In FY22, we received one year of GLRI funding to explore the feasibility of making and rearing Kiyi or Kiyi-hybrid crosses for the establishment of research stocks at the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (LTBB) Hatchery, Ann Arbor wet lab (AA), and...
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Lake Michigan
Coregonine Captive Broodstock Developed from Wild-Caught Juveniles: Dual Strategies to Mitigate Barotrauma-Induced Mortality
Development of eDNA markers for Coregonids in the Great Lakes
Determining when and how Cisco and Lake Whitefish recruitment can be reliably indexed to support evaluation, restoration, and management
Contemporary distribution and abundance of larval cisco in Lake Michigan
Development of a Novel Telemetry Tag Attachment Method for Understanding Coregonine Ecology, Movements, and Habitat Use
Acoustic telemetry is at the forefront of fisheries research and management in the Great Lakes, and the combination of the ever-expanding receiver network coupled with over 25,000 tagged fish across 53 species (since 2010) continues to provide a wealth of critical...
Evaluation of sequential chemical marking of Oxytetracycline, Alizarin Red S, and Calcein in calcified structures of bloaters (Coregonus hoyi)
This project will investigate the unique chemical marking patterns produced within the otoliths, lower jaw, and ribs of bloaters after sequential immersions of Oxytetracycline (OTC), Alizarin Red S (ARS), and calcein. This project is fully aligned with the Coregonine...
Implementing science planning methods within the Coregonine Restoration Framework via expert knowledge elicitation and workshop facilitation – Year 2
The Coregonine Restoration Framework (Bunnell et al. 2023) includes a Planning Phase that is divided into four elements: (1) resolving coregonine taxonomy using genetics and ecology and delineating spatial units for conservation and restoration, (2) describing and...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning
Coregonines were once among the most diverse and ecologically, economically, and culturally important groups of fishes in the Great Lakes (Koelz 1929; Smith 1968; Eshenroder et al. 2016; Duncan 2020). Coregonines declined dramatically throughout the Great Lakes in...
Defining bloater spawning habitat to inform potential impediments to Lake Ontario bloater reintroduction
Efforts to reintroduce bloater (Coregonus hoyi) in Lake Ontario have been ongoing for 11 years (Weidel et al. 2022). Although more than 1.1 million bloater have been released, the objective of a self-sustaining population has yet to be achieved. Reintroduction efforts...
Development of conceptual early life history models and evaluation of sampling techniques in support of long-term monitoring for cisco and lake whitefish
Recruitment is set early during life (<2 years of age) for many fish populations (Hjort 1914, Houde 1987). From fertilization to juvenile stages, fishes are susceptible to abiotic and biotic factors that directly or indirectly influence growth, condition, and survival (Ludsin et al. 2014, Pritt et al. 2014). The mechanistic processes influencing recruitment, their interactions,and the timing at which they are most influential remains unclear for many fishes. By improving understanding of early life history (ELH) ecology and recruitment constraints, we can improve monitoring and support more informed management decisions. Long-term ELH monitoring programs that inform management are limited for cisco (Coregonus artedi) across the Great Lakes.
A coordinated approach to monitoring of a coregonine brood and cultured progeny in the R3 FWS hatchery program
Broodstock management and monitoring programs are vital components of all types of stocking initiatives (e.g. Captive, Supportive, restorative, rescue). Broodstock collection and development should aim to preserve genetic diversity and minimize inbreeding and stocking...
Deep-water cisco captive broodstock developed from wild-caught juveniles: proof of concept with Lake Michigan bloater
Hatchery broodstocks (Coregonus artedi and C. hoyi) created via fertilizing eggs with sperm from wild spawning populations or captive brood stock fuel current restoration efforts for ciscoes in the Great Lakes. But, creating these broodstock involves hazards to access...
Enhancing Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) research to support the conservation and restoration of deep-water coregonine diversity in the Laurentian Great Lakes
The abundance of the deepwater preyfish Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) in Lake Superior makes it a high-value target for restoring extirpated populations in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario. Managers from several Great Lakes have informally indicated strong interest in...
Implementation of Coregonine population viability analysis within the Coregonine restoration framework – Year 2
The Coregonine Restoration Framework provides an adaptive management structure to guide restoration of this suite of species in the Great Lakes Region. Initial steps in this effort are underway with the establishment of four science teams [Resolve Taxonomy, GAP...
Developing a Great Lakes-wide database of coregonine stocking
This dataset is the result of coordinated efforts to compile data associated with stocking events for whitefishes and ciscoes (members of the Coregoninae subfamily) of Great Lakes origin. The dataset includes more than 4,700 records associated with coregonine...
Susceptibility and clearance of Aeromonas salmonicida (furunculosis) in Coregonus artedi (lake herring)
Aquaflor® (florfenicol) and Terramycin®200 for Fish (oxytetracycline) are approved medications in the United States for delivery with feed to control mortality in salmonids due to furunculosis associated with Aeromonas salmonicida. The purpose of this study was to...
How many cisco should be stocked, and at what life stage?
Historically, members of the coregonine complex (Coregonus spp.) were the most abundant and ecologically important fish species in the Great Lakes (especially the cisco C. artedi), but anthropogenic influences caused nearly all populations to collapse by the 1970s....
Implementation of a gap analysis: comparing historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the Great Lakes
Understanding and comparing historic and contemporary habitat use and distributions of coregonines (Gap Analysis, Box 2) has been deemed essential to inform all boxes (Planning Phase) of the Great Lakes coregonine restoration framework (CRF). We are requesting support...
Morphological and genomic assessment of putative hybridization among deepwater ciscoes and between deepwater ciscoes and typical artedi in Lakes Michigan and Huron – Year 2
Although species diversity can be lost through hybridization (Mallet 2005; Seehausen 2006) and hybridization has been common among ciscoes (genus Coregonus, subgenus Leucichthys; Smith 1964; Todd and Stedman 1989; Eshenroder et al. 2016; Ackiss et al. 2020), the...
Resolving taxonomy of the cisco (Coregonus) species complex in the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon
The manager endorsed Coregonine Restoration Framework (CRF) identified a need for reviewing and updating the taxonomy of ciscoes, and this task was assigned to the first of four science teams established in the Planning Phase of the CRF. The ‘Resolve cisco taxonomy’...
Integrating historical records to compare historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the great lakes
Understanding and comparing historic and contemporary habitat use and distributions of coregonines (Gap Analysis, Box 2) has been deemed essential to inform all boxes of the Great Lakes coregonine restoration framework; there are dependencies between planning boxes...
Morphological and genomic assessment of putative hybridization among deepwater ciscoes and between deepwater ciscoes and typical artedi in Lakes Michigan and Huron
Species diversity can be lost through a combination of demographic decline and hybridization (Mallet 2005; Seehausen 2006). Regarding diversity losses among Ciscoes (subgenus Leucichthys, genus Coregonus) across the Great Lakes, the demographic decline in the 20th...
Building an adaptive tool for mapping habitat and species to support the Great Lakes coregonine conservation and restoration framework
Coregonines have declined substantially over the past century throughout the Great Lakes. A basin-wide framework, adopted by the Council of Lake Committees, has been developed to conserve and restore these ecologically and economically important native fishes. We are...
Inventorying Great Lakes survey and life history information to facilitate coregonine science, conservation, and restoration
Population models are a critical tool for informing native fish conservation and the types of models that can be developed are determined by data availability. In the Great Lakes, the size of the ecosystems and the multi-organizational management approach means...