last 20 years and that there are substantial native fish populations inhabiting the river.

This project will characterize the fish community in the watershed, focusing on the Lower Rouge, to understand the ways in which watershed‐level restoration efforts impact community composition. A key focus will be on monitoring changes associated with potential upstream migration of the nonindigenous round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) due to the removal of a dam at Wayne Road. Data will be integrated into a GIS database to evaluate both large‐scale and local processes that may impact fish habitat quality, by combining local stream reach data with catchment‐level assessment related to streamflow and habitat connectivity. These data will be useful for both monitoring changes in the river based on restoration efforts as well as assisting management efforts aimed at removing beneficial use impairments that have resulted in the Rouge’s designation as an Area of Concern.

MONITORING FISH COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO RESTORATION ACTIVITIES IN THE ROUGE RIVER WATERSHED

Photo courtesy of Friends of the Rouge








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InvestigatorsJ. Val Klump, University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee, [email protected] Zorn, University of Wisconsin‐Green Bay



Leveraging funds and in‐kind support from the NOAA Coastal Hypoxia Research Program, the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the Great Lakes Observing System, this project team will re‐deploy a continuous, seasonally permanent open water monitoring buoy in Lower Green Bay for the ice free period of 2013. In addition to standard physical observations such as wind speed/direction, wave height/direction and water temperature, the buoy also measures soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, fluorescence, and turbidity.

This project will contribute to a thorough understanding of the dynamics which control water quality and beneficial use impairments in Green Bay. These data will provide the project team and partners with novel information on nutrient dynamics and the formation of harmful algal blooms in lower Green Bay. In addition, data collected will be integrated into long term forecast systems and models to predict future conditions and the effectiveness of proposed remediation strategies in the Lower Green Bay AOC.

EXTENDED AND NOVEL MONITORING OF CLIMATE, NUTRIENT, AND ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS IN THE GREEN BAY ECOSYSTEM, 2013

Project SummaryIn 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative began an enhanced tributary monitoring program to support ecosystem restoration and protection efforts in five tributaries, including the Lower Fox River and Green Bay. This program was designed to: 1) Provide data required to support

delisting efforts for Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in these Areas of Concern (AOCs);

2) Facilitate measurement of restoration progress; and

3) Provide stakeholders with unprecedented access to real time data to inform stewardship decisions and promote sustainable ecosystem restoration and protection efforts.

Photo courtesy of UW‐Milwaukee








projects.


Maeghan BrassRestoration Specialist, U‐M Water Center



InvestigatorsJustin Saarinen, University of Michigan‐Dearborn, [email protected] Kowalski, USGS‐Great Lakes Science Center

PartnersRachael Franks‐Taylor, The Nature Conservancy in MichiganJames Cole, The Nature Conservancy in Ohio



Project SummaryFundamental questions about how humans affect Great Lakes water quality have been well‐studied and are summarized in the accumulation of stressors. More recently, cumulative stress on the Great Lakes was assessed spatially to correlate with locations of landscape features , e.g. urbanization, shoreline hardening, and ecosystem services directly beneficial to humans, e.g. fishing. Following ecosystem‐based management strategies, restoration efforts should be directed toward multiple stressors to maximize ecological benefits.

Currently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Geological Survey, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Michigan‐Dearborn (UM‐D) are assessing western Lake Erie’s coastal and diked wetlands that are and could potentially be connected to the lake between the Detroit River outlet and the Black River in Ohio. These wetlands can provide ecosystem services that are directly beneficial to humans and the water quality of Lake Erie.

In an attempt to balance cumulative stress models, this project is a synthesis that utilizes existing restoration data and project outcomes to identify alternative restoration scenarios for western Lake Erie. Models in the InVEST spatial planning toolset will be combined with in situ observations to assess whether these wetlands supply a significant water quality service benefit to western Lake Erie both in their current state and with alternative future restoration scenarios. This analysis will characterize water quality benefits associated with ongoing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative habitat restoration projects and be useful in the planning and prioritization of future projects, especially those in the EPA‐designated Areas of Concern, such as River Raisin, Maumee River and Black River.

