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...
Post Archive:
In Progress
Examining the potential for unrepresentative sampling during cisco Coregonus artedi gamete collections for the Saginaw Bay restoration effort
Great Lakes cisco populations declined during the 19th and 20th centuries due to factors such as overfishing, habitat degradation, and interactions with invasive species (Van Oosten 1930; Crowder 1980; Myers et al. 2009; George 2019). Cisco are now considered...
Examining the potential for unrepresentative sampling during cisco Coregonus artedi gamete collections for the Saginaw Bay restoration effort – Year 2
The cisco Coregonus artedi restoration effort in Saginaw Bay utilizes gametes sourced from northern Lake Huron, in the Les Cheneaux Islands and Drummond Island region (LHTC 2007). Gametes have been collected from bays in the Les Cheneaux area and Whitney Bay (Drummond...
Detection of Lake Erie Cisco using eDNA – Applications to Cisco Restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Understanding extant diversity in compromised and healthy ecosystems is important to maintaining or restoring species diversity. Cisco (Coregonus artedi) and other coregonines were once found in all five Great Lakes and were central to Great Lakes food webs. The loss...
Can stocked Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) survival be increased with environmental conditioning?
Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) were historically an important component of the Lake Ontario fish community but the species was likely extirpated by the 1970’s. A binational restoration has stocked over one million Bloater into Lake Ontario since 2012, however, low...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
Are there differences in larval and juvenile gene expression between hatchery and wild coregonids?
Management agencies are investigating best practices for coregonid (C. artedi and C. hoyi) culture, stocking, and broodstock development. However, before large scale production can begin, decisions about the sources of broodstock, culture practices, and stocking rates...
Comparing genetic population structure of Great Lakes cisco and lake whitefish to help determine restoration targets
Species diversity is necessary for the maintenance of sustainable fisheries because differential use of habitats can help buffer against unpredictable conditions. Therefore, an important first step to maintaining or restoring species diversity is describing extant...
Site fidelity, depth-habitat use, and reproductive behavior of ciscoes in Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan
Our study of the movement ecology of Grand Traverse Bay Cisco commenced in late November 2019 with the deployment of 40 acoustic receivers and tagging of 85 adult-sized individuals sampled from spawning shoals near Elk Rapids, MI, and Ingalls Pt. near Omena, MI...