HABs & Hypoxia Impacts on Lake Erie Food Webs (CSMI-2019)

Stu Ludsin, Jim Hood, (Ohio State), Warren Currie, Kelly Bowen, Mohi Munawar, Heather Niblock (DFO Canada), Katelyn Bockwoldt, Joel Hoffman, David Bolgrien, Anne Cotter, Thomas Hollenhorst, Terri Jicha, Anne Ospeth, (EPA-ORD in Duluth), Lars Rudstam, Jim Watkins (Cornell), Paris Collingsworth, Tomas Hook (Purdue), Tom Johengen, Steve Pothoven, Henry Vanderploeg (NOAA GLERL)

During the CSMI year 2019, this group sampled along a gradient of hypoxia and a gradient of Microcystis blooms to evaluate the effect of each stressor on the distribution and food web interactions from fish to zooplankton, phytoplankton, and microbial groups. Analyses include hydroacoustics, stratified zooplankton samples, microcystin concentrations, fish diets, stable isotopes, and primary production. This project is being completed with several more papers in Journal of Aquatic Health and Management in 2025 (Ludsin et al. 2025, Benesh et al. 2025, Piczak et al. 2025, Watkins et al. 2025).