Water flowing to the Great Lakes often passes through coastal wetlands, many of which have been invaded by non‐nature plants like Phragmites.

WATER QUALITY BENEFIT ASSESSMENT OF LAKE ERIE COASTAL WETLANDS

Photo courtesy of Michigan Sea Grant








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Principle InvestigatorJ. Timothy Dvonch, University of Michigan, [email protected]

Co‐InvestigatorsLaura Sherman, University of MichiganJoel Blum, University of Michigan

The Water Center is part of the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute. It is funded by grants from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the University of Michigan.

Project SummaryAtmospheric deposition of hazardous pollutants such as mercury and lead to the Great Lakes Region is of significant concern to human and environmental health. In fact, all of the water bodies in the area currently have fish‐consumption advisories due to high concentrations of mercury in fish. It is often difficult, however, to directly link pollutant emission sources, such as coal‐fired power plants, with impacted areas.

This project will measure mercury, lead, and strontium isotopes in previously collected rainfall samples across the Great Lakes Region to develop a new method to “fingerprint” emissions of these metals. Recent studies suggest that emissions from sources such as coal‐fired power plants, metal smelters, and waste incinerators display different isotopic compositions (i.e., different ratios of the masses of a given element). However, multiple isotopes have not yet been utilized together to fingerprint these emissions. This novel method will provide a powerful tool to link emission sources with impacted sites across the Great Lakes Region. In addition, by utilizing archived precipitation samples collected in conjunction with previous Great Lakes projects, the results of the study can be compared with previous analyses. This approach will not only strengthen the power of the results, but also enable an evaluation of the potential future application of these novel techniques by scientists and regulators. Finally, comparison of these archived rainfall samples with future rainfall samples may enable assessment of the effectiveness of recent emissions regulations such as the U.S. EPA Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

Water flowing to the Great Lakes often passes through coastal wetlands, many of which have been invaded by non‐nature plants like Phragmites.

COUPLING MERCURY, LEAD, AND STRONTIUM ISOTOPES IN ARCHIVED GREAT LAKES PRECIPITATION SAMPLES TO IMPROVE POLLUTANT SOURCE

APPORTIONMENT WITH NEW AND NOVEL TECHNIQUES

Photo courtesy of Michigan Sea Grant






The grants program is an important part of the Water Center’s efforts to enhance restoration and protection activities by engaging the

region's best scientific minds in advancing evaluation and assessment of restoration

projects.





InvestigatorsAmy Marcarelli, Michigan Technological University, [email protected] Huckins, Michigan Technological UniversityGina Nicholas, Houghton Keweenaw Conservation DistrictRob Aho, USDA‐NRCS



Project SummaryAquatic restoration projects are often motivated by proposed improvement in biological resources such as restored fisheries. Ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling, energy flow through food webs, and retention of food and detritus describe interactions among organisms and their environment that are a foundation of this desired fishery response. These ecosystem parameters could explain why some restoration projects are successful and others are not, yet they have seldom been integrated into post‐restoration monitoring programs.

ASSESSING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED BY RESTORED WETLANDS UNDER CURRENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE AND LAND‐USE SCENARIOS

Copper‐rich stamp sands were deposited widely along streams and lakes in the Western Upper Peninsula during the height of copper mining (1840’s through the 1960’s). These deposits are now a significant regional source of habitat degradation and water pollution, and continue to negatively impact the fisheries of Lake Superior and its tributaries.

The Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District’s Hills Creek Stamp Sand Stabilization Project, funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, is using an innovative environmental approach to stabilize and revegetate Hills Creek floodplain habitat buried by legacy stamp sands. Current monitoring conducted by Dr. Huckins and his students includes measurements of physical (stream habitat) and biological structure (fish and macroinvertebrate communities) in restored and unrestored stream reaches.

This project will add measurements of ecosystem functions (energy flow through food webs, microbial nutrient uptake, retention of particulate and dissolved materials) to enhance understanding of ecological responses to restoration activities and to compare the function of restored reaches to other less impacted streams in the region. This project will be conducted in collaboration with the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District and provide valuable information to evaluate the success of the project’s goal to restore the health of this stream ecosystem. This project will also serve as a test case to determine the usefulness of ecosystem functions for monitoring responses to other restoration activities in tributaries throughout the Great Lakes region.

