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...
Lake Superior
Coregonine Captive Broodstock Developed from Wild-Caught Juveniles: Dual Strategies to Mitigate Barotrauma-Induced Mortality
Lake Superior Bloater Reproductive Biology
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
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...
Use of multi-gear sampling to improve abundance estimates of demersal Coregonines in the Great Lakes
Acoustic and mid-water trawl surveys have been used to estimate abundance and biomass of Great Lakes coregonines for decades. Acoustic sampling has potential to be an important tool in the assessment of future coregonine restoration efforts because new populations...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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....
Lake Superior ciscoe spawning and winter ecology
This proposal expands on our recent work collecting ciscoes in winter near Grand Island, Michigan. This previous Coregonine Restoration Program funded project started the process of gathering data necessary to base Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) restoration management...
Resolving the cisco complex of Lake Superior using morphological and genetic tools
Here we seek additional funding to follow-up a previous GLRI-funded project, “Morphologic, geographic and genetic variation among Lake Superior ciscoes.” Our goal was to conduct a comprehensive description of the morphological and genetic diversity of the Lake...
Establishing genetic baselines for historic coregonine diversity in Lake Superior
New research surveying morphological and genetic data across contemporary diversity in the cisco species complex has highlighted critical gaps in our understanding of the historic deepwater diversity in Lake Superior. Historic ciscoe diversity in Lake Superior, which...
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...
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’...
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...
Are cisco and lake whitefish competitors in the Great Lakes? Implications for future reintroduction efforts
The overall objective of this project was to evaluate historical commercial gill net fishery data available for State of Michigan waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron for evidence of potential negative interactions between Cisco Coregonus artedi and Lake...
Development of a genetic map for cisco and bloater
We constructed a linkage map for cisco (Coregonus artedi), an economically and culturally important fish in the Great Lakes and across North America, which previously lacked a high-density haploid linkage map. We used diploid and haploid cisco from northern Lake Huron...
Historical and contemporary genetic diversity of Coregonus species from Lake Michigan
Advancements in molecular biology methods have allowed researchers to analyze genetic variation in extinct or extirpated species where minuscule amounts of cellular material remain. Here for the first time, we have leveraged one of these methods -...
Historical habitat use by Coregonus artedi in the upper Great Lakes and critical embayments
The restoration of the once abundant cisco (Coregonus artedi) is a management interest across the Laurentian Great Lakes. To inform restoration, we describe historical distributions of cisco in the upper Great Lakes (i.e., Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron) by...