Large deposit of stamps sands along a stream bank in an unrestored reach of Hills Creek

Michigan Tech student sampling on Hills Creek upstream of the main restoration site







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InvestigatorsCole Matson, Baylor University, [email protected] Custer, USGS‐Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Christine Custer, USGS‐Midwest Environmental Sciences Center



Project SummaryThis project will assess chromosomal damage in tree swallow (Tachycinetabicolor) nestlings collected from contaminated areas across the Great Lakes region. These efforts are designed to complement and directly integrate into the existing USGS Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Project 80 ‐ Birds as Indicators of Contaminant Exposure in the Great Lakes. The GLRI project is quantifying exposure to, and some of the effects of, historical and emerging contaminants on Great Lakes food chains using tree swallows as a sentinel indicator species. The project focuses on quantifying exposure to, and uptake of contaminants into tree swallow nestlings as well as the examination of biomarkers of chemical exposures.

This related project makes use of existing future tree swallow samples from across the Great Lakes region to assess contaminant‐induced DNA damage. Specifically, the flow cytometric method (FCM) will be used for quantifying chromosomal damage. This is a method the project team has successfully used to evaluate the impacts of a variety of contaminants on tree swallows and other indicator species.

Environmental chemistry data being collected under the current GLRI efforts will be used to identify correlations between specific contaminantclasses and observed chromosomal damage. Preliminary data from tree swallows collected along the Ottawa River from 2010‐2012 provide evidence that the proposed methods will be useful in evaluating the effectiveness of dredging and other remediation efforts across the Great Lakes.

It is anticipated that the FCM data produced as part of this project, in conjunction with existing Project 80 data, will contribute directly to assessments of Great Lakes ecosystem health and science‐based decision making, prove valuable to States and the Environmental Protection Agency for assessing whether specific beneficial use impairments can be removed and areas of concern (AOCs) subsequently delisted, provide a baseline for future trend analysis, and determine the effectiveness of recent remediation actions at AOCs and other known hotspots. It is also anticipated that this work will be published in the peer‐reviewed literature, providing a framework for others to utilize similar methods to better understand the impacts of environmental contamination of wildlife populations and to monitor the effectiveness of remediation efforts.

BIRDS AS INDICATORS OF CONTAMINANT EXPOSURE IN THE GREAT LAKES: CHROMOSOMAL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT VIA FLOW CYTOMETRY







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InvestigatorsDavid Dean, Michigan Tech Research Institute, [email protected] Colin Brooks, Michigan Tech Research InstituteArthur Endsley, Michigan Tech Research Institute

Team MembersJon Gulch, U.S. EPAHerb Oertli, U.S. Coast GuardJanet Vorhees, U.S. Coast Guard



APPLICATION OF GEOSPATIALLY ENABLED GEOGRAPHIC RESPONSE PLAN TO OIL SPILL RESPONSE IN THE WESTERN BASIN OF LAKE ERIE

Project Summary

Oil spills can happen anywhere – even in the Great Lakes. Preventing future contamination of the Great Lakes is an important component of a healthy ecosystem and maintaining the benefits gained from recent Great Lakes restoration efforts.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandates the development of contingency plans for spill response. Contingency plans are designed to improve the speed and efficiency of a response during the critical first 48 hours after a spill, when quick action on the part of responders can keep a small spill from becoming much larger or limit the damage caused by the spill while a larger response is initiated.

Existing response maps and tables in the western Lake Erie Basin response plan are scans of paper documents or digital files published as Adobe pdfdocuments which are not readily modified and are of varying quality. Advancing technology allows the use of high resolution maps and information about the location of sensitive habitats to pre‐plan a response to spills that might threaten that habitat.

The end result of this project will be standardized spill response plans and maps for critical habitat in the western basin of Lake Erie. The work will be accomplished in cooperation with the Western Lake Erie Area Committee, which is responsible for response planning, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Toledo and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, all of which are key end users of the results of the work. The updated response plans will allow the analysis, display and distribution of information important to spill response in a manner that meets the different needs of the spill response community.

DIRECTORAllen Burton

DEPUTY DIRECTORJennifer Read

RESTORATION SPECIALISTSMaeghan BrassAdrienne Marino

PROGRAM OFFICERSManja HollandLarissa Sano

RESEARCH SCIENTISTSGary FahnensteilTom NalepaDavid Schwab

214 South State StreetSuite 200

Ann Arbor, MI 48104


The Water Center is part of the University of Michigan’s

Graham Sustainability Institute.

It is supported by funds from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the

University of Michigan.

ABOUT THE WATER CENTERThe U‐M Water Center was established in October 2012 to help guide efforts to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems.

The Water Center engages researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and non‐profit groups with the goal of supporting, integrating, and improving current and future restoration and protection efforts. The Water Center is focusing its initial efforts on the Great Lakes, working closely with academic colleagues and practitioners in the region to improve restoration science and ensure its practical application.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES• Stronger regional restoration efforts that more fully integrate science to

support management actions and policy decisions, assess environmental outcomes, and enhance current and future restoration and protection efforts

• More effective protection and restoration efforts based on a deeper understanding of potential cumulative impacts of currently funded Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and other regional restoration projects as well as assessment of remaining science and management gaps

• Guidelines for improved large‐scale freshwater ecosystem restoration and protection practices for the Great Lakes basin and beyond

FUNDING EXCEPTIONAL RESEARCH TO SUPPORT RESTORATION EFFORTSIn January 2013, the U‐M Water Center solicited applications for funding to support and enhance restoration and protection efforts within the Great Lakes basin. Up to $3.7 million dollars will be awarded to high quality project teams that can demonstrate specific benefits in terms of advancing restoration approaches in the Great Lakes through their work.

In May 2013, the Water Center selected its first tier of projects for funding. These are exceptional projects awarded up to $50,000 to address a specific need related to Great Lakes restoration and protection. A second tier of projects, funded up to $500,000 each, will be awarded in Summer 2013.


Photos courtesy of Michigan Sea Grant and USGS

Sustainable freshwater ecosystems through improved restoration science, management and policy

Tier I funded projects

Greg BoyerState University ofNew York‐Syracuse

Development of indicators to track the remediation of harmful algal blooms in Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario

David DeanMichigan Technological

Research InstituteApplication of geospatially enabled geographic response plans for oil spill response in the western basin of Lake Erie

J. Timothy Dvonch

University of Michigan

Coupling mercury, lead, and strontium isotopes in archived Great Lakes precipitation samples to improve pollutant source apportionment with new and novel techniques

Kenneth Elgersma

University of Northern Iowa

Assessing ecosystem services provided by restored wetlands under current and future climate and land‐use scenarios

Cyndee Gruden

University of Toledo

Performance data collection for GLRI SWIF project assessment in Lucas County, Ohio

Nathan Johnson

University of Minnesota‐Duluth

Assessing the bioavailability of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) during habitat restoration

J. Val Klump

University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee

Extended and novel monitoring of climate, nutrient, and ecosystem dynamics in the Green Bay Ecosystem, 2013

Amy Marcarelli

Michigan Technological University

Monitoring stream ecosystem function responses to stamp sand stabilization in tributaries of Lake Superior

Cole Matson

Baylor University

Birds as indicators or contaminant exposure in the Great Lakes: Chromosomal damage assessment via flow cytometry

Qian SongUniversity of

ToledoA Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach for comparing water quality measurements in different sources

Emily Saarinen

University of Michigan‐Dearborn

Monitoring fish community responses to restoration activities in the Rouge River watershed

Justin Saarinen

University ofMichigan‐Dearborn

Water quality benefit assessment of Lake Erie coastal wetlands

These 12 research grants, totaling nearly $570,000, were awarded in May 2013.Visit www.graham.umich.edu/water to read fact sheets for individual projects.

Photos courtesy of NOAA CoastWatch, Michigan Sea Grant, Friends of the Rouge, Chris Benson, and Toledo Division of Environmental Services

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